deskthority

I just picked up a NIB Monterey K104W. The wiki says this model is "yet to be sighted", so I'm filling in a small blank. I don't know how to create a wiki entry, so I'll post it here instead. If anyone wants to do a better job of documenting this I can borrow a good camera and take some nicer photos. I can pop it open also if that helps anyone.

It's a disappointment compared to the earlier K104 versions, but that's to be expected. The switches are cream 4 tab clones, not much to say about those. The case is the same as the earlier K104s, very solid, so at least that wasn't compromised. Caps are printed, nothing special. Windows keys are what make it the "W" version, but it's not identified as such on the label, only on the box. Perhaps that's why it hasn't been documented before? The backspace was shrunk to 1u, which kills it for me as a driver, but this would be a good base for a switch transplant if one wanted an Alps keyboard with Windows keys and can live with the layout.

There's one more of these available. If anyone is interested pm me and I'll connect you directly. Here are some (crappy, sorry) photos.

The caps look lasered, not printed.

It's possible, I honestly don't know how to tell. You can see and feel the legends above the surface of the caps. They're dark gray, not black like the earlier printed K104s I'm familiar with. Is there an easy way to tell if they're printed or lasered?

Lasered legends are fainter. Your pics show that very clearly.

Got it, thanks! How do lasered legends hold up compared to printed (or double shots)? I wore the printed legends off a K104, which was my driver for the better part of ten years. So I bought an earlier one with double shots, but the switches in that one didn't feel right for some reason. I'll swap the double shot caps onto the good switches one of these days unless the lasered caps are the better choice.

I've seen lasered/infilled legends wear out-- the infill rubbed away but there was still a discernable outline of the shape. Laser "burnt" ones, I don't know if I've seen them wear. I'd expect them to be like a shallow, ugly dyesub in that the burning likely extends into the plastic slightly.

Interesting, you're saying there's more than one type of lasered caps then. The legends on these are raised above the surface of the caps enough to see and feel like printed caps, so I don't think they're infilled.

No, if they’re raised they likely are laser infilled. Plain lasered legends are very flat indeed, and quite pale, just like your pictures. Infill raises them, with a stronger coloured paint (good) which will indeed wear out (bad).

I believe plain lasered legends are essentially bubbled plastic. They’re a low power version of engraving. But instead of removing material, the laser boils it slightly and leaves that hardened debris as its trace.

Plain laser legends look pretty meh, but should last a lot longer than infills. Doubleshots are definitely better, however. Just depends how you like the material of the caps, and how deeply coloured you want your legends.

Muirium wrote: 03 Aug 2019, 22:13 No, if they’re raised they likely are laser infilled. Plain lasered legends are very flat indeed, and quite pale, just like your pictures. Infill raises them, with a stronger coloured paint (good) which will indeed wear out (bad).

I believe plain lasered legends are essentially bubbled plastic. They’re a low power version of engraving. But instead of removing material, the laser boils it slightly and leaves that hardened debris as its trace.

Plain laser legends look pretty meh, but should last a lot longer than infills. Doubleshots are definitely better, however. Just depends how you like the material of the caps, and how deeply coloured you want your legends.

Thanks, more good info, I appreciate the explanation. I'll look at them closer, but they don't match the layout of the early K104 anyhow, so it's just "for the record" at this point. It's more important to me to have intact legends than worrying about shine or texture, so the double shots sound like the winner here.