Commodore 64 Keycaps Questions

[kcghost]

I recently obtained a (very dirty) Commodore 64 at a garage sale. I have taken it apart and cleaned it with isopropyl alcohol as best I can, as well as blew out a ton of dust with an air compressor. I am considering using Retr0Bright to restore the plastic, but I have a few questions about the keycaps.

With the exception of the spacebar, they are all double shot injection molded keycaps, which I was very excited to find. They all have a black plastic inside right up to the top edge, with a cross mount (larger than cherry). Some of the insides have strange circles of plastic with a hole where a support wall would be (See #4 key, under the #3 key in photo). The top labels are in black, but many of the keys have labels on the front as well - gray for most keys, black for the function keys.

C64 Keycaps

2014-05-24 22.21.51.jpg (644.29 KiB) Viewed 2731 times

If these are double shot injection molded, how were the front labels done (grey for most keys, black for function keys)?

Whats with the circles? I see them on the 3,4,RETURN,CRSR(left-right),CRSR(up-down),INST DEL,@,B,5,6,P,STOP RTN, and R keys. Most have a circle-hole as part of a support wall, but others are attached to the mount diagonally and some have two.

Will Retr0Bright work on double-shot keys (im worried if it would fade the black)?

[Ascaii]

Here is some info:

http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/mec6 ... t4522.html

Adapters:

http://www.shapeways.com/model/867216/c ... Box-search

[002]

Retr0bright doesn't work by fading the plastic so the legends and underside should be fine. If you are nervous about it, try a weaker solution (e.g. 3-6%) and monitor it regularly but I think it will be fine.

[tlt]

Didn't know that there where a double shot version of the gray key caps, I thought they changed to printed the same time as they changed the color scheme.
The front legends are printed. If you look closely you should see the different between double shot on the top and printed on the front of the caps.

[mr_a500]

I don't know about the C64C, but you definitely have to be careful with the front labels on the brown C64 and Vic20 keys. I managed to smudge off some labels when lightly wiping with isopropyl alcohol.