deskthority

Does the surface primer adequately protect the metal base plate without applying a top coat? Will it be as durable?

It should be fine. After all, there is no wear or abrasion after the keyboard is assembled.

I have been priming both sides with automotive primer, then only decorative painting the front.

Thanks fohat for confirming I thought that might be the case but wanted to check.

The primer is matte white, which looks quite sharp with white Alps. I finished my project, it's looking great and feels great!

(I see threads on reddit / GH with people who take pics of hi-res PCBs of do-it-yourself keyboards, where the soldering is so messy it causes half the switches to not work or activate other keys. I don't know what they're doing, but I found soldering easy, fast and squeaky clean! The solder on the PCB looks as sharp as it did before I took all the switches off.)