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Wooden Keycap Solid Walnut Wood Keycap Novelty Keycaps Spacebar Esc Arrow Keys OEM Profile for Cherry MX Mechanical Keyboard (Arrow 4 Keys R1)

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Before you go crazy, keep in mind that these fancy keycaps are only going to fit mechanical key switches, and we think it’s safe to say that most artisan ‘caps are designed for switches with a Cherry MX-type stem. Most of your newer gamer-aimed keebs have exactly that. Between these guideposts, you should be able to find more than enough ‘caps and leads to get going. It’s easy to be inspired by all the amazing artisan caps out there, so don’t be surprised if you want to join in the fun. Or, Just Make ’em Yourself Grilled cheese F keys by @charmcaps The idea is to create two templates: one for the inside of the key and one for the outside. I am having both on the same piece of paper for each key size. I will show for a 1U key, but the whole idea is the same for wider ones.

If you’re into games or anime, chances are good that there are more than enough artisan keycaps out there to keep you cash-poor for a while. The same goes for scrumptious foodstuffs with Cherry MX-compatible stems. There are a ton of ways to express yourself with keycaps. Glue a tiny trinket on top, or craft something from clay. You could also paint them, dye them, subject them to Plasti-Dip, or score the tops with hot nichrome wire or a Dremel. Hint: you can also see on the picture that I have been lazy and didn't shape the top part of the keycap... don't do it since it will make you gain time!

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Some switch testers don’t want to be functional, so you’d have to drill out the bottom plate to access the switch pins so it can be wired up. That actually makes them sound like even more fun, right? Here’s an example of someone turning a six-switch tester into a macro keyboard using a Teensy. Okay, So Where Do I Find Them Already? Resin Xenomorph by @Unlimited3dDesigns With a tester you get x number of switches, all with different feels, a set of blank keycaps, and some kind of acrylic or plastic to put the switches in to approximate the keyboard setting for testing purposes. Cherry and Cherry clone testers (Kailh, Outemu, Gateron) are pretty cheap; testers for higher-end switches like Pandas and Halos are less so.

The good news is that you don’t really have to start from zero. Get some blank keycaps and experiment, or pop the caps off of a cheap rubber dome keyboard and there’s 104 or so chances to practice before you try it on caps that are designed to fit mechanical switches. Look at your keyboard. Do the keycaps excite you? That’s what we thought. You pound on that thing day in and day out. Shouldn’t it at least be attractive? Or even happiness-inducing? You don’t necessarily have to replace every single keycap to spark joy. When it comes to artisan keycaps, the point is to have something that stands out. The first thing we will do is drawing the bottom of the key: its outer and inner sides. Drawing squares or rectangles seems an easy enough task to not build a jig for that... but to ensure precision and reliability as well as reducing the time to produce a key. Resin cast objects look fantastic when the process is done right. Unfortunately, there’s a lot that can go wrong along the way. You need a vacuum chamber and a pressure pot unless you want a million tiny bubbles in your molds and casts, and that’s just the beginning.

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In this day and age, you can get just about any type of keycap you want, especially those encapsulating pop culture phenomena and fads. Yes there’s a fidget spinner keycap, and it’s adorable. The idea of this jig is to help reliably reproducing the same shape of the outer sides of each key. I created DSA keys and thus just needed one jig like this since all sides are alike. If building keys for more complex profiles like OEM or SA you will have to create several like this one. A lot of the artisan keycaps you see out there will be cast in polyurethane resin, crafted in clay and mixed media, or 3D-printed in resin and then painted. Some are carved out of wood. It really doesn’t matter what a keycap is made of, as long as it’s strong enough to last and won’t hurt the switch.

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