As mentioned in one of my last keyboard articles, keyboard modding is becoming increasingly popular in our neck of the woods. The exchange of the keycaps is an extremely simple way of individualisation and is becoming more and more popular. In the twinkling of an eye, the caps have been pulled off and replaced with new ones. There are almost no limits to the imagination and because almost all manufacturers use switches in the format of the Cherry MX switches, there is quite a large compatibility between all the keycaps and keyboards. Today, let’s take a look at how class leader Corsair enters this scene.
More and more manufacturers recognize the potential of this simple possibility of modding and jump on the bandwagon. So now Corsair is also preparing to bring noble PBT keycaps for their keyboards to the market. At a price of about 30€, which is rather in the lower midfield, comes the complete set of all 104 caps including cap puller and damping rings. In total, the kit comes in six different colors:
What are PBT “double-shot” keycaps anyway?
Since there is still a product or two on the horizon with regard to this topic, and it will show up at Igor’s Lab sooner rather than later, I’d like to briefly go over what PBT “double-shot” actually means. Nowadays, a translucent, i.e. translucent, material is used for the production of keycaps and cast into the corresponding key moulds. Later, the keys are covered with an opaque paint and only the corresponding letters/characters/symbols are left free, so that later the light shines through only the symbols from below.
This is the most widespread and cheapest solution, but it has the disadvantage that the paint will peel off over time, resulting in unsightly effects. With the very first keyboards, where low-cost production was not yet a priority and there were no illuminated keys, one was faced with a similar problem: The printed symbols were worn off after prolonged use and only the “blank” cream-colored keys remained. To get around this problem, the so-called “double-shot” process was already used at that time and keycaps were produced from two layers. An “inner layer” (the color of the symbol on the key) and an outer layer (the color of the key), which found each other in an elaborate process.
At first glance, there is hardly any difference between the inexpensively produced and the elaborate “double-shot” keys:
Viewed from below, however, you can quickly see the difference. While the black keycap consists of only one “painted” layer, you can clearly see the two separate and much thicker layers of the double-shot key:
It might be more obvious in a rendered image of the cross section:
The advantages are obvious: “Double-Shot” caps feel much higher quality in terms of material alone and are much more durable. However, there are also some disadvantages, which I will discuss later.
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