Certainly looks like it came out great. I loved the write-up, too. Extra points for figuring out what you actually needed to make an effective press.

Maybe? Specifically, it’s from the Disney+ show they made.

Not that Disney is the best messenger, but there’s something of value in a superhero show that has very thinly coded episodes about gentrification, rotating door prison systems, and the dangers of social media addiction, among others.

For my specific laser and use case, I don’t need sublimation paper. I just make sure that I use light color keycaps made of primarily of PBT (not ABS!), I cover the entire keycap with a Cricut infusible ink marker, and then I find that a very low power setting and moving very slow gives me almost no “overspray”. On these two keys, which look a bit better in person than in that zoomed in photo, I made a point of cleaning with isopropyl alcohol first, and that seemed to help.

I’m using Cricut Infusible Ink markers. They were pretty much made for this, using heat to dye polyester-based materials, like PBT. I just have a 5w diode laser, and I do it “low and slow,” 2% power and 45mm/minute. Black and blue still work best, but the red (pink) and green can be nice too.

I have done two entire keyboards worth. The gray DSA i did in black are holding up great, but the legends went on wonky because I hadn’t refined my workflow. The next batch I did was on this same type of white XDA but while alignment was vastly improved, the ink didn’t go on as well. The only thing I did differently with these two was make sure to clean the caps with IPA first.

I try to be. I at least feel like I’m making completely different mistakes than my parents did, LOL.

Also, zooming in and my iPhone’s blown-out white balance (or whatever) does the pictures no favors. The scan lines and color look better in person.

I liked that. Well done. Really good command of cringe,

Because Stardates in the 24th Century are based on a complex mathematical formula, a precise correlation to Earth-based dating systems is not possible.

Hand successfully waved.

This is a hobby that I haven’t ever really explored, though not for want of seeing the appeal. Lovely little model.

So, guys, if somebody in your life is into hip hop but not sci-fi, this is not going to help. Don’t ask me how I know…

Short writeup and a few more pics at Keebtalk.

There’s a contingent of keyboard people who love their “southpaw” numpads. I am not sure I find the ergonomic arguments personally compelling (moving around helps me more than finding one “perfect” neutral position), but I kind of like the idea of data entry and mouse usage at the same time. For instance, it’s nice to be able to plug in CAD dimensions without moving away from the mouse. I may actually move this one over to the right of my mouse, though; time will tell.

You had an unusually robust gerbil wheel, methinks.

I find it kind of relaxing, really. Like tying fishing flies, but mildly carcinogenic!

Not once you see the 3D printer seam running down the middle or the rats nets of wires connecting the (rather tidy) matrix to the RPi. 🤣

It does work nicely though. Sometimes has a spasm of gibberish when I plug it in, but very well behaved afterwards, and a pleasant clicky typing experience.

I used Kailh Box Jade switches. It is VERY clicky. The Masonite plates and plastic side case don’t echo much though, so it’s not resonant or hollow; it mostly sounds like you’re holding the switches themselves in your hand, with a fairly muted bottom out from these cheap-n-chunky XDA keycaps.

My favorite board to type on uses the equally loud Box Navies on an aluminum plate that serves as the entire top of a short “sandwich” case. I think it’s fair to say I am not quite in line with the majority of mechanical keyboard enthusiasts.

Understandable. I stay cheap on my keycaps, but I do have some Akko SA-L on a (slightly) more traditional TKL-like I did before this one, and I do like my bright little plastic nuggets, though I fell down a different rabbit hole within the hobby.

These started as blank PBT in XDA. I needed non-sculpted and blank modifiers to accommodate all my no-stabilizers shenanigans, so I used “infusible ink” markers to color in the tops and then precisely heated them with my laser engraver and cleaned with acetone. Lasers and acetone would be very bad for ABS.

It’s not a world apart from what the keyboard world calls a “96%”. I made sure no key was wide enough to need additional stabilizing clips, which led to the split space among other changes, but layout-wise it’s not too far off from several numpad laptop keyboards I’ve used over the years. It has been very liveable, and it’s on my work computer now.

I have not yet dived into PCB design, so this is a hand-wire. The brains are a Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller unit running a keyboard Python package called KMK. The switches under the keycaps are manually soldered in a matrix, with diodes to allow a human number of i/o signals (rather than a dedicated one for every single key) but still prevent the RPi from accidentally detecting ghost keys.

Nothing new under the sun here, and I have learned a lot from the various resources out there, but there are not a ton of people doing their own keycap legends (this batch is underwhelming in color, but very serviceable), and most handwires tend to be ergonomic models that are more off the beaten path than this layout, which, TBH, is quirky but has a ton of keys and is pretty similar to several off the shelf models.

Do the 4 different space keys have a function?

They COULD, as the keyboard is completely programmable, but for now mine don’t. I wanted to avoid stabilizers for this build, the little clips with wires that make wide keys work properly. They’re fiddly and can be rattly if you you don’t set them up just so and even add a bit of non-conductive grease of some sort.

I like the placement of Delete (numlock is hiding as “Fn+CapsLock”), but if I were doing it over I’d switch things around just a touch and have Backspace just a touch wider and delete as a normal-sized key. My finger seems drawn to delete. The layout has been really liveable though; no major complaints.

I see what you did there.

No rattling stabilizer wires in this build though. NONE. Cuz they can’t rattle if they ain’t there.