- Joined
- Aug 31, 2010
- Messages
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- Age
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- Location
- George, Western Cape
Howdy all
So whilst staring at my beloved ducky keyboard which I have sprayed to match my current theme, I was googling keycaps to try match my build further.
Sadly the ones I want cost an arm and a leg and came accross a YouTube video of artisan keycap making.
Fast foward a whole week of watching each night different techniques and ways to make the molds, I settled down and placed some orders.
I managed to get my order for mold star 30 which is a 1:1 ratio so even a idiot like me can't bugger up and then some dala epoxi resin kits which were on special for R100 a pack of 2x 100ml bottles.
Now this won't get me far but as an interest and hobbyies I claim to be I thought maybe I could do this.
After many unsuccessful 3d prints and stl files I was searching for hoping for a perfect starting point.
I realized most of the people purchased their mold bases which is made from aluminum, so nice and durable and strong which they can then make the mold from.
However avoiding the costs I found a file online which had just what I wanted.
The puzzle style mold box
Next the master base where a keycap would go on and stem base which gives the indent inside the keycap which then fits onto the keyboard
Unfortunately after mixing 100% carefully and pouring my newly formed mold and left overnight.
The very next morning in my haste of wanting to see how the it came out I removed the keycap part and looked perfect. Next the stem... And bam the storks had snapped thus not forming the perfect indent.
I tried a few more times only to realize I was wasting resources trying to get the stem hard enuf that they wouldn't snap however it being so thin I was fighting a losing battle.
Today I came accross a video of a custom mold box for key cap makers called synth or something like that.
It was perfect and what I needed. However came at a price of over 100 dollar. Hell to the no.
I searched all over in hope there would be stl files but came out empty handed.
After realizing I have some basic knowledge of using tinkercad for my 3d printed files I've made over the last year, the penny dropped and I knew I could probably just make my own.
Lucky for me someone had made a stem so saved me designing one the rest I measured up and created this little masterpiece ( well I think so)
Time to hit the printers (luckily have 2 x ender 3 v2s so printing was quick)
And here is the end product
And a Lil shenrons dbz dragon model I found thought cld print it aswell just for the sake to give me some inspiration for when I get to modeling my own keycaps this weekend.
Thats all for today.
The mold making continues soon, and then onto resin casting some cool keycaps
Sent from my ELS-NX9 using Tapatalk
So whilst staring at my beloved ducky keyboard which I have sprayed to match my current theme, I was googling keycaps to try match my build further.
Sadly the ones I want cost an arm and a leg and came accross a YouTube video of artisan keycap making.
Fast foward a whole week of watching each night different techniques and ways to make the molds, I settled down and placed some orders.
I managed to get my order for mold star 30 which is a 1:1 ratio so even a idiot like me can't bugger up and then some dala epoxi resin kits which were on special for R100 a pack of 2x 100ml bottles.
Now this won't get me far but as an interest and hobbyies I claim to be I thought maybe I could do this.
After many unsuccessful 3d prints and stl files I was searching for hoping for a perfect starting point.
I realized most of the people purchased their mold bases which is made from aluminum, so nice and durable and strong which they can then make the mold from.
However avoiding the costs I found a file online which had just what I wanted.
The puzzle style mold box
Next the master base where a keycap would go on and stem base which gives the indent inside the keycap which then fits onto the keyboard
Unfortunately after mixing 100% carefully and pouring my newly formed mold and left overnight.
The very next morning in my haste of wanting to see how the it came out I removed the keycap part and looked perfect. Next the stem... And bam the storks had snapped thus not forming the perfect indent.
I tried a few more times only to realize I was wasting resources trying to get the stem hard enuf that they wouldn't snap however it being so thin I was fighting a losing battle.
Today I came accross a video of a custom mold box for key cap makers called synth or something like that.
It was perfect and what I needed. However came at a price of over 100 dollar. Hell to the no.
I searched all over in hope there would be stl files but came out empty handed.
After realizing I have some basic knowledge of using tinkercad for my 3d printed files I've made over the last year, the penny dropped and I knew I could probably just make my own.
Lucky for me someone had made a stem so saved me designing one the rest I measured up and created this little masterpiece ( well I think so)
Time to hit the printers (luckily have 2 x ender 3 v2s so printing was quick)
And here is the end product
And a Lil shenrons dbz dragon model I found thought cld print it aswell just for the sake to give me some inspiration for when I get to modeling my own keycaps this weekend.
Thats all for today.
The mold making continues soon, and then onto resin casting some cool keycaps
Sent from my ELS-NX9 using Tapatalk
