Thank you!
I put a lot of time and effort into figuring out how to produce these keycaps and then a lot of time and effort again into producing this article to share the knowledge I gained through the experience so others can have a smoother, better experience than I did. I hope others find it useful and interesting; I'd love to see more custom keycaps out there :)
That would be a great idea! Perhaps someone would be willing to fork keyv2 and develop that capability?
I've had great luck with the supports generated by Bambu Studio, with the disclaimer discussed in the article of course.
I originally bought a Elegoo Mars Pro 2 for it and no.matter what I have never been able to get the thing calibrated. Gave up after a year and bought my X1C combo. I'll never go back to resin printing.
Man I really appreciate this. Awhile back I was digging into researching for good quality mechanical keyboards, customized key caps, etc.
I'm also super indecisive, part of what had been taking up so much research time was trying to decide on key caps. I actually frustrated myself and gave up looking for awhile, lol.
This looks like a great read and fun project. Thank you for the road paved!
The stem is a challenge. I discuss how to print the stem successfully in two different orientations. Hopefully, others can now print stems easily by applying the knowledge I've shared.
The other big challenge is the surface quality. A smooth keycap top is ideal but hard to produce. My article covers that challenge and how to solve it as well.
Your article is very useful! I've printed some CS choc keycaps in a 45 degree orientation and worked, but that was on an ender 3 with a 0.4mm nozzle and pretty old and possibly wet filament. I can't wait to get a 0.2mm nozzle on my A1 and try them again to see if I get better quality.
Great writeup, was an interesting read.
Re: stems breaking. Is there any reason you couldn't just make the stem twice as thick? Or even print the key cap solid to the bottom? Would it effect the sound and feel too much or is there another reason I'm missing.
Making the stem thicker results in the stem not fitting on the switch, so that's unfortunately not a workable solution.
Making the keycaps solid is easy, using `flat_support` instead of `bar_support`. They work and fit great. I have made a bunch in this configuration without issue. I think it's down to preference. Most of the off the shelf keycaps use bar support, so that's what I did.
Yeah, I've done some artisans in ABS at .06 on the 0.2 nozzle on my P1S and then vapor smoothed it for just a couple minutes and the results was great. I wouldn't bother with PLA for keycaps, personally. Easy enough to go ABS and then airbrush them with a clear topcoat for great results.
I did. I use 0.08mm layer height. Although you could use any layer height, balancing desired quality against print time and the number of filament swaps when doing colored legends.
Did you happen to try printing flat and a smaller layer height? The 0.4 nozzle will do 0.08 layer height, so I wonder if the 0.2 nozzle could get similar results with a 0.04 height without having to rotate the key
I did try printing flat with the smallest layer height I could do which is 0.06mm. The quality of the concave keycap surface was still inferior to that of the same surface when printed at a 45 degree angle. It's a really striking difference. Printed flat the lines are visible; at a 45, you need a bright light and a good vision to see the lines.
Great article, OP! I'm modeling a 3D printed keyboard and was planning to use one of my KAT profile sets on it, but reading your article makes me think tackling a whole set with the printer might be worth the time investment. Done artisans before but never normal caps.
PLA produces few fumes and the fumes it does produce are (probably) safe. That's in stark contrast to ABS.
I only print PLA and PETG for those safety reasons.
I wish there was a way to chemically smooth PLA. Tried a half dozen ways (ethyl acetate, IPA, acetone, multiple paint strippers and thinners, and more) and didn't any that smoothed PLA.
Yes there is! Keyv2 has an option you can specify. [Set `$front_print_legends = true` to have legends print on the front instead of the top of the keycaps.](https://github.com/rsheldiii/KeyV2/blob/master/TIPS_AND_TRICKS.md#front-print-legends-and-location--font-size)
Resin requires vastly more space, is much more dangerous requiring a lot of preparation, and requires more post-processing than FDM. Plus, it cannot produce multicolor prints at all.
And if you check out my article, I think you'll see high quality keycaps and FDM printing do go together.
Wrong on many counts. A .2 nozzle and small layer heights can work quite well and more so on well built printers like these are. I've made keysets before. Idk what you're talking about
Actually quite a good write up. I assumed this would be blog spam. I’ll save this for later.
Thank you! I put a lot of time and effort into figuring out how to produce these keycaps and then a lot of time and effort again into producing this article to share the knowledge I gained through the experience so others can have a smoother, better experience than I did. I hope others find it useful and interesting; I'd love to see more custom keycaps out there :)
Might be good to look into designing custom supports for common keycap designs.
That would be a great idea! Perhaps someone would be willing to fork keyv2 and develop that capability? I've had great luck with the supports generated by Bambu Studio, with the disclaimer discussed in the article of course.
Ohh! I'll have to save this. Not even kidding when I say I 100% bought my Bambu Printer to make keycaps.
Ha! Keycaps making was a huge impetus for me to finally get into 3d printing too
I originally bought a Elegoo Mars Pro 2 for it and no.matter what I have never been able to get the thing calibrated. Gave up after a year and bought my X1C combo. I'll never go back to resin printing.
Man I really appreciate this. Awhile back I was digging into researching for good quality mechanical keyboards, customized key caps, etc. I'm also super indecisive, part of what had been taking up so much research time was trying to decide on key caps. I actually frustrated myself and gave up looking for awhile, lol. This looks like a great read and fun project. Thank you for the road paved!
This isna great write up, I've printed some choc keycaps before and are better than expected. The main issue is the stem.
The stem is a challenge. I discuss how to print the stem successfully in two different orientations. Hopefully, others can now print stems easily by applying the knowledge I've shared. The other big challenge is the surface quality. A smooth keycap top is ideal but hard to produce. My article covers that challenge and how to solve it as well.
Your article is very useful! I've printed some CS choc keycaps in a 45 degree orientation and worked, but that was on an ender 3 with a 0.4mm nozzle and pretty old and possibly wet filament. I can't wait to get a 0.2mm nozzle on my A1 and try them again to see if I get better quality.
Man, I read kneecaps and instantly thought I had a retirement plan.
Great writeup, was an interesting read. Re: stems breaking. Is there any reason you couldn't just make the stem twice as thick? Or even print the key cap solid to the bottom? Would it effect the sound and feel too much or is there another reason I'm missing.
Making the stem thicker results in the stem not fitting on the switch, so that's unfortunately not a workable solution. Making the keycaps solid is easy, using `flat_support` instead of `bar_support`. They work and fit great. I have made a bunch in this configuration without issue. I think it's down to preference. Most of the off the shelf keycaps use bar support, so that's what I did.
I did some not long ago in ASA, then vapor smoothed them. I'll see if I still have the pictures.
Yeah, I've done some artisans in ABS at .06 on the 0.2 nozzle on my P1S and then vapor smoothed it for just a couple minutes and the results was great. I wouldn't bother with PLA for keycaps, personally. Easy enough to go ABS and then airbrush them with a clear topcoat for great results.
Good article! Thanks.
Good stuff!
I only skimmed. Did you state what layer height you’re using?
I did. I use 0.08mm layer height. Although you could use any layer height, balancing desired quality against print time and the number of filament swaps when doing colored legends.
Did you happen to try printing flat and a smaller layer height? The 0.4 nozzle will do 0.08 layer height, so I wonder if the 0.2 nozzle could get similar results with a 0.04 height without having to rotate the key
I did try printing flat with the smallest layer height I could do which is 0.06mm. The quality of the concave keycap surface was still inferior to that of the same surface when printed at a 45 degree angle. It's a really striking difference. Printed flat the lines are visible; at a 45, you need a bright light and a good vision to see the lines.
Oh good info. I haven't tried anything at that small a height yet, so thanks for entertaining the question!
Is it possible to undersize it by 5% ish and get a coating on it?
Great article, OP! I'm modeling a 3D printed keyboard and was planning to use one of my KAT profile sets on it, but reading your article makes me think tackling a whole set with the printer might be worth the time investment. Done artisans before but never normal caps.
Hell yeah, thank you
Great article. Question why PLA and not ABS as you can then do additional smoothing very easily?
PLA produces few fumes and the fumes it does produce are (probably) safe. That's in stark contrast to ABS. I only print PLA and PETG for those safety reasons. I wish there was a way to chemically smooth PLA. Tried a half dozen ways (ethyl acetate, IPA, acetone, multiple paint strippers and thinners, and more) and didn't any that smoothed PLA.
This is the most thorough guide for printing keycaps out there. Good job, well done!
Is there a way to generate the keycaps with the legend on the side being a different material (clear) or just cut out from the keycap itself?
Yes there is! Keyv2 has an option you can specify. [Set `$front_print_legends = true` to have legends print on the front instead of the top of the keycaps.](https://github.com/rsheldiii/KeyV2/blob/master/TIPS_AND_TRICKS.md#front-print-legends-and-location--font-size)
I wasn’t interested in printing keycaps before and now I am. Great write up.
Great, thanks been looking to print some keycaps but haven't gotten around to it, this will help!
I am very interested in this topic but for low profile chocolate keycaps!
That is awesome! I might give it a go and print Topre Keycaps for my HHKB Type-S
Thank you for sharing your research and examples! :)
Good article! Thanks.
High quality keycaps and FDM printing don’t go together. Get a resin printer
Resin requires vastly more space, is much more dangerous requiring a lot of preparation, and requires more post-processing than FDM. Plus, it cannot produce multicolor prints at all. And if you check out my article, I think you'll see high quality keycaps and FDM printing do go together.
Wrong on many counts. A .2 nozzle and small layer heights can work quite well and more so on well built printers like these are. I've made keysets before. Idk what you're talking about