Printer settings makes difference

I'm an otaku.


I've found printer settings make much difference.


Left is default, right is tuned. Forget chroma depth difference. That is because temperature control. ABS dye-sub is impossible... Pay attention to dither fineness. Tuned settings is far better. The key is speed vs. quality slider in printer settings.

ABS dye-sub is impossible

I've abandoned ABS. Longer keycaps deform under the temperature of sublimation. I'll buy PBT and try to return unused ABS for seller (my fault).


My keycaps on keyboard:

Struggles to temperature control

Woops... Too cold.


They are all because the keycaps are ABS. PBT keycaps don't deform under this degree.

I've found Keycapsdirect sells PBT white blank full-set keycaps. I should buy them, but I have 4 more ABS blank keycap sets yet. I will do my best.

For Comiket 85 participant: I will display my keycaps at Tue west ら42a. I'm trying to sell them at there.

Mass production test

Mass production test:


The keycaps are ABS. I misunderstood they are PBT when I bought. Temperature control is difficult. You can see some keycaps are deformed. Furthermore, even when the control is OK, keycap's top becomes glossy a little... But I couldn't find PBT white blank full-set keycaps. I've found tenkey-less, but not full-set yet.

First try to keycaps

First try result...


The process:

Keycaps images...

My second 3D sublimation DIY

It becomes far better.

My first DIY 3D sublimation

The problem is a vacuum former with heater.



Vacuum by vacuum cleaner. Heater is heat gun. Keycap mount is the heart of this instrument. Sublimation transfer sheet is not very flexible, so I made flat plane by keycap mount.

Result:



Terrible.

Cause:

1. There was gap between sheet and keycap.

2. There was airflow at the gap.

What should I do?:

Sealant like silicone grease may be a solution for the airflow. The gap is more difficult. It suggests insufficient pressure. Better keycap mount? More powerful vacuum cleaner? Or should I abandon vacuum and modify electric hot plate? I'll try better sealing first tomorrow...

Blank keycaps and 3D sublimation

How can I make APL keyboard?

There were many APL keyboards in the past. There was even APL portable machine. These are definitely cute, but too hard to DIY. So I've decided to imitate IBM's PC keyboard. The keyboard is common PC keyboard, but keycaps' legends indicate APL symbols. Now my problem is:

1. Get blank keycaps.

2. Print legends on them.

3. Swap the keycaps for common keyboard's common keycaps.
Easy, isn't it?

You can buy blank keycaps at WASD Keyboards. If you are patient enough, not finicky and ready to pay much, you may order printing to WASD Keyboards. But I'm impatient, finicky, mean and love DIY.

How can I print legends on blank keycaps? Keycap is complex three-dimensional object.

After a long long googling, I've got the conclusion: 3D sublimation.

Dye sublimation for T shirt is in common use. You prepare a inkjet printer, swap the ink for dye-sub ink, print on dye-sub paper and transfer the ink to T shirt by iron. 3D sublimation apples this technology for curved surface. It uses thermoplastic film instead of paper, vacuum-former with heater instead of iron.

What I need is:

1. Inkjet printer.

2. Dye-sub ink.

3. Thermoplastic film for 3D sublimation.

4. Vacuum-former with heater.

1, 2 and 3 sell at Aliexpress. 4 is the name of the game.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and DIY the APL Keyboard

Hello. This blog is not "How to DIY your custom keycaps".It is a log of struggling days.

Recently I read a book, "Masterminds of Programming: Conversations with the Creators of Major Programming Languages." (By translation, of course.) In a chapter, the author interviewed APL's key person.

I knew APL. APL is a programming language which has been developed before C. Like many before-C-language, APL seems bizarre in the eyes of today. It uses a lot of mathematical symbols as primitive operators. These symbols are typed directly with keyboard, just like as alphabets, numbers and few mathematical operators(*, -, =, + and so on) today. As a matter of course, APL requires special keyboard!

As it happens, recently I read another book which mentions APL. "A Demon of Our Own Design: Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovation." The author chronicles the golden age of APL. In 80's quants loved APL. The book is the first voice of the real APL ecosystem which I've heard.

In this way, I've interested in APL.

So I want an APL keyboard. I don't use APL, but it looks cool. My keyboard is worn out just in time. I've googled much and got a conclution: There is no brand-new APL keyboard available today. Secondhand is very rare, of course.

OK, I make it.