Detailed breakdown of video. 0:00 to 1:32 Make mold to duplicate basic key shape. This step only needs to be done once per basic key size. 1:33 to 1:46 Duplicate basic key shape (need to do this for each unique keycap glyph). I would suspect one would make a hundred or so ahead of time. 1:47 to 1:57 Mount key shape into machining fixture. Notice that fixture allows for minor variations in base thickness, yet will result in exact placement of the key top itself. 1:58 to 2:51 Machine entire surface of key shape, leaving only desired glyph intact. This will represent shape of the first shot of resin for a new keycap. 2:52 to 3:35 Make four mold halves. Those being 1 Top half of glyph (1st shot). 2 Top half of full key shape. 3. Bottom half of glyph (1st shot) 4. Bottom half of full key shape. Includes stem to mount to key switch. Wooden dowels are for alignment and to provide an escape path for air while injecting resin. 3:36 to 3:43 Top half of mold for entire keycap (2nd shot) 3:44 to 3:50 Top half of mold for glyph (1st shot) 3:51 to 4:09 Bottom half of mold for entire keycap. Notice cavity for key stem (2nd shot) 4:10 to 4:19 Bottom half of mold for glyph (1st shot) 4:20 to 4:32 Assembly of mold for glyph. 4:32 to 4:35 Filling of mold for glyph (1st shot). 4:36 to 4:44 Removal of 1st shot from mold. 4:45 to 4:50 Placing glyph into fixture for drilling. 4:51 to 5:04 Drilling of 1st shot for flow and anchor holes. These holes will permit the flow of resin to reach all areas around the desired glyph and mechanically anchor the 1st and 2nd shots together. 5:05 to 5:09 Assembly of final mold with 1st shot inside. 5:10 to 5:11 Injection of resin for 2nd shot. 5:12 to 5:13 Removal of keycap from mold. Overall, a very nice little process. The making the molds only needs to be done once and the molds could then be reused many times until they wear out. Only the steps from 4:20 onwards needs to be done for each individual keycap.
First, awesome keycaps. But I was asking myself, if it wouldn´t have been easier to do the keycaps almost completely with the cnc instead of the molds. Is there a benefitial treat to do the molds?
@@markussteinbach8842 There's two critical issues to deal with. 1. The key stem that has to fit on the key switch. Effectively invisible, but critical for the keycap to be functional. 2. The keycap top. I could see him using CNC on white plastic and do everything about the keycap, then overcast in resin to get the double shot appearance. But in doing so, that would leave the key step in an unusable state. And hence, the keycap would be useless. If he has a 5 axis machine, it may be possible to CNC the inner white plastic if it's on its side instead of simply upright. That would allow access to both the top and bottom of the key insert. But it would be difficult, and I don't know how the side of the insert that the insert was supported by could be removed to make it invisible on the finished keycap.
@@johncochran8497 thanks for the replying. The argument for doubleshot makes sense. But what ist your opinion, If you do a sublimated keycap with a single color? My idea was to CNC the keycap in two passes. From top and from the bottom. I don't See anything where a 5 Axis CNC would bei needed. Is the surface Clean enough?
@@johncochran8497 valid question. If I want to stay OEM, that ist far easier. Other than that, would the finish of the keycap with a CNC be on par with your molding. For example, If you would want to make your own keycap design.
Congratulations you have achieved my highest applause a thumbs up and IV subscribed and left this comment at times I thought I could do this at home DIY but your skills are beyond that WELL DONE MISTER
not gonna lie, this is art. this is different from industrial process, this is how to impress and present to us, about making, crafting, and processing an art from a keycaps.. hands down
As an 'I must do every step of the process for myself' type of diy person this is exactly the thing I was looking for to figure out what I would need for this process - only tens of thousands of dollars to go and then I can make my own double shot keys!
Not that you hadn't demonstrated it already at this point in the video, but when I saw you do the final machining in that metal fixture plate I blurted out loud, "yeah, this guy is legit." That was so impressive (and I'm a hobby CNC router owner, thinking of all the ways that what did was super difficult with respect to accuracy and repeatability). Amazing work!
"Double shot" means the keycap is made in two pieces that fit together. This video was about the process for the inside bit that makes the legend for one keycap.
In our next video, we will be donating a significant portion of our lives to make the numlock key. Quite an exciting key. When you press it,the number keys don't work.
I was so confused by everything in this video then the end was so amazingly satisfying. So many skills and hours go into fabricating this one tiny part. 5 minutes ago I didn't know this hobby existed haha. Excited to see more!
In the beginning I was like "Legos? Wow maybe I can do this." Then they pull out the million dollar automated drill scribe and I'm like "maybe not..." 🥺
Very elaborate process and incredibly educational!!! Thanks for this masterclass! (having that under "The ride of the Valkyries" soundtrack didn't hurt either :)
The use of Lego here makes me feel dumb for building things out of Lego as a kid when all the while I could have been using it for practical things like this.
The whole video shows a method of creating keycaps called double shot. Basically you have two sets of materials, one for the legends (in this case it's the custom logo) and then the base. It creates a very durable and smooth keycaps which legends wouldn't wear with time unlike legends that are printed or painted into the keycaps (though nowadays people have discovered very good printing that's very durable too). It also takes much longer process, like these three keycaps took him three days to make. So he first created the custom logo legend sculpt (the whole process of the first half of the video with the machine cutting), then he created a mold for the custom logo legend (the thing with the wooden pins) so it can be fit into many keycaps molds afterwards. After that, he uses the freshly made legend mold to make the actual legend for the keycap (where he shot white liquid into the mold) and cleaned it up after it dries (the machine cutting in latter part of the video). Finally he put that cleaned custom legend into an actual keycap mold, shotting inside it with black liquid, which hardens and wraps the legend snugly and beautifully. Thus, the method being called double shot. One shot for the legend, and one shot for the rest of the keycap.
To anyone saying this is a waste if time. Have you never heard of a hobby before? Absolutely no one is forcing you to build your own key caps, this guy is doing it just because he LIKES doing it. Just like how some people likes to play games, do sports, work on cars, or literally anything else.
@@keymacs Ikr, that makes you understand why the food delivery business is huge, why make when you can order, or why clean when maids exists, etc. Whats the point of having unique things when you can have a bunch of generic ones with 2 clicks.. Btw, nj! was cool to watch the process, had no idea.
Jesus christ, the dedication for every cap is insane. The fact that these are hand poured at every stage is mind boggling. Do you have to recast a new legend mold everytime?
This is a great video. I work as a machinist at a place where we make all kinds of injection molding tools for a lot of different industries, so I know a thing or two about the precision and attention to detail that go into these things.
@@jamespfitz Well, it's not cheap, I'll tell you that for free. The machines I work with in "my" area are pretty decent for finishing parts. I think they have a base price of $500K (give or take, exchange rates, etc.) And that's without a decent amount of carbide mills, fixtures, and so on. Consistent 0.003mm tolerances and polished surfaces are hard to achieve for most hobbyists.
Next level is: triple shot. That's where you add a label to the FRONT of the keycap, using a different color (such as yellow). Extremely expensive, if you can even find a place that makes them, but great for 60% keyboards due to the extra functions each key must support.
You ever just completely zone out while reading a book and by the end of the chapter, you have no clue about what the crap you just read? Yeah. That was me about 30 seconds into this video.
Holy mother of god what did i just watch 🤯 i saw the videos thumbnail and said no way he is gonna make it 5 minute. I saw the video and my mind is blown how simple and high quality, steps were shown in this video. Nice work, definitely earned the sub.
Love watching a video and thinking: "OK, I can do that. I can do that. I can do that. Shit CNC. And now there are parts he didn't show the making of, are they 3d printed? Those look like toothpicks I can handle tha... wait. Is that milled block just for pushing the toothpicks out? Do I need to buy needles?! Can you just BUY needles?! Where did this metal plate come from?! Another one?! IT'S PART OF A MOUNT FOR THE CNC?! Ugh, guess I'll have to keep buying my keycaps like a chump."
That was a ride that I was not ready for, the result might not have seemed to be worth the effort for y'all but, maybe that was never the point of the experience.
Wow! I have a new found appreciation for the keycaps. The effort and the thought that goes in. TBH I got lost multiple times in the video, not being sure of what was really going on. 🙌🙌🙌