Where can I get a some kind of baseplate for custom keycaps? - eviltoast

Hi there, I am using Keychron K1 SE and wanted to switch out the orange escape-key and the lights-key with wooden keycaps. After making some small wood clips, I tried to use some sawed Lego-Parts to put them on the Cherry switches. They fit surprisingly well, but are not held in firmly enough.

Can I purchase some baseplates for custom keycaps somewhere or should I try to get them 3d-printed (I have no experience with that)?

Thanks for any help

  • sebi@lemmy.worldOP
    2·
    1 year ago

    Wow thanks for the detailed response My keycaps are like this. I personally never heard of Glorious Panda switches as I am also very new to keyboard building. And I found out that they are actually Keychrons own switches and confused them with Cherry. So far, I found no measurements of them.

    I thought there would be some cheap plastic baseplates for people to build their own keycaps, but surprisingly this isn’t a thing. And purchasing a whole set for this is straight up waste.

    • TootSweet@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      Oh, actually, another thing I’ll mention. If you want to 3d print something but don’t want to shell out for a 3d printer, there may be some options:

      • You might check with your local library to see if they offer 3d printing services. (My local library has a 3d printer that they allow anybody with a library card to use for a very reasonable per-minute-of-printing-time fee. A keycap or three would take a very short time to print.)
      • You could also check to see if there’s a hackerspace in your area that allows the general public to use any 3d printers they have.
      • I could swear Thingiverse had a feature whereby users could mark themselves as willing to do custom 3d printing for whoever might want to contact them.
      • Etsy has some shops that do custom 3d printing like this one.

      I’d imagine there are probably other cheap resources as well. The only danger here is that you might get hooked on 3d printing and have to get yourself a 3d printer.

      Also, just from a little searching, I ran across this free 3d model of a Keychron keycap that might be almost exactly what you need.

      Finally, there’s a chance that if you print something with higher resolution, you might get a slightly looser fit. So if you end up getting anything printed on a resin printer, you might need to take that into account.

      Whatever the case, good luck!

      • sebi@lemmy.worldOP
        3·
        1 year ago

        Thank you a ton for your advice. I’ll look into it. If you ever need something that has to do something with Webdesign or Music theory, please hot me up!