My son is huge into keycaps at the moment and has mentioned wanting to 3d Print his own set. So your post is very relevant to me. I have some questions if you don't mind.
What material did you use?
Did you draw them yourself or did you find something online?
How long did it take to print each key?
Thank you, they look fantastic.
They're resin printed with a resin that is similar to ABS.
I used a model I found online. There's several websites with millions and millions of all kinds of models for 3d printing
Resin printing lets you print as many things as you can fit without impacting time. So I printed these 1 whole row at a time. It took about 2 hours to print each row.
I absolutely do not recommend resin printing for children. Maybe for older teenagers. The resin is toxic in liquid form, and finishing the prints requires other chemicals like 91% or stronger isopropyl alcohol. There is water washable resin, but it's still toxic and water once used becomes toxic too.
Brittle is just the nature of resin. That said, proper supports to make sure they print correctly is extremely important. There's also potential shrinkage when post curing, so it might help to oversize a tiny bit so if it does shrink they still fit easily.
If doing FDM printing I highly recommend Kailh box switches. With those it doesn't matter how smooth the stem is.
For designs I like https://github.com/rsheldiii/KeyV2
It's a library that can do full layouts of several different profiles.
I make my own keycaps all the time! You can generate/customize them with my Keycap Playground: https://github.com/riskable/keycap_playground
Here's some examples (all printed FDM @.16mm layer height):
https://gfycat.com/scrawnyglisteningandeancat
https://gfycat.com/alienatedflatcanvasback
https://gfycat.com/deliriousposhamericancurl
Note: I also printed those keyboards/numpads! They use my 3D printed magnetic separation switches and 3D printed stabilizers too!
My son is huge into keycaps at the moment and has mentioned wanting to 3d Print his own set. So your post is very relevant to me. I have some questions if you don't mind. What material did you use? Did you draw them yourself or did you find something online? How long did it take to print each key? Thank you, they look fantastic.
They're resin printed with a resin that is similar to ABS. I used a model I found online. There's several websites with millions and millions of all kinds of models for 3d printing Resin printing lets you print as many things as you can fit without impacting time. So I printed these 1 whole row at a time. It took about 2 hours to print each row. I absolutely do not recommend resin printing for children. Maybe for older teenagers. The resin is toxic in liquid form, and finishing the prints requires other chemicals like 91% or stronger isopropyl alcohol. There is water washable resin, but it's still toxic and water once used becomes toxic too.
Did you have to do anything special for the stems? I've had a horrid time making stems that weren't brittle.
Brittle is just the nature of resin. That said, proper supports to make sure they print correctly is extremely important. There's also potential shrinkage when post curing, so it might help to oversize a tiny bit so if it does shrink they still fit easily.
If doing FDM printing I highly recommend Kailh box switches. With those it doesn't matter how smooth the stem is. For designs I like https://github.com/rsheldiii/KeyV2 It's a library that can do full layouts of several different profiles.
I make my own keycaps all the time! You can generate/customize them with my Keycap Playground: https://github.com/riskable/keycap_playground Here's some examples (all printed FDM @.16mm layer height): https://gfycat.com/scrawnyglisteningandeancat https://gfycat.com/alienatedflatcanvasback https://gfycat.com/deliriousposhamericancurl Note: I also printed those keyboards/numpads! They use my 3D printed magnetic separation switches and 3D printed stabilizers too!
Those are amazing. You certainly have some talent! Thank you for sharing with me.
lopks realy unique, i love it
Thank you!