Replacing a set of personalized keycaps for the beloved CNC machining mechanical keyboard is something that many players will do. Yesterday, I counted the advantages and disadvantages of common materials of key caps. Today, I will talk about the processing technology of key cap characters to see how they are different. At present, laser engraving technology is the most widely used in machinery. When making the key cap, the manufacturer shall add some special foaming agent into the key cap. Then use the laser to ablate the surface of the key cap, and the ablated part will show the opposite tone to the key cap itself.

Laser engraving is the most common process on non backlit CNC machining mechanical keyboards.

At present, laser engraving technology is the most widely used technology in the field of mechanical keyboard to make keycap characters. Basically, common non backlight keyboard keycaps are made using this technology. The carved characters can penetrate 0.2mm below the surface of the key cap, which has the advantages of low cost, convenient processing, durable wear resistance, and long use without dropping characters. However, its disadvantage is that the characters processed by laser engraving process will be slightly higher than the surface of the key cap, and the surface will show a gray color when worn. In addition, the micro pore structure inside is easy to accumulate dust, making the worn character surface look “dirty”.

Because of the use of transparent keycaps, keyboard characters can only be made by screen printing
The screen printing process is widely used in low-end film keyboards, which are rarely used on mechanical keyboards. However, limited by the material of keycaps, some keyboards are still used, such as Benji Tianji Mirror. The principle of screen printing is to cover the special screen on the key cap, in which the characters are hollow, and then use ink to scrape on the screen, so that you can print on the key cap. Although the cost of screen printing is also very low, compared with the laser etching process, the life of the key cap is much shorter, which is often seen on the film with lower cost. Screen printing+UV coating is also a very common key cap process for film, which is to cover a layer of UV coating on the basis of screen printing. Compared with simple screen printing, the service life of screen printing can be extended to a certain extent.

Black Widow Spider Ultimate mechanical keyboard uses hollow keycaps, which is also the most common keycap technology on the backlit mechanical keyboard.

Keycaps made by laser engraving or screen printing are not transparent. Backlit keycaps are most commonly used on backlit keyboards, such as hollow keycaps. The key cap itself is made of translucent material. After the injection molding is completed, the surface is sprayed with light shielding material, and then the character position is hollowed out to expose the original translucent material for light transmission.

The hollow key cap has excellent appearance and touch, but its disadvantages are the same as that of ABS, and it is easy to oil.

The hollow transparent key cap is easy to make, the surface characters are diversified, and the touch is comfortable. It is very good both in appearance and actual use. However, like ABS key cap, it has the disadvantages of low surface abrasion resistance and easy oiling. However, based on the appearance and feel of use, the hollow transparent key cap is still the standard choice for high-end backlit CNC machining mechanical keyboard.
Laser engraving, screen printing, hollowing and other processes are common key cap processes in machinery. In recent years, with the rise of low-cost mechanical keyboards, two-color injection molding key caps have begun to be popular. Two color injection molding keycaps are made of plastic materials of two different colors. First, the characters in the keycaps are made, and then the complete shape of the keycaps is injected outside.

The low end two-color injection molding key cap cannot achieve character closure (note the opening below ALT key “A”).

Because the characters of the two-color injection molding keycap are directly injected with plastic, there is absolutely no problem of missing characters. Because of this feature, the transparent keycap made by two-color injection molding technology is widely used on low-end and middle end backlit mechanical keyboards. However, since it is still made of ABS material, the phenomenon of oiling still exists.

This problem does not exist in high-end two-color injection molding keycaps

However, this does not mean that the keycaps made by the two-color injection molding process are all cheap products. In fact, the keycaps made by the two-color injection molding process can definitely be called the nobles of keycaps. For example, GMK and SP keycaps, which are popular with players, usually cost hundreds to thousands of yuan. The biggest difference between the cheap dichroic key cap and the high-end dichroic key cap is mainly shown in the manufacturing process. The most obvious feature is that due to the process, the cheap dichroic key cap cannot be completely closed at the positions with closed field characters such as “O”, “B” and “R”, while the high end key cap does not have this problem.

The thermal sublimation keycap used in the Realforce electrostatic capacitance keyboard has an extremely unique texture

The rarest key cap manufacturing process is the thermal sublimation (thermal immersion) technology. Since only a few high-end products are used, ordinary users rarely see it. The most representative product is the key cap used by Realforce electrostatic capacitance keyboard. Solid resin ink is used for thermal sublimation. The solid resin ink will sublimate under high temperature and then penetrate into the key cap to sublimate. With the key cap made by this process, characters can go deep into the surface of the key cap and form a whole with the key cap itself, so it is better in gloss and firmness.