Let’s be honest, our PC keyboards are gray and boring and there’s nothing worse than having something we built to our liking and seeing something generic in the middle. Fortunately, for some time keycaps, cover, caps or key caps of all kinds have appeared. From different colors to famous franchises. Well, if you are thinking of changing the aesthetics of your keyboard, we are going to teach you how to choose custom key covers for the same.
One of the advantages of mechanical keyboards is the fact that we can separate the key cover, which is what we press when we type, from what is the switch, which is what sends the signal when it is depressed. Which greatly facilitates the fact of being able to clean them, but at the same time gives us the possibility of changing these plugs for others when they wear out over time, for the same or for different ones. In the latter case, either for aesthetic reasons, because it is in our interest to visually differentiate the other keys from the others.
How to Choose Custom Keycaps for Your Mechanical Keyboard
The first thing you need to consider when buying new keycaps for your keyboard is the layout of the keys on it. Since we remember that there are ANSI and ISO key layouts where the key size is not the same in both cases and neither is the layout. Another problem you may encounter is that your keyboard has some keys with non-standard dimensions, in which case bad luck and you will have to use 3D printing to replace them.
The second important point is to take into account the type of switch that our mechanical keyboard uses, because the modeling of the covers will depend on the type of switch that they will end up covering. The most typical? The Cherry MX or compatible, whose bare switches have a cross shape as seen in the image below these lines.
Among those compatible with Cherry MX, we can find two sub-variants. The DSAs in case we want lower keys and the SAs in case we need them higher. Although in general what you are going to find the most are custom keys compatible with Cherry MX. By the way, some keyboard brands use proprietary switches and also unique keys. So the only way to modify them is in many cases to use 3D printing.
What types of personalized key covers are there?
The first are of the Pudding type, they are the keys to a life and they come in two different plastic materials, ABS and PBT. The normal thing is that the keys are that this type of keys are sold as complete sets under a specific theme.
- The ABS type is much cheaper and that’s why they’re common, they’re made of a thinner, more brittle plastic and have a shinier finish. Its quality and duration are therefore lower, but it is a type of plastic that allows the use of a greater range of colors.
- On the other hand, those of the PBT type are made of a more durable and resistant plastic, so they have a much longer lifespan. The problem is that they allow much more limited customization.
As for the handcrafted ones, they are usually very expensive individually, due to the fact that it is usually an artisan work in resin, wood or even an intricate 3D print. Just take a look at some of them to see how impressive the finish is and they are not meant to replace an entire keyboard, just a few of them. In some cases, they can reach as much or more than an entire keyboard. They won’t make your keyboard work better, but if you’re interested in any of these custom keycaps, keep in mind that you can find complete sets on websites like Etsy, where you can get in touch with the creators and have your own personalized keys.
