Mechanical Keyboard Sound Isn't That Simple
Figure 1: I couldn't think of a more literal way to represent this article if I tried... Looking back just a few years ago, there’s no doubt that the huge influx of people that joined the hobby at the peak of the COVID pandemic were drawn to keyboards by way of YouTube, TikTok, and other audio-visual content platforms. Even as the output from these content creators has waned in recent months, their collective impact and legacy on the keyboard hobby is rather firmly etched in the history books. As a result of all of their sound tests, build logs, and opinion videos, the message is clear to any new person joining the hobby: mechanical keyboards are all about the sound. Thock this, clack that. Whether it’s keyboards, keycaps, or even singular switches, seemingly everyone new to the hobby meticulously pores over each component of their keyboard not in an attempt to figure out how it will feel in hand, but how it will sound as they’re furiously grinding their way out from...
Mar 27, 2024
"Just make it more purple" With tooling and production issues mentioned above, another absolutely crucial issue is the color of the resin used for the keycap (or legend). Contrary to most people’s assumptions, the plastic (resin) is not made at or by the keycap factory, it’s made at a separate factory that specializes in making very specific colored plastic. Making colorful plastic is an extremely complicated and delicate science and once again, is drastically different from the digital world. Large batches of resin need to be mixed in order to properly run through an injection molding machine (can’t just make a gallon of it and call it a day), and if the colors don’t look quite right, the process needs to be repeated. Sending feedback to the resin manufacturer and having them make a new batch, and transporting that to the factory, is a process that typically takes weeks. Not only that, but each time a color sample is struck from a keycap machine, if we want to sample a different color, the entire machine needs to be flushed clean of the old resin otherwise the colors will get contaminated. Another important concept to note is that plastic colors will appear to be different depending on their environment or background. A “sample chip” of purple will look considerably darker (or lighter) when that sample purple resin has been injected into a black (or white) keycap enclosure. This is why purely working off of Pantones (or other solid color samples) isn’t perfect, because the colors independently may look great, but when used as a stenciled keycap legend, the perception of the color changes drastically. This is particularly true if you compare a physical product to an image on a monitor, as the color interactions are drastically different. For these reasons, the color matching and tooling process is by far the most time consuming process when making custom keycaps- and it typically takes many months (sometimes over a year…). It’s also the primary reason for delays with keycap production, because we’d rather “get it right” than “just get it done”. While we generally budget time for 3-5 sample runs, we occasionally end up needing 10 sample runs which ultimately results in 5 months of delays. Step 3: Production Once the tooling is set and the resin colors are determined we can move into the production stage. Depending on the size of the run, the production portion takes anywhere from 1-4 weeks for a typical keycap order of thousands of kits. Most people think of the production phase as being the major bottleneck but as discussed above, it typically isn’t! Also, to contrast the efficiency difference, most mass produced keyboard brands have spent 6 months working through calibrating Step 2, and then spend years producing the same lifeless keycaps all day every day. With the custom sets that enthusiasts are used to, 5 months is spent calibrating, and only 1 month is spent in production, and then the whole process repeats itself! Step 4: Packaging We wish there was a machine that put keycaps into trays or bags for us, but at these levels of production it isn’t economically feasible. Packaging of keycaps is a slow and manual process that simply involves human beings grabbing them and placing them in QWERTY order into their slots and gently sealing the packaging. There is room for human error here, which is why the occasional keycap set may be missing the “J” key or have a second 9 instead of a 6-key. Packaging does give us an extra opportunity to run quality control and have a final set of eyes on every keycap before it ships. Step 5: Shipping Bulk orders are shipped to our warehouse via airplane cargo (ocean liners take ~6 weeks). Each keycap set is counted, unloaded, and shelved. It’s then ready to be picked, packed and shipped to you! We hope this write-up gave you some interesting insight into the keycap production process. If you have any questions, leave a comment below!