Printing method / Service for printing directly on keyboard keycaps?
October 24, 2010 7:34 AM Subscribe
What is the printing method or technology used by 'custom' keyboard makers like kbcovers.com and logickeyboard on their products?
I'm trying to source the type of direct-on-keycap printing that one see from "custom" keyboard makers like kbcovers.com and the "advance" line from logickeyboard.com. I'm not looking to make rubber or silicone overlays but to find out about what kind of technology is required to print directly on the keyboard keycaps. It may be two different methods; the look of the finished product has a thickness that would suggest some kind of screen printing, but also I have one the products from kbcovers and it almost looks like they used some kind of paint-jet machine on it. You can see horizontal lines if you hold it in the right light, like you can with inket prints.
Some links:
I'm trying to source the type of direct-on-keycap printing that one see from "custom" keyboard makers like kbcovers.com and the "advance" line from logickeyboard.com. I'm not looking to make rubber or silicone overlays but to find out about what kind of technology is required to print directly on the keyboard keycaps. It may be two different methods; the look of the finished product has a thickness that would suggest some kind of screen printing, but also I have one the products from kbcovers and it almost looks like they used some kind of paint-jet machine on it. You can see horizontal lines if you hold it in the right light, like you can with inket prints.
Some links:
Pad printing is correct. I worked for many years as a printer, and my forays into pad work were done almost solely to print keyboards for my boss' weird little projects.
That and golfballs, of course.
posted by broadway bill at 10:12 AM on October 24, 2010
That and golfballs, of course.
posted by broadway bill at 10:12 AM on October 24, 2010
Response by poster: Hi, thanks for answering, and for those links -
but I'm not sure those are right. I suppose it needs more explanation. The one from kbcovers includes coloring of the keys from edge to edge and then a further image printed on top. The keyboard itself is a standard Apple USB "thin" keyboard, they are just putting it through some kind of machine I think to apply printed images to the keys. I suspect that they use some kind of custom-cut mask to fit over the keys to prevent any pigment getting on to the area surrounding the keys too, as one can spot a bit of overflow around some of the edges.
What I was wondering was if someone knew of a type of printing that fitted this description -- i.e. that you were essentially doing a kind of computer controlled painting on to a surface, which would create the kind of durable image that could withstand typing -- and what such a machine might be called so I might find one where I am in Berlin.
If no one else has any ideas I'll take some pictures of the keyboard I have, when I get back home in about a week. It'll be clear then how different it is from creating custom key caps, which is the case with the higher end lines of keyboards from logickeyboard.com. It is only their "advance" (lower cost) line which uses the technique I'm interested in and which is similar to what kbcovers is doing, and I believe it is dependent on the Apple keyboard too, because the Apple USB keyboard's keys are absolutely flat. So this particular approach may be unique in that sense
posted by lunelson at 7:11 AM on October 25, 2010
but I'm not sure those are right. I suppose it needs more explanation. The one from kbcovers includes coloring of the keys from edge to edge and then a further image printed on top. The keyboard itself is a standard Apple USB "thin" keyboard, they are just putting it through some kind of machine I think to apply printed images to the keys. I suspect that they use some kind of custom-cut mask to fit over the keys to prevent any pigment getting on to the area surrounding the keys too, as one can spot a bit of overflow around some of the edges.
What I was wondering was if someone knew of a type of printing that fitted this description -- i.e. that you were essentially doing a kind of computer controlled painting on to a surface, which would create the kind of durable image that could withstand typing -- and what such a machine might be called so I might find one where I am in Berlin.
If no one else has any ideas I'll take some pictures of the keyboard I have, when I get back home in about a week. It'll be clear then how different it is from creating custom key caps, which is the case with the higher end lines of keyboards from logickeyboard.com. It is only their "advance" (lower cost) line which uses the technique I'm interested in and which is similar to what kbcovers is doing, and I believe it is dependent on the Apple keyboard too, because the Apple USB keyboard's keys are absolutely flat. So this particular approach may be unique in that sense
posted by lunelson at 7:11 AM on October 25, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Mitheral at 8:27 AM on October 24, 2010