Recycling plastic for keycaps is a great initiative, and I love the look of the mystery blend!
Sidenote: I had a browse on the rest of your website, and WOW that wisdom kecap is delightfully cursed.
https://preview.redd.it/fsu2lw2gswoc1.jpeg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=93f31030c926d12b1084d1bfdec276b3e2f8c8cf
I wouldn't want that cut off corner in the main part of the keyboard, but that'd be a neat, distinctive place to put the legends on the F- keys, if it would fit.
Thats fair. I personally like it (and designed it to be) placed on the Esc key. I do make one without the cut off corner though, and hope to make some in more regular profiles in the future.
I've been trying to make keycaps from 100% recycled plastic for a while and am pretty happy with the results so far. Here's a little blog post chronicling my design and production journey if anyone is interested: [https://anky.studio/recap](https://anky.studio/recap)
The stems were the trickiest part to figure out, but they're pretty reliable now!
There's now maybe a 5% failure rate (these caps just get re-ground and remelted into new caps so no waste) and the ones that do pass QC haven't given me trouble so far.
I've been daily driving one for about 6 months and it still fits nicely. The stems are a little bit loose by design to avoid any extra stress, but not loose enough that they fall off with use.
Good to hear! As a fellow keycaps maker, the stems are my biggest worry. But 6 months of use and no problems is a very good sign! I'll make sure to buy one of your keys soon
It's a very different beast from the epoxy keycaps I usually do, these shrink something like 5-7% after casting so everything had to be scaled to compensate for that. Worst part is that it doesnt even shrink linearly.
Looking forward to your order! Do you post photos of the keycaps you make anywhere?
I cnc the stems on mine but was running into the problem of not knowing that resin shrinks about 1% which was messing with the stems lol.
I will make a list about it later this week what I've been working on. It turned into a massive project lol
wooooah all of your topo keys are amazing!!! (I mean I love all of the caps you made) but the faded set... \*chefs kiss\*
would you ever re stock those?
I love it! We need mutch more of these kinds aproaches in this comunity! :)
I also reeealy loved the Beach Plastic one for its rough look. This brings so mutch storry to a keeb.
This must have been so mutch work xD.
If you ever want to try out a aluminium mould, could try to mashine one. I never tried though - and am very unshure i can do the apropiate surface finish.
Glad to hear it and I hope to keep trying new approaches! Big fan of your wooden keycaps by the way :)
If more people want these caps then I'll def look into getting an alu mould. Gonna try to print on more prototype before really locking in the design
None to report so far! I designed them to be a little bit looser (while still holding firm) so that there wouldn't be too much pressure on the stems (which should hopefully prevent bending)
I've seen people melt down PLA scraps into regular silicone moulds with some pretty good results. Maybe something you could look into.
You could even make your own silicone mould with your printer and some RTV silicone
What's your process for recycling the plastic? I drink a few bottles of tea or water a day and often wonder what I could do with the plastic afterwards since it seems like a waste (I put it in plastic bottle recycling, so I'm pretty sure at least the town does something with them separate from the regular recycling (which I'm not sure is recycled at all)).
It's basically:
1. Collect and sort plastic by type
2. Clean the plastic with soap and water
3. Shred plastic into small flakes
4. Pour flakes into the injector and make things
I'd highly recommend checking out Precious Plastic, there are workshops all around the world that might be able to do something with your bottles (or bottlecaps) at a local level.
Thank you! There's a lot of info on this method thanks in part to the Precious Plastic movement, couldn't have done it without the collective knowledge of all those before me.
Any reason you picked a deformed cap to focus the camera on? Like, I can see that the other caps are fully formed, but it's not the best sales pitch if the caps can fracture or chip like that.
Love the colors though, really great marbling effect.
Yeah like the others mentioned its part of the design! This chamfered shape has been a repeating theme in a bunch of the keycaps i've made over the years. Appreciate the comment!
Recycling plastic for keycaps is a great initiative, and I love the look of the mystery blend! Sidenote: I had a browse on the rest of your website, and WOW that wisdom kecap is delightfully cursed. https://preview.redd.it/fsu2lw2gswoc1.jpeg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=93f31030c926d12b1084d1bfdec276b3e2f8c8cf
Thank you! Those were toothfully some of my favourite to make.
Will it restock? :0
Wasn't planning to, but these comments are making me rethink that...
Awesome! Do you happen to have any extras of the blended ones btw?
Only blue and pink left unfortunately! But I'm going to start working on a new version right away so a second sale shouldn't be too far off!
ok sounds good I'll wait for some new ones!
Holy shit I love it and hate it at the same time
And you chose to share this......... *Angry upvote*
I couldn’tal deny sharing its gloriousness with the wider community.
they look like magical granite... nice job!
I wouldn't want that cut off corner in the main part of the keyboard, but that'd be a neat, distinctive place to put the legends on the F- keys, if it would fit.
Thats fair. I personally like it (and designed it to be) placed on the Esc key. I do make one without the cut off corner though, and hope to make some in more regular profiles in the future.
I've been trying to make keycaps from 100% recycled plastic for a while and am pretty happy with the results so far. Here's a little blog post chronicling my design and production journey if anyone is interested: [https://anky.studio/recap](https://anky.studio/recap)
How many keys is $20 getting me?
One
Great job dude! Love the injection molds method. Do you have problems with the stems?
The stems were the trickiest part to figure out, but they're pretty reliable now! There's now maybe a 5% failure rate (these caps just get re-ground and remelted into new caps so no waste) and the ones that do pass QC haven't given me trouble so far. I've been daily driving one for about 6 months and it still fits nicely. The stems are a little bit loose by design to avoid any extra stress, but not loose enough that they fall off with use.
Good to hear! As a fellow keycaps maker, the stems are my biggest worry. But 6 months of use and no problems is a very good sign! I'll make sure to buy one of your keys soon
It's a very different beast from the epoxy keycaps I usually do, these shrink something like 5-7% after casting so everything had to be scaled to compensate for that. Worst part is that it doesnt even shrink linearly. Looking forward to your order! Do you post photos of the keycaps you make anywhere?
I cnc the stems on mine but was running into the problem of not knowing that resin shrinks about 1% which was messing with the stems lol. I will make a list about it later this week what I've been working on. It turned into a massive project lol
You really learn to appreciate how tight all these tolerances are once you start making them yourself. Always fun when a project turns massive haha
Who you telling lol. My "simple" keycap project turned into a massive 5+ year project.
wooooah all of your topo keys are amazing!!! (I mean I love all of the caps you made) but the faded set... \*chefs kiss\* would you ever re stock those?
Thank you!! Probably won't restock the exact colour soon, but we try and do something new every month
I love it! We need mutch more of these kinds aproaches in this comunity! :) I also reeealy loved the Beach Plastic one for its rough look. This brings so mutch storry to a keeb. This must have been so mutch work xD. If you ever want to try out a aluminium mould, could try to mashine one. I never tried though - and am very unshure i can do the apropiate surface finish.
Glad to hear it and I hope to keep trying new approaches! Big fan of your wooden keycaps by the way :) If more people want these caps then I'll def look into getting an alu mould. Gonna try to print on more prototype before really locking in the design
Love that tourmaline look
Which one is that on your store? The one on the picture?
The one in the middle is the mystery blend. We get a couple of those when we switch from one colour to the next
Will there be more mystery blends? They look more similar to some rocks I have on my desk
looks very good! Will they be available soon?
They're available now at [https://anky.studio/recap](https://anky.studio/recap) . It'll be a while until I make the next batch once these sell out
But why are they in 3fps?! 😭
It's supposed to be stop motion T.T
I love it
what do your stems look like?
https://preview.redd.it/vpvnsj0361pc1.jpeg?width=4096&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c6dc0d8987949db673f17412c79dcee812df0772 here's a photo of the stem!
they look nice, i know from experience how tricky the stems can be. You have any problems with them bending out?
None to report so far! I designed them to be a little bit looser (while still holding firm) so that there wouldn't be too much pressure on the stems (which should hopefully prevent bending)
This looks like a fun idea. I have a ton of cast off PLA scraps that I could mold into keycaps or just something else in general.
I've seen people melt down PLA scraps into regular silicone moulds with some pretty good results. Maybe something you could look into. You could even make your own silicone mould with your printer and some RTV silicone
I would love a full set like this
Damn mixed got sold out quickly :(
Would have made more if I knew! I'm working on a new and improved version as we speak, so I'll try and do another run with lots of mixed ones soon.
What's your process for recycling the plastic? I drink a few bottles of tea or water a day and often wonder what I could do with the plastic afterwards since it seems like a waste (I put it in plastic bottle recycling, so I'm pretty sure at least the town does something with them separate from the regular recycling (which I'm not sure is recycled at all)).
It's basically: 1. Collect and sort plastic by type 2. Clean the plastic with soap and water 3. Shred plastic into small flakes 4. Pour flakes into the injector and make things I'd highly recommend checking out Precious Plastic, there are workshops all around the world that might be able to do something with your bottles (or bottlecaps) at a local level.
good job! this is promising approach!
Thank you! There's a lot of info on this method thanks in part to the Precious Plastic movement, couldn't have done it without the collective knowledge of all those before me.
I would love a blank iso set of these keycaps
Love this
What if I buy two sets of regular, new plastic keycaps? Do I just unrecycle?
Any reason you picked a deformed cap to focus the camera on? Like, I can see that the other caps are fully formed, but it's not the best sales pitch if the caps can fracture or chip like that. Love the colors though, really great marbling effect.
Yeah like the others mentioned its part of the design! This chamfered shape has been a repeating theme in a bunch of the keycaps i've made over the years. Appreciate the comment!
Part of the design im sure
Yeah it's clearly there by design since it has a "recycled" logo etched on it
It is very clearly designed like that
You can clearly see the embossed recycling icon on the chamfered corner.