Parametric Keycap Veneers for Flat Laptop Keyboards

This was the ultimate attempt to make the awful flat keyboard on my laptop into something usable without looking at it constantly. These caps are meant to be printed and then adhered to the existing keyboard.

The keys size and taper can be changed. The key crown can be flat or can have one of several sorts of parametric concave relief styles (spherical, cylindrical, ellipsoidal, elongated spherical hull, etc). The keys can have bevels on any side, identifier or avoidance bumps of various sorts, and can be styled such that the concave relief spans multiple keys.

These were printed in PLA on a MakerBot Replicator 2. Sanding and cleanup was a pain, but the result was worth the effort. The functional improvement is tremendous, even if the finish looks ugly.

I already posted a discussion of my reasoning and prior experiments is on my dumb blog, but nobody will find the model unless I post something on Thingiverse.

https://epicbeardquest.blogspot.com/2020/03/improving-laptop-keyboard-with-custom.html

For more information about application and coating, see that post. I'm not going to repost all the images and stuff here.

Basic crown contour examples for alphanumeric keys

A few other styles used on the laptop

Post-Printing

Sanded keys temporarily attached during prototyping

The keys after a sloppy spray coating and final adhesion

Category: Computer