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If you use the right ink, the right plastic keycaps made for mechanical keyboards, and the right settings on your laser, you can effectively dye-sublimate any design you want.
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this post was submitted on 25 May 2024
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What specific inks are you using?
I've gotten surprisingly decent results with dry-erase marker ink on a cheapo 1.5w laser, but the black is by 10x the best colour at adhesion. Would love to expand the palette.
I'm using Cricut Infusible Ink markers. They were pretty much made for this, using heat to dye polyester-based materials, like PBT. I just have a 5w diode laser, and I do it "low and slow," 2% power and 45mm/minute. Black and blue still work best, but the red (pink) and green can be nice too.
I have done two entire keyboards worth. The gray DSA i did in black are holding up great, but the legends went on wonky because I hadn't refined my workflow. The next batch I did was on this same type of white XDA but while alignment was vastly improved, the ink didn't go on as well. The only thing I did differently with these two was make sure to clean the caps with IPA first.