gelraen.ua 33 Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 Anyone know what material keys are made of and what's the black coating? I'm considering getting additional labels laser engraved and engraving shop is asking for these details. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
netman 1,424 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 I don't think the black is a coating, rather it's a multiple step injection molding from the looks of it. Do not know what material it is though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EskeRahn 5,460 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 1 hour ago, netman said: I don't think the black is a coating, rather it's a multiple step injection molding from the looks of it. Do not know what material it is though. I think it IS coating. More precisely i think the keys are clear, and then have some white coating, and some have a small square in yellow (or green for caps), and then finally a black coating, Similar to what Lenovo are doing (less the coloured squares). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
netman 1,424 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 4 minutes ago, EskeRahn said: I think it IS coating. More precisely i think the keys are clear, and then have some white coating, and some have a small square in yellow (or green for caps), and then finally a black coating, Similar to what Lenovo are doing (less the coloured squares). I could definitely be wrong but I am not conviced that it is a coating, I should clarify my source for this info though: simply squinting at the keys really closely. One of the keys on my unit had a tiny imperfection when it was new: what looked to me like some flaring the from the injection molding process around the letter M (this came off simply by rubbing it with my thumb a bit and now it looks perfect). On the other hand, I just took a look under a microscope and can't conclusively tell how they are made, but looking at the sides of the keys in the small gap does reveal light from the backlight suggesting the part of the keys underneath the trim that holds them is transparent as it would be with a coating... Hmm... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
elvissteinjr 359 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Which one of these two theories is more likely to explain that one unit with the upside-down 3-key, I wonder. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EskeRahn 5,460 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 1 hour ago, netman said: I could definitely be wrong but I am not conviced that it is a coating, I should clarify my source for this info though: simply squinting at the keys really closely. One of the keys on my unit had a tiny imperfection when it was new: what looked to me like some flaring the from the injection molding process around the letter M (this came off simply by rubbing it with my thumb a bit and now it looks perfect). On the other hand, I just took a look under a microscope and can't conclusively tell how they are made, but looking at the sides of the keys in the small gap does reveal light from the backlight suggesting the part of the keys underneath the trim that holds them is transparent as it would be with a coating... Hmm... Let me put it this way: I made the underscore on the PreProd unit longer by scratching... (it currently has SFOS without backlight, so can not show a usable photo...) 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
netman 1,424 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 58 minutes ago, elvissteinjr said: Which one of these two theories is more likely to explain that one unit with the upside-down 3-key, I wonder. That just means the keys are separate parts i guess 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EskeRahn 5,460 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 58 minutes ago, elvissteinjr said: Which one of these two theories is more likely to explain that one unit with the upside-down 3-key, I wonder. Either, as they both involves a hard keytop on what I assume is a clear rubber mat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EskeRahn 5,460 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 18 minutes ago, netman said: That just means the keys are separate parts i guess You should try tipping the keyboard against the light, and at the right angle it can be seen that the yellow print (and the green Caps) is a coloured square slightly lifting the black. If you got sensitive fingertips, you can actually feel the slight 'jump' gliding the finger lightly over the key tops with yellow print. NOTE that some got the mat but NOT the print, I guess prepared for different prints. (e.g. the W on qwertY). It is easiest to spot on Caps. I tried to extend the small green dot on the preProd unit, not that succesful, but it clearly shows the white under green under black... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
netman 1,424 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 2 minutes ago, EskeRahn said: I tried to extend the small green dot on the preProd unit, not that succesful, but it clearly shows the white under green under black... That does clearly show it is a coating. Now I wonder how they did the colors :). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EskeRahn 5,460 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 44 minutes ago, netman said: That does clearly show it is a coating. Now I wonder how they did the colors :). You can see the square 'mat' around the green above... Just did a new more successful attempt expanding it further to a larger part of the mat. (the white damage from my first attempt is roughly in the middle now, as I scratched practically to the lower edge of the 'mat') Quote Link to post Share on other sites
netman 1,424 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 23 minutes ago, EskeRahn said: Just did a new more successful attempt expanding it further to a larger part of the map. Do make sure you have enough key left to press 😂 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EskeRahn 5,460 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 PS do NOT expand the caps hole that much on the real units, the LED on the PreProd unit is much weaker (and the hole smaller), hence the need here... PreProd left Retail right. Backlight off, caps on for both. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig 1,435 Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 (edited) On 2/18/2020 at 3:26 AM, EskeRahn said: it currently has SFOS without backlight Before I switched to Lineage, SFOS had backlight working automatically.... (and before that a workaround with qcommand to toggle)... have you been updating? If not, zypper refresh and zypper update, lotsa improvements since the image... Edited February 26, 2020 by Craig Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EskeRahn 5,460 Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 3 hours ago, Craig said: Before I switched to Lineage, SFOS had backlight working automatically.... (and before that a workaround with qcommand to toggle)... have you been updating? If not, zypper refresh and zypper update, lotsa improvements since the image... I skipped SFOS, but LineageOS Test7 seems good. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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