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Is there a reliable way to find out keycap sizes? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago by parmesancrabs@lemmy.ml to c/mechanicalkeyboards@lemmy.ml

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I have a DURGOD Hades 68 keyboard that I’d love to spruce up with some custom caps. However, I’m not sure where to start with making sure a cap set will fit my board.

I’d really appreciate some advice on how to figure it out? Searching online hasn’t been that fruitful - or I’m not asking the right questions!

Are there any recommended stores for ISO layouts too?

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[–] ninjirate@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Keycap sizes are pretty much standardized. The only thing you will need to keep an eye out for are your modifier keycaps (enter/shift/space/backspace/bottom row). Those are measured in "u" where 1u is an alpha key, so your modifiers might be 1.25u or 2u or the spacebar is 6.25u/7u normally. So when you find a keycap set you like just check that it includes the right number of mod sizes.

I took a quick look at the Hades68 keyboard and I couldn't find a specific link but I think this is the same sizing (from a tofu65)

So for looking for keycaps they will generally have a list of the keycap sizes. If you go to https://kbdfans.com/collections/pbtfans-in-stock/products/pbtfans-frontier for example you can see in one of the pictures it has all of the u sizing listed on the keys.

I would guess 95% of keycaps sets will fit 98-99% of standard keyboards (60%-75%) with anything over 75% needing an additional numpad add-on set. Unless you're getting into some of the weird formats like 40% or ortho you probably won't need to worry too much.

Hope this makes sense. Let me know if you need any other clarification.

[–] parmesancrabs@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thank you for the recommendation for the tofu comparison. I’m going to measure some keys and compare.

In that link you provided I noticed mentions of “r#”. I’m guessing I need to make sure they match the rows of my keys for the angle of the cap?

Do you have any other site that you consider reputable / have a wide collection? Thanks again!

[–] ninjirate@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For you the row will only really apply to the right hand side since the "a" key will always be on row 3 and every key cap set will have "a" at the same height. The delete/home/end or whatever you decided to put on the right hand side above the arrow key will might be mismatched slightly but overall I don't think it's a big issue. On my keyboard my "r4" key is actually a "r3" key but it's close enough and it's only 1 key that's off.

KBDFans is probably the biggest store, but they do a lot of group buy stuff and sell extras after the group buy. You could do amazon, the massdrop/drop sets are a good starting place for keycaps. Otherwise most keycaps stores are specific to your country so for me in Canada I've got deskhero, ashkeebs and a couple others but the US has Kono, Canonkeys a bunch of others. You can check your region here for a list of stores: https://www.alexotos.com/keyboard-vendor-list/

[–] parmesancrabs@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Got it, one to keep an eye on but a slight +/-1 variance in the row wont be anything critical.

This is really useful thank you, and that alexotos.com vendor list is spot on. Time to start measuring and browsing! 🙌

[–] ImpossibilityBox@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Keycaps are measured in "u's". your standard alpha key is going to be 1u. A shift is often 2.5-3u. Space bars can be 5.5-7u depending on the baord.

If you can't find a layout in the documents for your board you can simply measure the "standard" cap and use that as your reference to figure out the rest of your caps.

Keep an eye out for weird things like your ctrl, alt, fn being different sizes on the left and right side.

Most good Keycap sets will either include a whole bunch of alternative sizes or have sets you can purchase on top of the base set to fill out your missing pieces.

Have fun!

[–] parmesancrabs@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thank you for your help @ninjirate and @ImpossibilityBox! I've measured up and created a layout on a site keyboard-layout-editor.com for any one in future. Now I can go cap shopping :)

[–] humanplayer2@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Remember also to check the profile of the keycap set. For example, if you choose a cherry profile, not all keys are equally tall, but are designed for a specific row. So if you want, say, and "A" on your bottom row, a cherry profile "A" won't be as tall as other keys on that row, of you otherwise populate it with Row1 keys (like Ctrl etc.)

This is also important if you want to do some non-qwerty layout, like Dvorak. For that, you'd need either a cherry Dvorak set, or a set with a flat profile.

[–] parmesancrabs@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thank you for the heads up. I stumbled by a cross section of layouts last night and was surprised at the variation. I think is like the cherry layout but I’ve not really know to keep an eye out for it.

It seems to be a little more available / open now though? I remember trying to look a few years back and there felt like much less options for ISO layout. Genuinely excited at the prospect now!

I did notice yesterday there’s appears not as much shine through based options, which is something I was hoping to continue from this default set I have.

[–] humanplayer2@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

I'm on ISO, too. Danish, on top. It's still a struggle - or very often quite expensive!

I haven't looked into shine through at all. My impression is that that's mainly painted keycaps, that will were down quicker. I think so of the bigger brands sell some, like Keychron, Razer, Steel Series have some, but then often OEM profile. I might be wring though, as again, I haven't looked for those sets.