I’ve been wanting to print some keycaps for a while, so when an excuse presented itself to make the function row a little more “functional,” I leapt at the opportunity.
Finding the right keycaps
Not a one-size-fits-all operation
I have a NuPhy Air75 V2 low-profile mechanical keyboard, which uses low-profile keycaps. Rather than printing any old full-size keycaps, I wanted low-profile ones to match my existing set. Thankfully, MakerWorld is full of them. I grabbed a set that specifically name-dropped NuPhy.
The other thing you’ll need to be mindful of if you’re printing keycaps is the mount type, which corresponds to the kind of switch you’re using. While many switches use a mount that looks like a “+” plus sign, other manufacturers like Logitech do not. I later found out that not all “+” plus mounts are the same, either.
There’s also a chance that your keyboard may use different types of caps, like the non-standard bottom rows that feature on some keyboards. Thankfully, keycaps are incredibly cheap and fast to print. A single low-profile keycap cost me 0.8g in filament and 10 minutes of printing time.
If you’re not sure whether a set is right for you, you can simply print a tester and see.
- Form factor
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ANSI 75%
- Switch options
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Gateron 2.0 and Gateron x Nuphy customs
The NuPhy Air75 V2 is the second revision of the company’s 75% low-profile mechanical keyboard. It comes with a variety of switch choices in three color schemes, is hot-swappable, and has support for QMK/VIA customization.
Basic colors for the important functions
All that matters is you know what they do
In the end, I printed four basic low-profile keys in three different colors. The color coding is based on the four colors I had in my Bambu Lab’s AMS at the time. I wanted an “at-a-glance” way to find the functions I use the most, without having to hunt them down.
I find myself frequently missing the Play/Pause (F6) button, which causes me to skip track instead. I also sometimes hit the Mission Control (F3) key when I’m trying to adjust my Mac’s brightness. Lastly, there’s the Mute (F10) button, which is sandwiched between volume down and track skip.
Because of how wasteful multi-color 3D printing can be, I decided against printing labels on the keycaps. All I need to do is remember which color relates to which function. Finding other keys like the skip track buttons is easy when the Play/Pause button is clearly highlighted.
In the end I settled on printing two blue keycaps for the brightness up and down, a single orange keycap for Play/Pause, and a single black keycap for mute. The model I chose has nice tight tolerances, so the keycaps fit snugly on the switch.
The model itself isn’t a direct copy of the existing keycaps, and the angle of the switch is ever-so-slightly different from my injection-molded set. One upside of this is that they have a slightly different feel to the injection-molded keycaps I’m already using. Printed keycaps are a little bit rough feeling, so they’re easier to find by touch.
One thing I could have done before printing is use layer painting to add a different color to the top and bottom of the brightness up and down keys, though I might just be overthinking it.
A single novelty keycap for a macro key
I couldn’t resist
For the Air75 V2, NuPhy decided to put a dedicated snapshot button on the keyboard. It’s right above the Delete key, to the right of the Volume Up (F10) key. While I could change its function or disable it entirely, I take a lot of screenshots for work so the key has its uses.
The problem is that it’s a bit easy to tap by mistake when hunting for the volume up button (and vice versa). It’s by far the biggest liability on my keyboard, and when I hit it accidentally, I can’t type since macOS enters snapshot mode until I Escape out or grab the screen.
Cue the only novelty key I printed: a traffic cone. I made a few changes to the model, chiefly changing the original switch mount to one that could accommodate my Gateron switches. I did this in Bambu Studio by cutting the mount off the low-profile keycaps I’d already printed, centering both models, and using the “Assemble” tool to fuse the two together.
This was a little more work than I’d have liked, but it worked out well and gave me a crash course in splicing models with Bambu Studio. I chose orange and black for the color scheme based purely on the fact that I have no white filament.
- Build Volume
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256x256x256mm
- Printing Speed
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600mm/s
The Bambu Labs P2S 3D printer is ready to go out of the box and can have you printing within 15 minutes. It features up to 20-color printing with the AMS unit, has an upgraded built-in camera for remote monitoring and time lapses, and has an enclosed body for printing even high-temperature filament.
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- Build Volume
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180x180x180
- Printing Speed
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500mm/s
The Bambu Lab A1 mini 3D printer is ready to go out of the box and can have you printing within 30 minutes. Offering full-auto calibration, this compact 3D printer features a 180mm build volume and is compatible with the AMS Lite for multi-color printing. It also features built-in vibration and flow-rate calibration, which are typically features only found on more premium printers.
My keyboard is now a little bit more functional, and the process forced me to learn more about how Bambu Studio can be used to fix printing problems in a way I’d never before considered.
With keycaps under your belt, you might want to move on to 3D printing a whole keyboard.
