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I got started simply because I had been using the same dirty gaming keyboard for over a decade and it finally died. I knew from peripheral experience that most consumer electronic devices are e-waste so I went the custom route so that I could control the quality.
I settles on a case pretty quickly but couldn't decide on switches. I got a sampler pack but that doesn't really give you a good idea of the full typing experience so I went ahead and just bought 3 full sets of switches.
I quickly got tired of switching the out of the keyboard whenever I wanted to try a different set so I went out and got a second good but not AS good case just to serve as a test bed.
Well that meant I needed another set of keycaps. So I went looking and there was a deal I found for purchasing multiple sets.
If you are counting we are now at 3 sets of switches, 3 sets of caps, and 2 cases. I think you can see where this is headed.
What I ended up learning is that you can REALLY dial in the feel and responsiveness of a keyboard for what you want.
Do you want a commanding, powerful keyboard that feels like you are accomplishing something with every keystroke? Heavy, clicky switches with THICK PBT caps.
Do want a smooth fast speed demon for gaming/typing? Start looking into shirt throw linear switches with choc caps.
Good every day workhorse for all around use? Tactile are a great place to start?
But what case material do I choose? Metal, resin, plastic? Gasket mount pcb? Foam underlayment? What type of Keycap material do I like? PBT, ABS? maybe some resin, or metal even. How about some exotic ceramic keycaps?
How am I going to discover the combo that I like the best? You try them all and end up with a massive collection.
How do you make your own key caps?
3D printing?
Oh man... short answer is yes.
BUUuuuuUuut... There are several different ways to make your own keycaps.
Silicon molds for resin pours. Sometimes even multistage pours for different parts of the cap.
3d printing/laser sintering is also an option and probably the easiest entry point into custom keycaps.
Clay/Ceramic can be sculpted to make caps.
You can order blank PCB caps in nearly every style of profile possible. You can then custom design your own legends and dye sublimate then onto the keys.
Some actual lunatic even went as far to manually load every blank Keycap into a CNC mill to carve out the letters so he could backfill it with a different material of his choice (I don't remember the specifics).
It's a deeeeep rabbit hole.