Thanks so much for the expert insights!
I have swapped in a couple of other caps and the problem persists i.e. it’s not the original cap itself I believe. Will check out your other insights. Much appreciated.
I dunno expert. I’m just good at fixing things and did my research on how these things are out together when I was shopping. Good luck with it.
Since it doesn’t seem to be the key cap itself I’d focus on making sure its fitting right on the post. Make sure its pushed fully down on the post. Check the cap and post for any extra nubs, and its not contacting a key next to it. Maybe pull the caps around it to see if it works without anything to bump into. Make sure the slots on the bottom are clear. Then sand down the edges of the cap to make sure its clear of the frame or switch top or trim down the socket on the bottom.
Keycaps are easy to come by for standard switches so I wouldn’t worry about fucking it up.
1 Like
I may be looking at the wrong thing, but replacement keycaps seem to be $3 each. given that a cheapo 112 key keyboard is, what, $10, that seems somewhat steep…
It all depends on how much someone likes a particular keyboard, but i would personally be inclined to just buy a new one. A no frills but reliable low-cost keyboard can be pretty easy to find.
I bought a gaming keyboard for the leds. I need to work in the same room where my wife is sleeping, dim lights and keyboard lighting are pretty useful for me. I always turn it to the lowest red setting which helps me find my bearings on the otherwise dark desk.
Overall I really like the keyboard (some corsair , don’t know which one). But I just had to rip off the extra column of ‘macro keys’ they put on the left side because apparently my left pinky feels for the corner of the bottom left key to know where my hand is and I kept typing everything one letter to the left.
Ryebubf nt xisw ri fevfw~
2 Likes
Keep looking. The Chinese factories that make the good caps sell stuff direct on Amazon, Ebay, and apparently Alibaba (which I avoid in general). But single keys seem to usually be a buck or so. But sets of keys, either whole rows or blocks of letters, or specific key sets can be had for like 5 bucks. Its like a buy in bulk thing. I saw buckets of caps for a quarter, next to the bulk dice at a table top gaming convention a friend brought me to so its possible you could find them in a shop somewhere if you have a nerd store.
But that has to be viewed in the context of an item that people paid a decent clip for precisely so they could get benefits like replacement keys. A buck for a key makes more sense when the keyboard was $50. And I don’t think you’re finding a mechanical for $11. If you somehow did that may be the problem. So if it was a dirt cheap off brand board it might be worth replacing it entirely.
If you don’t care just get an Amazon basics dome keyboard, probably not gonna be any better or worse than any other keyboard of that type. Regardless of what you could spend.
Otherwise someone recommended a $27 DSI board up thread. And there’s a brand on Amazon that’s apparently a house product from one of the factories that assembles most of the name brand boards. Its called like red dragon or something, very gamery but people seem to like them and they use name brand switches. That whole prime day thing is about to go off, which means a lot of online sales of various sorts. And last year mechanical keyboards were apparently one of the most frequently discounted product categories for the big sales days last years. So you could identify a few you like the look of and see if a price you can stand pops up. That’s basically what I did.
Backlights exist without RGB and gamery nonsense. Also “gaming” keyboards exist without either. Which is what I have. Backlights are nice if you have the lights off. But my computer is in my bedroom for I share a house reasons and the last backlit board i had would light up at max everytime Windows blinked. So you’re trying to fall asleep and suddenly there’s this super bright blue light washing the room. There follows an hour of repeatedly getting up to turn it off because some update or other is running. I also don’t like the idea of doubling my cost for RGB which was what I was looking at with my board and its lit equivalent when i bought it last year.
1 Like
I wanted to see the backlight (in a real shop) before I bought it, because my previous KB had a backlight you needed sunscreen for. So I had a choice between 2 KBs with backlights in my local computer shop.
- The gaming keyboard was nice & heavy.
- The RGB keyboard could be turned down real low, especially if you used just the red leds and turned off the green/blue. The ‘business’ keyboard had 2 settings of white backlight , ‘bright’ or ‘blinding’.
- The ‘business’ keyboard had black letters on black keys, meaning you could hardly see them with the backlight turned off, which is annoying during the day.
- They were about the same price.
So the choice was pretty easy 
But those macro keys had to go :-). Luckily the KB has removable keycaps, so I just took them off and put a bit of cardboard with a strip of gaffertape over the empty spot.
Which is why I bought one which can be turned down really low and set to red. red is the least sleep-disturbing color. Also, I turn my computer off at night. Or if it needs to run for some reason I turn off the KB leds.
1 Like
You should be able to use stiff plastic sheets cut to the needed dimensions and superglue it in place if it something you want it permanently gone.
I’ve heard that’s kind of a dumpster fire. Beyond reliability, something about how they look or feel throws me off.
It wouldn’t surprise me. I really don’t like the keyboards on the newer Macbooks at all–that being said, @alysdexiia seemed to be specifically interested in especially fine keys, and if that’s what you’re going for that’s the only thing that comes to mind. I still have my original Model M, if that tells you anything about my preferences.
1 Like
I wonder how long it would take for that person to notice?
2 Likes
That would maybe be better yes :-). Cardboard and duct tape were within arms reach. 
1 Like
Apple still makes external keyboards don’t they? https://www.apple.com/us/search/Keyboard+with+Numeric+Keypad?src=globalnav
It would take me less than five minutes.
1 Like
And that might actually be the best choice in that case. For the few that like that style they purportedly always made the best “chiclet” style keyboards.
I believe I mentioned them? The wireless “magic keyboard” comes both in full and compact layout. I’m not sure if they use the same keys as the older standalone keyboards, or if they use the ultra low-throw keys of the current laptops.
You did.
I’ve no idea how that happened. I was supposed to be responding to—I have no idea how this happened. But I should have finished all the comments before commenting anyway.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
