Keycaps update

Posted on 2021, July 13 in Updates

Time for a much needed keycaps update. As you know by now I’m working on Elven/Dwarven keycaps, the colors are finalized –which is a big achievement– but dye-sublimation is proving more difficult than anticipated. I received various rounds of prototypes in these last weeks but the manufacturer doesn’t seem able to get all the pieces right. The problem I believe is a mix of multi-color legends together with the side prints.

I talked earlier today with Drop and we made a report for the manufacturer, if all goes according to plan in a few weeks we should have hopefully the production prototypes. If those are perfect we can move to production very quickly.

It’s not completely clear to me yet but it’s likely that the Tolkien keycaps won’t be a “group buy” or a pre-sale. Meaning that Drop will just produce them and as soon as they are ready you’ll be able to buy them on the spot. I personally prefer this strategy but it also means that we won’t see any update for the next 3-4 months and then… BOOM… they’ll be online and they will likely go out of stock fast (so you better keep checking my site :P ).

Not the update you were looking for, but I won’t settle for anything less than perfection.

I have another exciting news for you though, everything is still in early development but… we are finally bringing SA Retro to MT3! Signature Plastics is working on a re-print of the famous SA Retro since a couple of years now, they even teased me with a production picture but it seems that they won’t be able to actually release it any time soon… so please welcome MT3 Retro! But don’t ask me for an ETA, let’s say within the year.

If you are not familiar with Retro, it all started with DSA Retro. It was a set inspired by the Commodore 64 and other retro computers (hence the name) and it was also the first DSA set to be widely available on the western market (we are talking 8-9 years ago). It has seen various incarnations, between them the best is probably the one in SA profile.

Comments

Posted by Huy on 2021, July 13 @ 14:50

Man I knew it!!! MT3 Retro is gonna be IT! Just to confirm but it will be MT3 in ABS doubleshot right? Cheers!
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, July 13 @ 15:10
  
  yes, ABS doubleshot!
Posted by Frank on 2021, July 13 @ 16:40

Any chance on front-legends?

Cause I wouldn’t be able to control myself if it came to front legends
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, July 13 @ 17:16
  
  yes, the base kit will be with front PETSCII legends
Posted by yLothar on 2021, July 13 @ 21:55

Dude, you’re my hero!
Posted by Alin Elena on 2021, July 14 @ 07:46

iso? internationl?
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, July 14 @ 13:13
  
  we don’t have ISO tooling for ABS
  1. Posted by Alin Elena on 2021, August 26 @ 10:40
    
    are you sure? the mito cyber got it at least iso-uk one
    1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, August 27 @ 07:33
      
      iso uk was done because it differs very so slightly from ansi, but no other iso layout are supported at this time
2. Posted by Anonymous on 2021, July 23 @ 22:01
  
  often you can use numpad enter instead of iso enter. it’s my preferred way to do iso layouts, even if i have an iso enter available. it’s just so much nicer.
Posted by Deadeye on 2021, July 15 @ 00:13

Yes!! Humble request: a mod kit that matches the alphas so I can make a keeb that looks like my Breadbin. :3
1. Posted by Anonymous on 2021, July 23 @ 22:00
  
  agreed!
Posted by Xeptance on 2021, July 16 @ 09:50

Any news on the wooden keyboard case or deskmat you mentioned in one of the first posts about the LoTR sets?
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, July 16 @ 09:52
  
  we are still working on it, it will be released after the keycaps (with already keycaps on it). I’ll post about it as soon as the design is finalized.
Posted by ggggggg on 2021, July 17 @ 20:28

I don’t know what influence you have on kitting but it’d sure be neat if an abs mt3 set set precedent for a more sensible 40s kit. The Susu approach means having to buy base + bars + extras to get physical coverage. With WoB, BoW, Jukebox etc there _is_ no coverage.
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, July 18 @ 06:26
  
  Drop has made the kits for all future ABS kits without asking any advice (yeah the kits are made at tooling level). You know who to blame.
  1. Posted by ggggggg on 2021, July 19 @ 09:42
    
    I figured as much.
Posted by Abdullah on 2021, July 23 @ 00:42

Any chance of R5 on that MT3 Retro? :) Cheers
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, July 23 @ 12:56
  
  I wish…
Posted by Indeed on 2021, July 29 @ 22:35

Will there be an ergo kit for MT3 retro? A blank kit just like susuwatari’s ergo kit would work fine.
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, July 30 @ 07:19
  
  not sure yet, sorry
  1. Posted by Indeed on 2021, July 30 @ 07:34
    
    Here’s hoping there is then, because no ergo kit would be a complete dealbreaker for me.
Posted by rabscutle on 2021, August 4 @ 18:29

Here’s hoping these come out as excellent as your other work (I say this as I type on dev/tty with Susuwatari at home) but had a request:

Any chance you can push for the ortho sets to have 2 2U blank keys in them? The 1.5U blanks are great for my Corne, but my Kyria cries out for that second 2U.
Posted by Cyrus on 2021, August 6 @ 16:32

Is there an MT3 set coming in the future which will be PBT rather than ABS?
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, August 7 @ 19:10
  
  the first will be the Tolkien one, then will think about something new.
Posted by Joseph Sommet on 2021, August 11 @ 19:30

How much do you think the dwarvish keycaps will cost?
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, August 13 @ 07:03
  
  I don’t really know at the moment, sorry.
Posted by Sean Harlow on 2021, August 18 @ 15:54

Back on one of the tty2 posts a year or so ago you had said that shine-through was on your radar.

Have there been any updates along those lines you can speak about? I am really interested in MT3 profile but I really like both the aesthetics and the functionality of illuminated legends so I don’t want to lose that.

I understand that shine-through poses challenges for the design of a themed set, but it would be really cool if et least the basic white-on-black set were available with translucent legends. Is that something you have any influence over or would the basic set be more of a “bug Drop about it” thing?
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, August 18 @ 19:13
  
  the double shot MT3 tooling went through quite some re-work and to be honest I’m a bit pissed for how things went (starting with 3277)… but anyway yeah we have a couple of projects coming out soon but after that I’ll ask Drop to run a couple of tests for the shine through.
  1. Posted by Firekr on 2021, September 8 @ 05:09
    
    Got the mt3 cyber, and am curious about the retooling. I notice sharp unfinished edges on the bottom of the caps and a somewhat smoother finish.
Posted by Clym on 2021, August 29 @ 02:25

Any chance for the /DEV/TTY MT3 keycaps international kit coming back to drop? It just looks so damn good.
Sorry to post this here, couldnt find any information on this at all
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, August 29 @ 11:50
  
  If we will ever do /dev/tty again (and I see no reasons not to), there will be an international kit for sure
  1. Posted by Clym on 2021, August 29 @ 16:25
    
    Thank you for your answer! That would be awesome! Best of luck for all your projects! :)
Posted by Mitch Connor on 2021, August 31 @ 19:43

Any chance we’ll see icon mods or a more traditional (non-lollipop) Q?
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, September 1 @ 09:20
  
  you mean for retro? that is pretty much set, being double-shot we can’t change much.
Posted by Παύλος Πατρινός on 2021, September 6 @ 12:52

Mr MAtt30, BEST NEWS EVER! Only one problem…I don’t see the ORDER BUTTON and believe me I looked everywhere!! Is it going to be available in http://www.drop.com?
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, September 6 @ 17:21
  
  patience young padawan (oh no, wrong franchise)
  1. Posted by Xeptance on 2021, September 7 @ 00:44
    
    I’d 100% be down for a Star Wars MT3 set! Galactic Empire DSA, but in MT3 would be… INCREDIBLE! Actually, any set with those legends would be equally amazing.
Posted by jayz on 2021, September 16 @ 03:40

please put R0 DEL key on every set you make
Posted by Dave on 2021, September 17 @ 16:18

Yeah man there seem to be many comments mentioning this but you can’t call a set 75% compatible without having an R0 Delete key. Unfortunately I did not check beforehand when ordering a /dev/tty base kit but I wouldn’t want others to make the same mistake.
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, September 18 @ 10:56
  
  I don’t do the double-shot kits. Those are pre-made by Drop and they didn’t ask for my help when they designed them.
  
  As per the Tolkien sets I don’t think that’s really a problem.
Posted by Anonymous on 2021, September 22 @ 01:37

Today Drop started a membership program revolving around keycaps. One of the things mentioned was that some of their newer sets will be exclusively for member of this keycap program. Have you been told whether or not these sets will be an exclusive or do you think you could find out?
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, September 22 @ 05:57
  
  I don’t think Tolkien will be part of that.
Posted by Luna on 2021, September 22 @ 22:31

Any updates on the Tolkien sets? Were the production prototypes satisfactory?
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, September 23 @ 07:04
  
  Production started, I’m waiting for a release date to post about it!
  1. Posted by Luna on 2021, September 23 @ 18:45
    
    Yaaaay – awesome!
Posted by dissapointed on 2021, September 24 @ 02:42

Can you still update and put R0 DEL key on your past sets? Like the BoW & WoB sets you can put it as Extras
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, September 24 @ 07:55
  
  BoW and WoB are not my sets, Drop made them.
Posted by RoKl on 2021, October 14 @ 17:19

Man, I love your stuff and really appreciate the work you put. I have so many of your sets and honestly keep checking everyday to get my hands on the Tolkien sets and anything else.

Thank you.
1. Posted by Anonymous on 2021, October 15 @ 14:18
  
  Same! Can’t wait for the Tolkien sets
Posted by Anonymous on 2021, October 26 @ 04:43

Hi Man, Any ETA on the new MT3 Sets ?
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, October 26 @ 07:56
  
  Drop keeps telling me dates that are never respected, so I’m waiting for the real deal.
Posted by Anonymous on 2021, October 27 @ 07:42

Will the Tolkien set supports ergo? Hopefully an extended one (sol, boardwalk, etc), not just barebone ergodox support.
Posted by Anonymous on 2021, November 10 @ 20:10

Congrats on the drop!!! Glad to add such unique keycaps in a great profile to the keyboard collection!
Posted by Alin Elena on 2021, December 3 @ 22:53

waiting for mt3 retro… I did something with the original
https://www.reddit.com/r/olkb/comments/r84yc6/took_me_longer_than_wanted_m65_this_time_with/
1. Posted by matt3o on 2021, December 4 @ 07:38
  
  lovely!
Posted by Christopher Peltz on 2022, January 14 @ 00:03

Just got an email from Drop today on the MT3 Retro set. Do you know if an Ortho kit will also be provided?
1. Posted by matt3o on 2022, January 14 @ 08:00
  
  yes it will

Sorry, comments are closed but you can still get in touch with the contact form.