It took over 2 years but SA Retro is finally back on PMK!

The DSA version of Retro was my first ever designed keycap set and I bring it in my heart. It was clearly inspired by the Commodore64 (with the added burgundy accent) and it didn’t took long before we released an SA variant of the same colorway.

Signature Plastics was promising a re-run since forever and it’s finally here together with full PETSCII alphas!

Go get it while it’s hot because it won’t last long and it will take another two years to have more :D

It took ages but I was able to convince Drop to salvage the Jiji’s keycaps that otherwise would have gone destroyed. They kindly agreed at using them for charity, so yeah, I understand that $29 is steep for 4 keycaps, but you are doing it for a good cause so if you can, please consider joining our “Adopt a Shelter Cat Month” campaign. You are helping shelter cats and receiving a nice set of 4 cute Jiji’s keycaps too.

On Monday February 20 at 18:00CET (12:00EST, 09:00PST) I’m hosting a streaming on YouTube. We’ll talk about MTNU and PBS of course, I’ll show some samples and give you some insight on my two new keycap profiles.

We’ll also talk about PBT colors and color matching, so if you are interested in designing sets for MTNU be sure to tune in!

During the stream I’ll give away a Drop ENTR Elvish Keyboard to one lucky viewer :) Rules to apply will be disclosed during the stream.

The stream address is https://www.youtube.com/live/h5e1oV8Zmpc?feature=share

The video will be later available for anyone to watch.

Time flies when you are designing keycaps! 3 months have already passed since the announcement of my collaboration with GMK and MTNU has already gone through multiple revisions. I think it’s time for a well due update.

The main shapes and physiology of the profile are defined but small adjustments can still be done. We had a few prototypes 3D printed to check the overall look’n’feel and GMK is working on the tooling as we speak. The first batch of injected proto-keycaps should be manufactured in about a month, that will give us a better sense of what this profile will actually be. I don’t hide that I’m a bit scared but mostly excited :)

It’s a long time I wanted to release a fully open source keycap profile that is easy to customize and pleasing to the eye. It’s relatively easy to create a keycap with a parametric CAD software like Fusion 360 or Solidworks but this solution has some limitations. These software are generally expensive, some can be used only on Windows and often you don’t actually own your designs as they are stored on the cloud and the companies can alter their end user agreement at any time limiting or even denying access to your work.

By now the news is out but it’s time to make it official.

If you follow my Discord you know that MTNU (pronounced emty-new) is the code name of the new profile I’m working on since a few months. You haven’t heard much about it since the initial announcement because I was busy finding the right manufacturer.

I’m happy to announce that I not only found a manufacturer but also the perfect partner with years of experience in the keycap industry. The moment I reached out GMK they showed great interest in my new profile and I feel incredibly honored that they are willing to take this project under their wing.

By now you know that I’m a 3D printing freak. The evolution of resin 3D printers in these last few years has been exponential, not only from a technological point of view but also for accessibility and resin quality/range.

I’m being using 3D printing for prototyping since some time and with the right resin you can actually print fully functional keycaps you can use day to day and in any size you need. The only issue is the legends. How can you have doubleshot-like keycaps with 3D printing?

After 5 years from MT3 I’m finally working on a new keycap profile. It’s still spherical top and sculpted but medium height. In many ways it’s an evolution of the MT3 design but they are different enough to coexist. I’m still early in the development process but I want to show you the current state of thing so to get feedback and suggestions.

What the hell is MT2? Great question, thanks for asking.

Drop announced a fancy new keycap profile, truth is that I don’t have a clue what that is! My guess is as good as yours because Drop dropped this bomb out of nowhere.

I tried to have SA Retro re-run with Signature Plastics since forever but apparently that is not going to happen any day soon… fortunately we have a far superior keycaps profile, I’m talking about MT3 of course! A slot opened in the production pipeline and we jumped straight into it with MT3 Retro!