Artisan keycaps are generally meant to replace your Escape key, though they can be used anywhere you like (as long as they fit, of course). Keycap maker [tellybelly] of jankycaps has been experimenting with making keycaps out of 100% recycled plastic, and offers an interesting post detailing their development and production process.
What do you do when normal injection molding tooling is out of your budget, and silicone molds simply won’t do? You turn to 3D printing if you can. In this case, [tellybelly] and company found a resin designed to withstand high temperatures.
[tellybelly] was able to design the mold using a plethora of online resources, and even verified the flow using a special program. Although the first two versions worked, they had some flaws. Third time’s the charm, though, and then it was time to sort plastic and fire up the shredder.
After heating up the shreds to 200 °C or so, it was time to start the injecting. This part isn’t exactly a cakewalk — mixing different plastics together can vary the workable temperature range that doesn’t degrade the plastic. Although it sounds like the end, [tellybelly] reports that they spent just as much time here as they did at the drawing board, experimenting with pressure on the mold, various cool-down methods, and how long to wait before opening the mold.
Via reddit
They look like it too. 😬
Agreed. However, if provided with the proper ratio of two colors, you might be able to get a really cool “marble” aesthetic.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I think they already did.
We have experimented with both our Stratsys Objet and Form 3 making prototype molds for injection molding. The greatest weakness is the cooling cycle, as aluminum (and steel) tooling behave way different than using essentially an insulator for a mold. But otherwise, the Form 3 in particular seems to do a good job.