How to remove "caps" and "scroll" legends from a Filco?

[Grond]

I don't really like the legends "caps" and "scroll" printed on the keyboard next to the leds. Scroll lock is not even functional on os-x! So I'd like to remove them, but without harming the plastic. Any suggestions?

[Minskleip]

I remember a thread about this on Geekhack, but I don't think they found a solution.

[webwit]

You just have to touch that area frequently!

[Minskleip]

Bad touch! Or you could sand blast everything. Or replace everything with wood.

Or dremel it out and put an el tape there to simulate the model m shield!

[nanu]

Black casing? My best answer for a hard-to-notice fix was to use a hole punch on a single piece of electrical tape, which has a matte sheen that matches typical "plastic texture." Combine that with just not looking at the keyboard, perhaps even omitting the LED holes to make this easier.

[ripster]

NINJA!


This is the Geekhack Link.
http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:6318

Nobody has had the guts to try the sugar trick.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to- ... phone-wit/

What I find ironic is everone complains about the Filco keys yet the labels are just about impossible to remove.

[Grond]

I read the Geekhack thread, looks like a complete guide for damaging your keyboard in every possible way! Really, it does not look like anyone found any decent solution. I guess if the guys at Diatec applied the same labels to the keys they would be more durable than doubleshots!
As for the sugar trick, I've heard of this before... maybe I could test it on some piece of plastic that's worth less than 100€ first!

UPDATE: I just tried the sugar trick on a 5€ table lamp (white logo on black plastic). Well, it kind of worked... meaning that the logo was removed and plastic was not scratched at all. True! Sugar did not even leave one minor scratch. The matter is, the plastic got shiny. Not extremely shiny, but you can easily guess where the logo was! So, I think I'll stick to Filco legends for the moment.

[ripster]

Other solution would be to sandblast the entire top shell and then clearcoat it. Might have to experiment until you found one that matches the Filco "Satin" look.

[webwit]

I wonder what happens if a lot of heat is applied to that area. Ripster, could you try that with one of your Filcos and report back to us?

[ripster]

Worked Great! No more Legends!

Burnt Keyboard Flame.jpg (502 KiB) Viewed 4759 times

[002]

Well looking at the filename I'm guessing you stole this from an asian website.

[Grond]

And now it even has that fancy post-apocalyptical steampunk look!

[ripster]

I like the melted bic pen.

Wonder if the watch still works?

The guy that posted this at Geekhack claimed Spontaneous Combustion. Like Krook in Charles Dickens Bleak House.

[Konrad]

My completely inexpert recommendation is to spray the entire fascia with a uniform coat of Krylon Fusion paint. It chemically penetrates and binds with the plastic molecules (to a surprising depth), I've used it before (on non-keyboard plastics) with excellent results sort of similar to what ripster calls dye sublimation. Available in many colours including gloss, flat, and satin black.

Disassemble the keyboard (and examine the interior, the recycling symbol will indicate plastic type, fusion paints don't work on all polymers) and preclean the part with ammonia (if you're lucky the ammonia will wipe off the undesirable screenprinting inks without marring the surface). Sandblasting or other surfacing treatments are optional, at worst you can grind the whole surface smooth then heavily layer the paint on to produce "orange peel" texture.

Black nail polish might actually be worth looking into, you might be able to find one that's a close match to the rest of the surface. Nail polish tends to be made from the same sorts of polyurethane paints used in the automotive industry anyhow.

The overkill solution would be what the computer modding guys sometimes do, hauling the entire piece over to a professional paint shop for some wicked expensive customizing. Apparently not all that costly as long as your pieces are small enough to share the oven with a car or two.

The poor man's solution would just be a patch of black PVC electrician's tape carefully applied across the entire offending strip, with or without LED apertures. Such tapes are also available in a variety of "finishes" ranging from really shiny to matte black ... beware prolongued contact with cheap tape adhesive might or might not permanently mark the underlying surfaces.

Of course somebody could just show initiative and bug Filco with questions about what the plastics and inks are made from, and which solvents they use to dilute or remove them in their plant. Good luck.