SP are amazing people. I promised my gf, who was really unwell at the time, that I would build her dream keyboard, to cheer her up while she was stuck in the hospital - I didn't fully realise some sets are very hard to get. Melissa assembled a Jukebox kit (years after it was made) from bits and pieces they had laying around the factory, I really can't thank her enough for going out of her way on this. This is one company that really deserves your patronage. (And Melissa deserves a raise and promotion... She's put up with our community's group buy shenanigans with grace and professionalism, and still found time to help individual customers. You rock.)
This is really interesting, and very nicely shot! I hope that this can explain to some people why SP's sets are priced as they are. It's not some huge 100 % automated factory, but rather a small production with a lot of manual labor.
That is exactly why I wanted to go there and shoot this. :) It is quite an artisanal process, and the folks there really take a great deal of care in what they do. It was awesome to observe the many years of institutional knowledge that they have about all their processes, and their increasing embrace and understanding of the enthusiast keyboard community-which they said is now pushing up to be around 50% of their business!
@@RyanNorbauer The way I see it, if you want high quality keycaps, there is no way to make them en-masse. This process is too prone to defects at large scales it seems. What I'd really like to see is home manufacturing tooling to be developed so that home-artisans can make their own ultra-high quality sets for themselves if they are willing to make the investment in the equipment. I know that doubleshot manufacture at home is probably never going to be a reality, but dye sublimation at home is definitely doable. I've seen people do it on UA-cam.
I knew that the signature plastic caps were finished by hand, but I always suspected they were just legends, but through this wonderful video I have to change my mind, congratulations for the shots
Wow, this is much smaller scale than I expected. I figured it was multiple machine that you just put plastic resin in and it spit out a key cap set on the other side.
Learn Cad modeling program like blender so you can design a 3d mold for your caps, next step would be to either save and invest in the hardware to make these, which a machine to do the thermal injection is around 15K and the others to make the molds and print onto the caps I'm not really sure. More realistically, create a brand with a strong vision, design your caps, and have a company that does thermal injection make caps for you based on your models, and print onto the caps yourself at home using dye sublimation or something along those lines. Would it be easy? No, is it possible? Maybe.
SP are amazing people. I promised my gf, who was really unwell at the time, that I would build her dream keyboard, to cheer her up while she was stuck in the hospital - I didn't fully realise some sets are very hard to get. Melissa assembled a Jukebox kit (years after it was made) from bits and pieces they had laying around the factory, I really can't thank her enough for going out of her way on this.
This is one company that really deserves your patronage. (And Melissa deserves a raise and promotion... She's put up with our community's group buy shenanigans with grace and professionalism, and still found time to help individual customers. You rock.)
Maciej Pociecha Amazing story
Is your gf recovered?
This is really interesting, and very nicely shot!
I hope that this can explain to some people why SP's sets are priced as they are. It's not some huge 100 % automated factory, but rather a small production with a lot of manual labor.
That is exactly why I wanted to go there and shoot this. :) It is quite an artisanal process, and the folks there really take a great deal of care in what they do. It was awesome to observe the many years of institutional knowledge that they have about all their processes, and their increasing embrace and understanding of the enthusiast keyboard community-which they said is now pushing up to be around 50% of their business!
@@RyanNorbauer The way I see it, if you want high quality keycaps, there is no way to make them en-masse. This process is too prone to defects at large scales it seems. What I'd really like to see is home manufacturing tooling to be developed so that home-artisans can make their own ultra-high quality sets for themselves if they are willing to make the investment in the equipment. I know that doubleshot manufacture at home is probably never going to be a reality, but dye sublimation at home is definitely doable. I've seen people do it on UA-cam.
Woah, this was way more badass than I expected; very cool
I knew that the signature plastic caps were finished by hand, but I always suspected they were just legends, but through this wonderful video I have to change my mind, congratulations for the shots
Thanks Ryan. I've been always curious about SP and wanted to catch a glimps of their workshops. Great video.
Wow, this is much smaller scale than I expected. I figured it was multiple machine that you just put plastic resin in and it spit out a key cap set on the other side.
Great video. Now I know where all my money is going.
Thanks for this!
Is that a dye sublimation press at 2:49?
Yes
SA profile is underrated
Tell it to DCS people)
Hey this was posted on my 18th birthday! :D
I already spend too much at Signature Plastics, now i just want to more
Same
Wow they still have SS and DSS sitting around?
Nice video thanks. It's a bit odd to see workers without ear protections, I guess all those machines makes a lot of noise.
It was actually pretty quiet there. Those fancy German machines are pretty well-oiled, I guess. I doubt hearing protection would be required.
Thanks for the answer :)
can they make custom double shot backlit xda keycaps?
❤
does anyone know what is the thing under the keycaps at 2:28 ?
Some sort of alignment plate to hold the keycaps in position for the dye sublimation.
damn someday i wish i could make keycaps like this in poland, but i dont even know where to start :(
Learn Cad modeling program like blender so you can design a 3d mold for your caps, next step would be to either save and invest in the hardware to make these, which a machine to do the thermal injection is around 15K and the others to make the molds and print onto the caps I'm not really sure. More realistically, create a brand with a strong vision, design your caps, and have a company that does thermal injection make caps for you based on your models, and print onto the caps yourself at home using dye sublimation or something along those lines. Would it be easy? No, is it possible? Maybe.
@@rtx-kk2xq thanks for help!
bro ur soo... self-branded.
hell yea
Nice, man!
Can I carry the video
Honestly, I should never be allowed in here cause I would be so tempted to steal a set or two, or eight for myself.
Dope!
I was thinking made my own design keycaps until i see this heavy manufacturer, i realize my country is not ready.
I wonder if they make rgb iso spanish(european or latin american spanish, at this point is irrelevant)
and here I thought maybe I can make these myself
how depressing
fucking same
I think you've made a typo "In late winter 2018" should be 2017.
I went in March, which to me is the late winter. It was 2018. Hence late winter 2018.
1:52 My wallet