New keycaps, new me

Hooray! Yesterday I replaced the keycaps on my old Cooler Master Quickfire Rapid mechanical keyboard (tenkeyless with Cherry MX blue switches).

I’ve had this keyboard since (I think!) around 2012, purchased from Fry’s Electronics. For the past couple of years, it has mostly been idle because I’ve been working with laptops at home. It was only earlier this year that I started using it again as my primary workhorse, to help me with my RSI symptoms (see How I’m dealing with my RSI).

Since then, I’ve been having a great time typing with this old keyboard, but I’ve also been wondering if I shouldn’t give it some TLC, to spruce it up a bit. Also to be honest, the font used in the keycap legends had never been my favorite, and it disturbed me even more after I returned to the keyboard after a few years (taste does change after all!).

🐈 Before

Ye olde QFR. The original ABS keycaps had become pretty shiny from use. Obligatory cat butt included as a foreshadowing of the horrors to be discovered when I removed the keycaps haha…

😱 Old keycaps removed… OH GOD

Look at this crumb-ridden, cat-haired hellscape. That’s some sick I tell you what, haha. Probably what some people call “NSFL”.

🧹 After cleaning

Phew.

✨ New keycaps!

I ordered the keycaps from HK Gaming on Amazon and they arrived the next day! They’re dye subbed PBT keycaps in Cherry profile, in the “9009” retro color scheme (based on the Cherry G80-9009 keyboard).

So far the typing experience has been dreamy! The PBT material has softened the sound of my Cherry MX blue switches greatly. The result is less sharp and scratchy than it was with the ABS caps. Now the sound is kind of deeper, thumpier, crystalline. I really enjoy it!

(The pink cotton cloth I’ve been using for a while now to further soften the ringing clickiness of my keyboard into a sound that I prefer :D)

Overall, it was an extremely satisfying experience! I’d recommend swapping out keycaps to anyone with a mechanical keyboard that could use some sprucing up. I’m also now a firm believer in periodically removing all the keys to blast away the cookie crumbs and cat hair haha.