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Chink shit general/Electronic and computer goods/Keycaps

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Main article: Chink shit general/Electronic and computer goods

You can go even deeper on Taobao!
They do all the meme colourways too!

This article is an effort to catalogue all the decent or better keycaps you can find on Chinese shopping sites. Whether the keycaps are Chinese in origin or not, if you can buy it from China, it belongs here.

For general Chinese mechanical keyboard shopping advice, see Chinese shit general/Electronic and computer goods#Mechanical Keyboards.

Buying

Generally, most of the keycaps you find across the different stores on AliExpress all come from the same manufacturer, so that shouldn't be anything to worry about. Most of the the 20-40 USD PBT keycaps you find from Chinese stores can be assumed to be made by NPKC, which is extremely reasonable quality for the price you're paying.

Stores to keep an eye on are Shenzhen YMD, KBDFans, Shenzhen E Sali and EZ MANDARIN SHOPPERS. The guy from Shenzhen YMD speaks better English than most Ali sellers and is pretty quick to respond in comparison. KBDFans is helpful in customer service too.

Contributing

Note: Although not necessary, your own pics are highly encouraged too!

Because no contributor can possibly buy all the Chinese keycap sets out there, we could always do with another helping hand or two. If the keycap sets you own are missing or lacking in detail on this article, please consider contributing so other anons can use your experience as some sort of reference as to what's out there and what to expect.

If you want to contribute, please consider having a quick look at Template:Keycaps and familiarise yourself with it, if you have a minute or two (not necessary, however). You may also add your own two cents under the Remarks subheading for each keycap set.

To reference /g/ posts and replies, link to an archive (i.e. warosu) rather than the board itself.

Single Color

NPKC

NPKC blanks in white.
NPKC blanks in black on a Pok3r RGB. As you can see, darker NPKC caps do not suffer from backlight bleed.
Type PBT
Legends Top-printed, Side-printed, Blank
Profile OEM
Stem type MX
Thickness 1.5mm
Legend backlight support No
Backlight bleed On lighter colours only. Black/grey are completely fine.
In production Yes

These come in many different colours and set sizes.

Purchasing

Mixed Color

White Alphanumeric/Mixed

The NPKC white alphanumeric and sky blue modifier keycap set alongside the NPKC dolch keycap set.
Note that the blue |\ key isn't actually included and is actually white - this was added from another set.
The same set in white and red.
Type PBT
Legends Top-printed, Side-printed, Blank
Profile OEM
Stem type MX
Thickness 1.5mm
Legend backlight support No
Backlight bleed Can be expected on the white keys and potentially other lightly coloured keys
In production Yes

Remarks

This keycap set is known officially as the NPKC mixed set but for the sake for documenting other similar sets here, we're going to keep the name a little more abstract.

The quality of these keycaps themselves are the same as other NPKC keycap sets - thick, solid, well-textured and overall great value for money. These don't feel like they're going to wear out anytime soon and the texture of the caps feels great to type on. The sound they make upon bottoming out is a nice lower-to-mid pitched sound, which sounds particularly great with linear switches. They look great in pictures and in person and if you like they way they look, just buy them already. My only complaint is that lighter NPKC keycaps do bleed light and these are not an exception, unfortunately.

Purchasing

To our knowledge at the moment, Shenzhen YMD (who are quite decent) is the only store on AliExpress that sells these. The same and similar sets can also be found on Taobao, if you want to go that route.

Dolch

A Dolch PBT keycap set from AliExpress on a 60% keyboard. Presumably manufactured by NPKC.
Type PBT
Legends Top-printed, Side-printed, Blank
Profile OEM
Stem type MX
Thickness 1.5mm
Legend backlight support No
Backlight bleed Only on red Esc key; can be fixed with electrical tape
In production Yes

Remarks

The NPKC Dolch keycap set is incredibly aesthetic and has some sort of ThinkPad vibe to it. Paired with tactile keyswitches, it does feel a little reminiscent of the classic ThinkPad keyboards. If you're looking for something that doesn't look too ridiculous yet is still eye catching, this is the one to go for. The thickness on these caps are just right and the texture on these caps is unmistakably PBT. The Esc key did have a bit of backlight bleed but you can easily fix that with a tiny piece of electrical tape over the LED and maybe the sides of the keycap. Pictures won't do it any justice as these caps look much better in person.

Comments by anons: #p58676841

Purchasing

Olivette

Olivette keycaps on a KBParadise V60
Type Doubleshot ABS
Legends Top-printed
Profile Unknown
Stem type MX
Thickness Unknown
Legend backlight support No
Backlight bleed Unknown
In production Yes

Purchasing

  • KeyboardParadise (Taiwanese, expensive boards, sells Tai-hao Double-shot ABS sets through Massdrop, otherwise on boards only)

Miami

NPKC Miami keycaps in blank.
Type PBT
Legends Top-printed, Side-printed, Blank
Profile OEM
Stem type MX
Thickness 1.5mm
Legend backlight support No
Backlight bleed Lighter NPKC keys tend to bleed, so presumably, there is
In production Yes

Purchasing

1976

NPKC 1976 keycaps with top-printed legends.
Type PBT
Legends Top-printed, Side-printed, Blank
Profile OEM
Stem type MX
Thickness 1.5mm
Legend backlight support No
Backlight bleed Lighter NPKC keys tend to bleed, so presumably, there is on the cyan keys. Possible quick fix is electrical tape.
In production Yes

Purchasing

Rainbow

NPKC rainbow keycaps in blank from AliExpress.
Type PBT
Legends Top-printed, Side-printed, Blank
Profile OEM
Stem type MX
Thickness 1.5mm
Legend backlight support No
Backlight bleed Lighter NPKC keys tend to bleed, so presumably.
In production Yes

Purchasing

EnjoyPBT

Gateron Blanks

Individual caps

RGBY Modifiers

CMYW Modifiers

Single caps

Accessories

Topre-to-MX Stem Adapters

They're expensive from Ali, maybe worth even more than your entire keycap set, but Topre to MX stem adapters do exist on there. They are significantly cheaper from Taobao but you'll need to consider agent commission and shipping fees too.

Purchasing

Keycap pullers

Some keycap sets will include a keycap puller, if the seller is nice enough. Others sometimes may not. Either way, they're cheap and you can pick one up from AliExpress or eBay (still ships from China and Hong Kong) for around the same price.

Dusters/Air-compressors

  • Metro Duster DataVac (Comes with different attachments, easiest solution for cleaning keyboards, browse your preferred non-Chinese website and purchase)
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