Painting Keyboards???

[Ironcat]

It was easy enough to take my keyboard apart, and since my daughters popped all the keys out, that part was even easier.
I painted the "shell" of the keyboard in my nasty red/black color scheme but now it's time to do something with the keys...
Right now they are the same beige/white/grey/brain color that they originally were but I would like them to be red so they stand out from the shell.
If I just paint them, the numbers and letters will be impossible to read and I will have to reletter each one with a metallic highlighter or something. Yuk.

My idea is (but I wanted to get opinions first) to spay red spray paint into a can and then throw in a bunch of laquer thinner thus creating a sorta washed out color? Then I could just throw all the keys in the can, allow the thinner to evaporate in a couple of days and they'd all be sorta "reddish" but the numbers would still be visible. My "theory" is that since the fluid would evaporate slowly, the keys would all have original and unique coloring depending on how deep in the can of fluid they were located.

Is this possible?

I could try it out just to see if it works but if it ruins something after all the work my girls did on the keyboard, they'd kill me!

[DaveW]

Hmm...i'm not sure...every keyboard uses a different method to get the letters on the keys too...the only way to be sure, is to try it on some keys.

You could get some transfers, which you could use to put the letters back on...this assumes you remember where the keys went.

-Dave

[tybrenis]

You propose an interesting concept. I dunno if it'll work, but...

If you feel like meticulously making the keys nice and beautiful, you could use some inkjet waterslide decals on them. They take a while to produce, but produce great results in the long run.

[Crimson Sky]

soaking the keys in paint and laquer thinner will produce a nice glob of molten plastic after a couple of days. Keyboards and (laquer) solvents are both petroleum products. even after a few hours, your key lettering will be washed off.

If you want a washed look, dip each key into your paint/solvent mixure then blow dry with a hair dryer to evaporate the laquer thinner. Should take only a minute each. Don't make the mix too thin, or the liquid will just bead up and roll off the keys. Too heavy and you're simply dip painting them. Find the right ratio to create a wash.

Clear coat the keys afterwards. Clear epoxy paint finish (DuraCote for instance, the same stuff used for guns and rifles) will last longest, maybe forever. Regular old rattle can clear will last a few weeks. Keyboards take a beating from the oils in our fingers and the constant pounding. Our fingerprints polish smooth the most frequently used keys. Hold your keyboard on and angle towards a light source and you'll see--all the toothy texture is worn off.

This is why keys are molded with their color, and not painted.

[CanaBalistic]

I know of a way but its very time consuming. Paint doesnt stick to wax, if you went over each letter with wax then painted them. The letters would be fine and the key would be painted.

I wouldnt try the dip and let evaporate. You'll be buying a new keyboard half way through the process if you do.

You could use a mild solvent to whipe the keys, i'd sugjest methanol or mineral spirits. That should take the letters off in seconds. Paint the keys. Then you'd have to repaint the letters with acrylic then clear coat.

I've never seen a paint job on a keyboard that was class A, i doupt you'll get it perfect but its possible to get close.

I guess there's no easy way to paint the keys. All the tutorials i've looked at either black out the letters or leave them as they are. Maybe you could get a cheap black keyboard and swap the keys.

[Ironcat]

Okay so I have a couple of other ideas...

Watercolor paints? If I am going to need some sort of clearcoat anyway to protect the letters, then why not a thinned out watercolor? Painters use the technique all the time to show a mountain in the distance or whatever.

Food coloring? Why not make a bath like for Easter eggs? Granted eggs are white and not the weird color of keyboards but I would think if eggshell could absorb color that plastic could as well?

I think I will try these ideas on my space bar, it doesn't need letters for me to know what it is... and if I screw it up I can just redo it when I figure out the right way.

[jdbnsn]

There is a guy who posted his Mac laptop which he dyed from clear plastic to a very nice looking black using Rit fabric dye. It may prove an inexpensive alternative and seems to work pretty well, if you have some around the house you might want to try it out on a scrap. Of course the wear and tear issue remains.

[Crimson Sky]

You'll need a stronger colorant than food dyes. There are plastic dyes out there, and like Jdbnsn wrote, you can use fabric dye as well on light colored plastic.

[Ironcat]

Alright... I tried my spacebar with food coloring, easter egg tablets and 3 different types of watered down paint... and I think I have figured it out...

If the paint, dye, color, etc, is thin enough for me to see through to the key underneath... it is too thin to adhere to the key.

If the paint, dye, color, etc, is thick enough to adhere to the key... it is too thick for me to see the key underneath.

So... I will buy a black keybaord, paint the shell in my color scheme and leave the keys as they are.

Dang it... :(

[Timoi]

Something else you could do is paint the keys not caring if the letters are visible or not, replace the keys and then find some... euh I dont even know how those are called... they are kind of like sheets of wax paper that have letters printed on them... you put it up to the surface on which you want the new leter, scratch the surface facing you fairly hard and the letter sticks to the surface you had applied the wax paper thing to... you know what I mean?

I know that my dad used those on a keyboard to make french translations before french keyboards were easily available (LONG TIME AGO, think 286... I don't even know if they are still sold... mabe try staples or something) so I am pretty sure that this would work. Those sheets normally come with all letters from A-Z (uppercase and undercase and all variations of them (Éé Àà Çç Ëë Êê Èè Ññ etc...), all numbers from 0-9, and many common and weird symbols (!@#$%?&*()_+-= ¤{}[]¬~`€°><»« etc...)

[AKA_RA]

vinyl dye should work. i dont know a ton about it, but i know you can put it on in thin layers and it doesnt muck up the key like a regular rattle can would. just mist the keys a couple times until its dark enough, shouldnt effect the letters too much. best of all, im told it doesnt rub off on your hands once it dries/sets/absorbs/does what vinyle dye does. i tried to spray paint a cheapy keyboard one time and it rubbed off completely in some areas after light use, even with a good clear coat.

i dont know what colors vinyl dye usually comes in, but really, im just adding to what crimson said, and i have a feeling he knows his stuff.