LDSA keycap profile

Keyboard Builders' Digest / Tips & Tricks

LDSA keycap profile

LDSA is a new Choc-compatible low-pro keycap profile by Darryl from lowprokb.ca – with deeper dishes.

KBD.news
Published April 18, 2022

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Darryl, designer of the Corne-ish Zen keyboard, announced his idea of a new keycap profile in January. His plan was essentially a low profile version of the DSA keycap (or uniform MT3): a spherical and uniform profile with deepened scoop and lengthened skirt "as much as possible."

I want to produce something that is comfortable to type on, and looks a bit more traditional – Darryl.

According to Darryl, the dishes on these are deeper than any other commercially available keycap. And the finger pad that your finger touches is larger than that of MT3 and SA.

Pic: LDSA render

LDSA render

Actually, the dishes are close to the deep dish homing keys of MT3 caps: 1.52mm vs 1.63mm.

Not going for a sculpted ergo set makes it easy to put these keycaps on any obscure physical layout.

Despite the deeper dish, LDSA (blue) is not much thicker compared to MBK (red). Otherwise they are identical in width and height so they fit Choc-spaced (17x18mm) PCBs:

Pic: LDSA (blue) vs MBK (red)

LDSA (blue) vs MBK (red)

LDSA seems much larger because the skirt is 1.35mm longer. Definitely taller by a little bit, but probably only like half a mm – Darryl.

The molds and the first sample caps are ready, so after the initial renders there are already real comparison photos available, e.g. this one with a lonely MBK lost in the sea of freshly arrived LDSAs (click to enlarge):

Pic: LDSA vs MBK

LDSA vs MBK

How to grab those? Stay tuned for the upcoming presale which is slated to start April 24. They will be available at lowprokb.ca and can be shipped internationally. Edit: Here you go.

Doing a little presale in a week or two for cheap to get the profile out there and see if people like it enough to go dual shot – Darryl.

Until then, here are some STLs if you want to print the caps and see if you like this profile. License reminder: these files are released under the Creative Commons, non-commercial license.

Files

One last photo with gorgeous black LDSA caps:

Pic: LDSA in black

LDSA in black

Details

They will be available in all black or all white PBT
They are choc sized (17x18mm)
They are a deep scoop keycap, similar in feel to the MT3 and SA homing dishes
They have a longer skirt to hide the switches more (compared to MBK and MCC)
They have slightly longer legs to allow for o-ring use and still allowing firm grip on the stem (compared to MBK and MCC)

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Published on Mon 18th Apr 2022. Featured in KBD #74 (source).

Keyboard Builders' Digest / Tips & Tricks