ABS vs PBT Keycaps

this is custom keys and in this video we're going to discuss the differences between abs versus pbt plastic keycaps let's go [Music] all right so right off the bat pbt is usually more expensive than abs of the same tier however gmk a company that produces what most consider to be the top of the line most expensive luxury keycaps use mostly abs plastic to make their products with the price tag usually upward of 150 dollars what you're seeing here are gmk keycap sets we'll get into why they cost so much being that they are made of abs material a little later now in terms of the look abs keycaps are very smooth and tend to have a shine to them and part of that shine comes from your fingers as the keycaps pick up a lot of oil as you type [Music] pbt keycaps are more muted looking and have a slight textured feel and appearance if you look when it hits the light you can see the slight texture of the keycap and the material looks a little more solid and durable this side-by-side comparison of the two makes the texture difference and material difference a little bit more obvious [Music] this next side by side highlights the difference in thickness with the white being the pbt which is notably thicker than the black abs the reason gmk leans toward abs is because abs produces more vibrant saturated colors like you see here that alone is expensive to do and just one reason why they can charge upward to 150 dollars a few other reasons would be because of the prestige associated with the gmk name of course but also their high quality manufacturing they make thick and durable keycaps out of double shot abs a double shot injection refers to there being two layers in a keycap one mold contributes to the overall color and the second mold is for another layer that fills in a translucent plastic allowing light to shine through the letter outline if that was confusing think of the red paper here as the first mold for the keycap the second mold is the white which pushes through the hole for the first letter this is a basic but hopefully helpful analogy with pbt keycaps their material warps easily so the double shot process can sometimes be too stressful for the cap and the sharpness of the letter when having light shine through is not always there instead a lot of sets use dye sublimation which is essentially just pressing on a design for the keycap the design comes out usually very clear even for budget sets but the shine through is not always the best being that they're different materials abs and pbt do sound differently so here's a quick sound test on red linear switches to determine the differences from what i've gathered in general the thickness of the pbt contributes to a more thoughty sound against the keyboard whereas the thin abs contributes to a higher pitch clanky sound personally i prefer the pbt against the keyboard but it comes down to preference at the end of the day overall pbt is a thicker material and in turn tends to make higher quality keycaps they are very durable slightly textured and don't accumulate grease easily contributing to an all-round cleaner look however they tend to be more opaque in comparison to their abs counterparts which can produce vibrant and beautifully double shot keycaps since bbt is prone to warping the shine through is not as crisp but the detail from the dye sublimation process can make up for that depending on what your priorities are for me i prefer pbt keycaps as i'm all about the sturdy and less slippery feel having said that if you have the means to purchase a gmk set then definitely go for it since they have the solid benefits of pbt with the vibrance and the double shot benefits of [Music] abs

Channel: Kustom Keys

Views: 12,040

Keywords: Key caps, Mechanical keyboards, Mechanical keyboard, Custom keyboards, Best keycaps, What type of key caps should I buy, Abs plastic, Pbt plastic

Id: kPO217sTgsU

Length: 5min 36sec (336 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 11 2020