From Jim Drew, in an
update on Nov 26 for the keycaps campaign (which is looking like it will be dyesub) :
Finalzing printing and shipping
So, getting tooling and plastic has been completed sorted out.
The remaining issue, which I think is pretty big is that there is an unknown about the longivity of the keycap printing. The printing process is a dye-sub "print" with a masked clear coat. That sounds great, but I have a keyboard from China that I have been using for the last 5 months and I have numerous keycaps with absolutely no printing left - they are completely black. I don't know if this will be a real concern for people using C64's because I don't think the actual use will be very high. But this is a concern, and one that I have had from the very beginning that was answered (with proof) from the keycap manufacturer that I had doing this job originally.
I have asked to determine what the print cost difference would be using a 3rd party company (neither of these two companies can do anything but dye-sub printing) to either do pad printing or (preferably) UV printing.
With 80% of the keycaps going to Germany (thanks guys!) it only makes sense to have these shipped directly, so that is being arranged. I have seen that a lot of people have updated their addresses. I am keeping that open for as long as possible. Once I close that, you won't be able to update your address. I will keep that open until I have finished samples overnighted to me.
So, I will have to make a decision this week to just go with the dye-sub process if we can't find another company to just run the printing.
Wow! 80%?? That kind of blows me away. I bought 4 sets myself. I wonder if there were a few "whales" in Germany that bought a ton of sets for whatever reason? Or did they just have that much more demand/customers? I would have thought the US and UK would have eaten up at least 50% combined. Amazing.