The author designed a custom keycap for a mechanical keyboard shaped like a classic Soviet faceted glass. The model was created in Blender at a 1:4.1 scale, resulting in a height of 26.5 mm. The final design features 20 concave facets, each 0.18 mm deep, to ensure visibility during 3D printing.
The keycap is designed for a Cherry MX switch. Because the glass diameter is 17.7 mm, it sits on a 5.5 mm stem to avoid contact with the switch housing. The author developed custom software to verify the geometry of the cross-shaped stem hole, ensuring a tolerance within hundredths of a millimeter.
To prevent resin residue from clouding the transparent material, the author wrote a script to simulate resin drainage. The software calculates potential liquid traps and capillary effects by voxelizing the model. The faceted glass design passed these checks with zero trapped resin, confirming its suitability for printing.
A second program was developed to analyze suction cup effects caused by vacuum pressure during the printing process. By simulating 337 different printing orientations, the software evaluated the largest closed cavities. The analysis confirmed that the glass shape inherently creates a suction effect regardless of the print angle.
