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Comment by tenaciousDaniel | Hacker News Reader

I really want a mechanical keyboard coated with this.

Unfortunately surfaces coated with this (or Vantablack) cannot be touched, the coatings that creates the effect are too delicate.

It's basically good for art projects and scientific applications.

Semple also sells an acrylic black paint which, while not this black, is pretty dang black and can be touched.

And what’s the name of it and where can I get it?

https://culturehustle.com/collections/black/products/raven-c...

It mentions it's fabric-safe, so presumably durable enough for keyboards.

From the website:

>Q. Can I paint my car / bike etc…

>A. NO - 3.0 is quite fragile and will just scratch off, it won’t weather well.

I wanted to paint my laptop with it but seeing this answer on their website made me sad :-(

Just paint it every week ;)

Painting your car white is the least you can do for the planet.

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/painting-r...

TaeKeyboards has a video where he does that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKpsohmQMwE

It looks pretty good, but you can't put a clearcoat on it, so it's not durable enough to actually use as a keyboard. Still a fun item to have on your shelf though.

Wait can you not clearcoat it because it ruins the effect? Or is it somehow too weak to accept a clear coat?

The clear coat would ruin the effect by reflecting light, making the paint look less black

Sure, I guess I'm imagining a thick enough coating where it looks like a very dark featureless surface under a transparent layer, which I think would look pretty cool. But that's not really clear coat so much as it is epoxy.

As others have pointed out, this will only work until you touch it. I use the Das Keyboard ultimate, which is matte black and, while partially reflective (and moreso on the keycaps where finger oil accumulates) it's still pretty great-looking.

A low gloss tough coating will add to the reflectivity, but a high gloss highly transparent coating might look really cool still.

Are there any piratical purpose in doing it?

You can paint your black flag even blacker. Think of the plundering!

I mean if you wanted black box for photographing things and wanted to minimise bounce lighting. This paint guarantees that only direct light would illuminate the subject.

It'll make yer skull 'n crossbones really pop, matey!

Not at all, would just look cool (in theory). Unfortunately the replies prove that it's impossible, at least right now.

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