Buying everything at once can be overwhelming, so here's a way to dip your toes in the water, but still getting the best stuff so you don't have to upgrade anything, just adding to your toolbelt. Please note these are the base minimums... things like the organic filter masks are not optional. Not to scare you, but these are chemicals that can permanently affect your health, please treat that as a #1 priority.

For resin and silicone suppliers check the supplier list

Starting Out

Blanks ($5)

1. Z Butt Master base - $5

Sculpting ($35)

1. Z Butt sculpting base - $5
2. Sculpting tools (metal and silicone) - $10
3. Clay (recommend NSP Chavant or Monster) - $20

Casting ($185)

To get started casting the below are the bare essentials needed. Most resins, particularly when casting small items such as keycaps have a tendency to have small bubbles, to avoid these you can either use slow curing epoxy resins or ultimately equip yourself with a pressure pot to help eliminate bubbles with all resin types.

1. Mask with organic filter or better - $40
2. Eye protection or glasses - $10
3. Silicone (recommend Moldstar 30) - $30
4. Resin (recommend Smooth On Epoxacast 690 if not using a pressure pot, or Smooth Cast 300 or Smooth Cast 325 if you are to start) - $30
5. Z Butt cavity - $25
6. Z Butt no hassle container (alternatively legos to build a base, but way more cleanup required vs nohassle) - $10
7. Nitrile gloves - $10
8. Reusable Crystal stir sticks - $10
9. Mixing cups - $10
10. Wax paper to protect workspace - $10

High Quality Casting ($370)

Although you can easily make keycaps without a pressure pot, for a High quality, bubble free finish and low rate of failure a pressure pot is essential. It opens up a lot more options in terms of resins with fast setting resins with cure times as quick as 10 minutes now being a viable option. For more information about how pressure effects casts go here

1. Pressure pot (recommend TCP Global, if outside the US use this guide to find the right type) $180
2. Air compressor (recommend CA Technologies, 1HP or greater, 3+ gal if possible) - $150
3. Air compressor kit (with air nozzle, quick connects, hose, teflon tape) - $30
4. Moisture filter - $10

Wow this all seems very expensive, surely theres a cheaper option

Non essential - but useful

• Vacuum chamber and pump - this is not neccesary for 95% of use cases - can be useful when using high clarity resins where bubbles are much more visible.
• Pipettes / plastic Syringe - for measuring resin, 5ml is a good all round size.
• Digital scales - 0.1g Precision - for measuring resins / silicones by weight.
• Sandpaper - selection from 400 to 1500 grit for cleaning the bottom of caps.
• Flush cutters - for trimming sprues on castings
• Micromesh Pads - very high grit sanding pads used to get a high gloss finish on master caps.
• Match sticks / Toothpicks, useful for mixing small quantities / dropping resin into moulds / can be used as a sculpting tool.
• Popsicle sticks - for mixing resin
• Tongue depressor sticks - Larger than a popsicle stick makes life easier mixing silicone.