The other day I was cleaning up my work bench and came across a spring. I do not know where I got it or what it came from, but it looked like just the right size for an IBM buckling spring barrel and not very stiff.
I installed it on the space bar and it felt wonderful! Using the crude "stack of nickels" for measure, it increased the actuation force from ~70 grams to ~90 grams. But it also reduced rattle/clatter and made the entire length of the space bar seem firmer and more stable.
The jury is still out on whether the improvement is worth the extra effort required to use the key hour after hour, and I would certainly not want it on every key, but the space bar feels great so far.
This spring has a diameter of about 14.5 mm (<9/16") and a height of just under 7 mm (<1/4") with very thin wire and just barely over half of a single full turn around the circumference - this is an unusual and "weak" spring.
On DT someone suggested that it looked like the spring from a foam and foil key. If anyone has some of those I would love to know if they work. I could use a few more and I am guessing that other people could, too. Personally, I haven't seen a foam & foil keyboard in a long while, but if I can find one at salvage price, then selling them at $1 per spring + postage would probably be a way to make a few bucks.
