geekhack Projects > Making Stuff Together!

Tinkering with my 87u

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_rubik:
I’ve always loved the Norbaforce polycarb cases and I love my 87u, but I don’t love them together.

The 87u has a black plate and key set, which (IMO) doesn’t look too great in a frosted PC plate.

I could get an RGB TKL R2, but I thought I’d at least take a stab freshening up my 87u.

Here’s what we’re starting with:



A few years back I swapped the domes for BKE redux heavies and (over)lubed the sliders. Overall I’m fairly happy with the feel, but it could use some tuning.

_rubik:
I’m a huge fan of the R2 rgb white plate in the PC case, so I might as well start there.

Inspiration:


Last night I started tearing down the 87u

Pulled it out of the case



Pulled off the caps



Separated the PCB/domes from the plate/sliders



Removed the sliders



And finally removed the slider housings. I was a little hesitant for this part.

The housing tolerances are fairly low so there’s certainly wiggle room, but they’re held in place with little plastic tabs. If you don’t squeeze the housing enough, I suppose you could shave off the plastic tabs. But if you squeeze too much, you could damage the housing and I don’t really want to buy a parts board.

_rubik:
Painted the plate! I sanded the plate down first with 600grit sandpaper, wiped everything down with rubbing alcohol, primed, and painted with a standard rattle can.

A few imperfections here and there, but overall I’m pretty pleased.

Next is to get everything back together, but I’m waiting on some new domes and silencers from deskeys.

_rubik:
Cleaned up and snapped the housing back in. Funnily enough, housing had pretty high tolerances before, so the extra paint gives everything a more “snug” fit. The housing aren’t rattling anymore!



Still waiting on my deskeys package (shipped from China), so the project is on hold for the time being

_rubik:
Well damn. Just placed my order for the 2021 Ghost of Christmas Future Norbaforce. Supposedly it's slated to ship mid-fall.  :D

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