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Leather Ducky, you're the one!

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Input Nirvana:
Dot-

Leather topped key caps. I know you have some extreme RSI....I'm fascinated with the leather toppers. I'm curious about what you used and what you feel could improve the experience:
-type of leather...full grain, split, etc.
-thickness
-any other details

I'm thinking of this on a Kinesis Advantage with browns or red switches. If someone does not have RSI, do you feel it improves the typing experience?

dotancohen:
I don't think that the leather helps with RSI at all. Rather, my big problem is sensitive fingertips so I do whatever I can to reduce the pressure on them. Tony Iommi would love my keyboards!

I doubt that the type of leather would matter, and I don't really know much about different types anyway. Anything soft, even fake leather, is better than tapping on hard plastic all day. The leather that I used has a sponge backing, I'll upload a photo closeup of it. In regards to thickness, I would suppose if thicker is softer then thicker is better. If not then I don't know! I'll see if I can get my hands on other leathers to try, though.

If you or anybody else wants, I am junking the older rubber dome leather keyboard. I can send to you one of the keycaps to feel. It won't sit on a Cherry stem, but it might sit on other rubber dome keyboards that you may have access to. Or you can send to me a Cherry cap and I'll attach the leather to that. My address is here: Dotan Cohen.

I can say after a few days of typing on this thing that the experience is completely different. Seriously, I feel like the condom has come off and I really can feel the keyboard anew. It is simply a pleasure to touch, and instead of trying to shy away from typing I find myself actually looking forward to it.

Input Nirvana:

--- Quote from: dotancohen;615313 ---I can say after a few days of typing on this thing that the experience is completely different. Seriously, I feel like the condom has come off and I really can feel the keyboard anew. It is simply a pleasure to touch, and instead of trying to shy away from typing I find myself actually looking forward to it.
--- End quote ---

I'm sold.

If I can see a pretty decent pic or two....I'll hop on over to an arts and crafts store or some little hot freaky hippie artist to hook me up with one or two pieces for a couple key caps to try it on. If it feels like you say for others in addition to you....it could be kind of a big deal. But I can see maybe some downsides as well.

I'm intrigued with the depleted uranium as well.....

dotancohen:
[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ] 53055[/ATTACH]

This is the back of one of the leather strips. It can be seen that the leather is rather thin, but there is a sponge backing. The strip is 2.5 * 1.25 cm and I strip about 0.5 cm of sponge from each end to attack to the keycap. The next time that I do this, I will strip a thin strip of sponge off of the leading edge of the keycap for aesthetic reasons (the yellow sponge can easily be seen from the front of the keyboard and looks ugly). The leather strap is attacked to the keycap by a small bead of wood glue on the part where the sponge has been removed, holding on to the side of the keycaps. I tried many different types of glue and epoxies, wood glue works best as it is easy to work with, holds fine, and cleans up easily. You will get glue on the wrong side of the leather during the process of wrapping the keycap in rubber bands while the glue dries, so the fact that wood glue cleans up with a wet cotton swab is very important.

Input Nirvana:
Wow, this looks involved.
So it's not even about the leather itself as much as it is about the soft backing that compliments it. Interesting...I didn't get that from before.

Here is a question: What about leather only, just on the top surface of the key....like a top on a top? Would that cause any problems? It would be less about tender fingertips, but more about feel....does that make sense? Any perk just from that viewpoint?

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