effective ways to dampen SA profile caps?

[Halbyrd]

I've been using a Ergodox with plate-mount Cherry MX Brown switches and SA-profile caps from Signature Plastics for a while now, and for the most part it's lovely. One minor gripe I run into is how loud bottoming out is on the acrylic plate this keyboard uses. I tried using 40A O-rings to dampen it down a bit and...nothing. I literally couldn't feel a difference no matter how hard I bottomed out. Should I try doubling up on the O-rings, or do I need to use something different like landing pads to actually get an effect?

[tofgerl]

Zeal has created some new thingamabobs for this specific use case - the problem is that he's not able to test if they're SA-compatible.
https://zealpc.net/collections/group-buy-pre-orders/products/zealencio

If they turn out to be compatible with SA, I'm buying them for all my boards

[zslane]

How will we know (about SA compatibility) before the GB closes?

[suicidal_orange]

The problem is SA has no internal supports (see lpwl's thread in the vendor section for a description of how many o-rings it takes - it's way more than two standard thickness ones) so I don't see how the Zealencios could work for the downstroke as there's nothing to hit them.

[zslane]

What part of a DSA cap hits them?

It's the slanting inner walls that hit, no? That would be true for SA as well, I assume. But the legend shot could interfere, that's the question, right?

[Findecanor]

An alternative to using O-rings around key stems is to do the "Trampoline" mod but it requires being able to open the switch to put a small piece of rubber inside.
The mod is also slightly different for clicky Cherry MX switches because those have longer key stems for some reason.

IMSTO sells silicone balls for this mod. There is a discussions of the balls in the thread I linked to.

[Lpwl]

Dampening SA caps with O-rings is not as difficult as it first appears, but it does require some dedication (= $$$).

Row 1: 9.5mm (1 x 3mm, 2 x 2.5mm, 1 x 1.5mm)
Row 2: 7.5mm (3 x 2.5mm)
Row 3: 7.0mm (1 x 3mm, 1 x 2.5mm, 1 x 1.5mm)
Row 4: 7.5mm (3 x 2.5mm)

source : /u/OssieOsbert

This may not be the most effective way but that's a lot of rubber goodness, anyone should be able to respect that 

[zslane]

So far I've only put O-rings on my SA spacebars. To reach 7mm I used 3x2mm + 1mm. It helps, but I would like to try SA on the new MX pink switches some day. I mean, if you put O-rings on every keycap, that's a helluva lot of rubber to have to replace when they dry out and rot. I'd rather not have to install them in the first place, y'know?

[MajorKoos]

I've 3d printed a bunch of silencing pads for my SA profile keys.
They're 0.9mm thick and made from Ninjatek Semi-flex (Shore Hardness = 98A).
I've tested them on both DSA and SA R3 profile keys - the difference is remarkable.

The design is super simple - a 14.5mm * 14.5mm * 0.9mm cube with a 5.5mm hole in the middle.
I then set the slicer (S3D) to:
 - single perimeter
 - 0.15mm layers
 - 0 top or bottom layers
 - 50% grid infill


I've published the STL file to my repo:
https://github.com/MajorKoos/KBDParts/tree/master/Keycaps/Silencers

[rowdy]

I've 3d printed a bunch of silencing pads for my SA profile keys.
They're 0.9mm thick and made from Ninjatek Semi-flex (Shore Hardness = 98A).
I've tested them on both DSA and SA R3 profile keys - the difference is remarkable.

The design is super simple - a 14.5mm * 14.5mm * 0.9mm cube with a 5.5mm hole in the middle.
I then set the slicer (S3D) to:
 - single perimeter
 - 0.15mm layers
 - 0 top or bottom layers
 - 50% grid infill


I've published the STL file to my repo:
https://github.com/MajorKoos/KBDParts/tree/master/Keycaps/Silencers

That's a great idea!

I wonder why no-one thought of it before.

[KHAANNN]

I had these back in the day: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=70197.0

My .02 for trampoline mod: It's cancer, I've tested many bad mods, trampoline was the worst, It's hard to describe how bad it is, It's like a stress ball that you squeeze with every keypress

The best solution is the embrace the sound, the second best is finding the optimal height reducing method and o-ring I guess (height-reduction + o-ring on top)

[MajorKoos]

I had these back in the day: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=70197.0

My .02 for trampoline mod: It's cancer, I've tested many bad mods, trampoline was the worst, It's hard to describe how bad it is, It's like a stress ball that you squeeze with every keypress

The best solution is the embrace the sound, the second best is finding the optimal height reducing method and o-ring I guess (height-reduction + o-ring on top)

Yeah, this isn't like the trampoline mod.
I can see why it failed with all that stuff under the keycap.
I can make 120 of these things with 18 grams of plastic, and they're each < 1mm thick.