Simple Questions, Simple Answers (FAQ in the OP)

[rowdy]

I would say that my QFR has the edge, but only because it has MX blacks which I prefer over the reds.  The QFR also feels like a slightly heavier and more solid board, but that could be something simple like a thicker plate.

Quality-wise, they are about equal (KeyCool has stock PBT keycaps, QFR has BumbleBee atm).

[bMind]

I would say that my QFR has the edge, but only because it has MX blacks which I prefer over the reds.  The QFR also feels like a slightly heavier and more solid board, but that could be something simple like a thicker plate.

Quality-wise, they are about equal (KeyCool has stock PBT keycaps, QFR has BumbleBee atm).

Thanks again

Keycaps won't be a deciding factor because I will change them either way

[Pacifist]

So I've heard about using binder clips as a switch opener instead of the_beast's one.

How would I do that?

[codyeatworld]

So I've heard about using binder clips as a switch opener instead of the_beast's one.

How would I do that?

http://www.kbdmania.net/xe/tipandtech/3520312
http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/i-did-a-guide-of-how-to-open-cherry-switches-t2458.html#p43053

I just bookmarked these the other day

[CPTBadAss]

So I've heard about using binder clips as a switch opener instead of the_beast's one.

How would I do that?

So I've heard about using binder clips as a switch opener instead of the_beast's one.

How would I do that?

http://www.kbdmania.net/xe/tipandtech/3520312
http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/i-did-a-guide-of-how-to-open-cherry-switches-t2458.html#p43053

I just bookmarked these the other day

This is in the OP as well

[Pacifist]

So I've heard about using binder clips as a switch opener instead of the_beast's one.

How would I do that?

So I've heard about using binder clips as a switch opener instead of the_beast's one.

How would I do that?

http://www.kbdmania.net/xe/tipandtech/3520312
http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/i-did-a-guide-of-how-to-open-cherry-switches-t2458.html#p43053

I just bookmarked these the other day

This is in the OP as well

Agh, sorry. Last time I checked OP, I didn't need to open switches.

[Tokiloki]

Hey lovely geekhack community,

I would like to purchase this keyboard : http://www.banggood.com/Keycool-87-Rainbow-Keycaps-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard-Cherry-MX-Blue-p-89178.html

It is really cheap and they have free shipping to Germany which really surprises me. But matter of fact I've never heard of banggood .

My main question and concern would be : Can you trust the site and is it a real keycool 87 keyboard , like not being fake etc.

Thank you in advance for your answers !

[lcs]

Hey lovely geekhack community,

I would like to purchase this keyboard : http://www.banggood.com/Keycool-87-Rainbow-Keycaps-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard-Cherry-MX-Blue-p-89178.html

It is really cheap and they have free shipping to Germany which really surprises me. But matter of fact I've never heard of banggood .

My main question and concern would be : Can you trust the site and is it a real keycool 87 keyboard , like not being fake etc.

Thank you in advance for your answers !

It seems banggood is reputable around here, but I've never bought anything from then so it's purely based on other's experiences.

I remember reading that someone had to wait a very long time for caps, if I'm not mistaken.

Overall I'd say they're fine.

[SpAmRaY]

Hey lovely geekhack community,

I would like to purchase this keyboard : http://www.banggood.com/Keycool-87-Rainbow-Keycaps-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard-Cherry-MX-Blue-p-89178.html

It is really cheap and they have free shipping to Germany which really surprises me. But matter of fact I've never heard of banggood .

My main question and concern would be : Can you trust the site and is it a real keycool 87 keyboard , like not being fake etc.

Thank you in advance for your answers !

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=50050.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=48643.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=48870.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=46838.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=46734.0

as of right now they are NOT endorsed by geekhack

[lcs]

Hey lovely geekhack community,

I would like to purchase this keyboard : http://www.banggood.com/Keycool-87-Rainbow-Keycaps-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard-Cherry-MX-Blue-p-89178.html

It is really cheap and they have free shipping to Germany which really surprises me. But matter of fact I've never heard of banggood .

My main question and concern would be : Can you trust the site and is it a real keycool 87 keyboard , like not being fake etc.

Thank you in advance for your answers !

It seems banggood is reputable around here, but I've never bought anything from then so it's purely based on other's experiences.

I remember reading that someone had to wait a very long time for caps, if I'm not mistaken.

Overall I'd say they're fine.

Hey lovely geekhack community,

I would like to purchase this keyboard : http://www.banggood.com/Keycool-87-Rainbow-Keycaps-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard-Cherry-MX-Blue-p-89178.html

It is really cheap and they have free shipping to Germany which really surprises me. But matter of fact I've never heard of banggood .

My main question and concern would be : Can you trust the site and is it a real keycool 87 keyboard , like not being fake etc.

Thank you in advance for your answers !

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=50050.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=48643.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=48870.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=46838.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=46734.0

as of right now they are NOT endorsed by geekhack

I stand corrected

[Tokiloki]

Hey lovely geekhack community,

I would like to purchase this keyboard : http://www.banggood.com/Keycool-87-Rainbow-Keycaps-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard-Cherry-MX-Blue-p-89178.html

It is really cheap and they have free shipping to Germany which really surprises me. But matter of fact I've never heard of banggood .

My main question and concern would be : Can you trust the site and is it a real keycool 87 keyboard , like not being fake etc.

Thank you in advance for your answers !

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=50050.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=48643.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=48870.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=46838.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=46734.0

as of right now they are NOT endorsed by geekhack

Okay , thank you so you recommend not to buy from banggood.com ?

[SpAmRaY]

Hey lovely geekhack community,

I would like to purchase this keyboard : http://www.banggood.com/Keycool-87-Rainbow-Keycaps-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard-Cherry-MX-Blue-p-89178.html

It is really cheap and they have free shipping to Germany which really surprises me. But matter of fact I've never heard of banggood .

My main question and concern would be : Can you trust the site and is it a real keycool 87 keyboard , like not being fake etc.

Thank you in advance for your answers !

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=50050.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=48643.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=48870.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=46838.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=46734.0

as of right now they are NOT endorsed by geekhack

Okay , thank you so you recommend not to buy from banggood.com ?

I have no opinion on the matter, just wanted to share information, you'll have to make your own decision!

I will say I have considered buying from them but have not followed through.

[do_Og@n]

Banggood.com really isn't a bad site. The stuff they sale is exactly what they say it is.

The only problem I have had from them is shipping time, but the shipping is free and international so that's kind of expected.

I would only buy the Keycool and KBC branded stuff from their site though.

[CPTBadAss]

On Banggood.com and anything else you buy on this site, it's buyer beware. It's on you and your personal judgement in the end to figure out if you feel comfortable buying from whomever. I'm sure you can find mkawa's statement on Banggood in one of the posts ray linked.

Personally? I won't buy from Banggood or anything I think is associated with TaoBao. I just don't trust it.

[nubbinator]

On Banggood.com and anything else you buy on this site, it's buyer beware. It's on you and your personal judgement in the end to figure out if you feel comfortable buying from whomever. I'm sure you can find mkawa's statement on Banggood in one of the posts ray linked.

Personally? I won't buy from Banggood or anything I think is associated with TaoBao. I just don't trust it.

I trust Taobao proxies. There's a lot of good stuff on Taobao.  Banggood I don't trust very far until they prove themselves to be reputable.  So far they haven't, but also haven't proven themselves to be terrible.

[jyh]

I know people have posted threads on this topic before, but I haven't really seen a real confirmation. Is the Noppoo Choc Mini from Amazon a fake or not? I got mine about two weeks ago, it's the same one that has been posted before. All white text, questionable LED placement, "SorLock", etc. Plus, there are some imperfections, such as my 2/@ key, where you can feel physically feel the 2 on the keycap, unlike any other key. Also the 2 for the numpad, which is on the K key is done sloppily, kind of like someone repainted over the original just redrew another 2 by hand. On top of that, there is no detachable cable, like I've seen in the 2013 version, which seems like more of a backwards step. The Noppoo logo on the spacebar is normal too. I really prefer the older version with the detachable cable and the greyish lettering. Not sure if this is normal, but some keys sound slightly different than others. There are more examples, but the most obvious is my Q key in comparison to something like my L key. I can record it with Vocaroo if anybody thinks that this isn't normal.

[ouimeansyes]

Hi all,

Does anyone know which keyboards the 'Double-Shot' MX keycaps sold by elitekeyboards fit? They mention they have a shorter profile than the asian brands and mention Leopald in particular.

In my mind, if the asian brands are out then the only option is Cherry if you want the profiles to match that is.

Any help is appreciated.

[SpAmRaY]

Hi all,

Does anyone know which keyboards the 'Double-Shot' MX keycaps sold by elitekeyboards fit? They mention they have a shorter profile than the asian brands and mention Leopald in particular.

In my mind, if the asian brands are out then the only option is Cherry if you want the profiles to match that is.

Any help is appreciated.

Those are Cherry profile keys.

[CPTBadAss]

Does anyone know which keyboards the 'Double-Shot' MX keycaps sold by elitekeyboards fit? They mention they have a shorter profile than the asian brands and mention Leopald in particular.

Any keyboard that is ANSI layout with 1.25x modifiers and 6.25x spacebar. Like ray said they'll be Cherry profile so they'll be lower than OEM caps.

[ouimeansyes]

Edit. Answered below.

[dorkvader]

OEM height keycaps are pretty tall, so any cherry profile keys will fit on the keyboard, but will only "match" other cherry keycaps. This is only really noticeable if you are mixing different profiles

But they will fit, yes. I have cherry keycaps on my WASD V1 I'm using right now.

The double shot WASD sets, modifiers, and arrowkeys that elitekeybaords sells are made by GMK (and should be very high quality) but will look and feel a little lower than OEM height. To match better, you may consider making all your alphanumeric keycaps cherry profile, with a cheap cherry G80 or G81 keyboard on eBay. Having the modifiers be a little higher is not too distracting in my experience.

[swill]

Here is a comparison of Cherry and OEM on a board.  The colourful modifiers are OEM and the rest of the board is Cherry.

Notice how the green key is almost the same height as the caps lock key?  I have had these keys on for a few days now just to see how they feel.  The height difference is very noticeable. 

[ouimeansyes]

Thanks for the input. I guess I would have to make sure all the keycaps were Cherry, it seems the height difference is certainly noticeable. I appreciated all your help and especially for the images.

[infiniti]

Has anyone tried installing some form of dampening material between the plate and pcb to reduce the noise that resonates from the plate?

I was thinking of sticking something like Dynamat or rubber tape to the underside of the plate.

[Puddsy]

Where can I get some springs? Preferably 60g+.

[BlueBär]

Where can I get some springs? Preferably 60g+.

Originative.

[Puddsy]

Where can I get some springs? Preferably 60g+.

Originative.

Seems to be down.

[BlueBär]

Seems to be down.

You can try contacting sherryton directly via PM.

[SpAmRaY]

Where can I get some springs? Preferably 60g+.

Will pm you when I get to a PC.

[CPTBadAss]

Spamray, I know youre just trying to help but please try not to conduct business here in the future. A PM would be better than a post like that. That rule is there so people don't try and bypass the 60 post classifieds rule in this thread. And I don't want there to be too many precedents of it happening. Thanks!

[SpAmRaY]

Captn I didn't say anything about selling or buying perhaps I just don't want to post peoples contact info but would rather pm it.

[CPTBadAss]

No worries! Just trying to keep anything business like locked down in this thread. I know you're not actively trying to mess anything up ^__^. Just a posted a statement for anyone reading back.

[swill]

Probably a stupid question, but whatever...  I see a bunch of 'replacement keycaps' GBs happening.  What is stopping you from just buying a whole set?

[SpAmRaY]

Probably a stupid question, but whatever...  I see a bunch of 'replacement keycaps' GBs happening.  What is stopping you from just buying a whole set?

Most group buys are for whole sets.

[rowdy]

Probably a stupid question, but whatever...  I see a bunch of 'replacement keycaps' GBs happening.  What is stopping you from just buying a whole set?

Links?

The only two I see in the first few pages are R3 and R4 replacements, which I understand to be replacement for faulty or missing sets from the original R3 and R4 GBs.

[BlueBär]

Two short questions:
Can I simply cut one of those huge cloth mousepads to the size I want or will it then start to come apart on the edges I cut? More mouse tha nkeyboard related I guess.
Is there a way to reduce this ping my spacebar does (http://vocaroo.com/i/s1Y2sXWBqpsk , hard to hear, I hope you get what I mean)? Is this the infamous Filco ping (even though it's a Pure)?
PCB mounted MX Grey with lubed Cherry stabs, thin ABS spacebar.

[esoomenona]

I recently received a Phantom PCB from MK. The silkscreen was scratched off a bit and exposed some coppery color underneath. It's not a big scratch, and it's not in any area that I see would cause any sort of problem that I can think of. Is this an issue? Should I get it exchanged?

[Photekq]

I recently received a Phantom PCB from MK. The silkscreen was scratched off a bit and exposed some coppery color underneath. It's not a big scratch, and it's not in any area that I see would cause any sort of problem that I can think of. Is this an issue? Should I get it exchanged?

On what area of the PCB is it scratched off? Could you post a photo?

[SpAmRaY]

I recently received a Phantom PCB from MK. The silkscreen was scratched off a bit and exposed some coppery color underneath. It's not a big scratch, and it's not in any area that I see would cause any sort of problem that I can think of. Is this an issue? Should I get it exchanged?

I proxied some for Moz and it took 3 tries to get one that wasn't scratched up. One even had what looked to be white out/paint where they tried to cover up scratches.

They are still on there way to Moz so I don't know if the damaged ones work ok or not.

[esoomenona]

I could post a photo, but it'd have to be later tonight, as I'm at work.

But it's right near the Escape key, where there is a phantom Phantom logo (hur?).

[SpAmRaY]

I could post a photo, but it'd have to be later tonight, as I'm at work.

But it's right near the Escape key, where there is a phantom Phantom logo (hur?).

Also here was a response about the phantoms with scratches from mechanicalkeyboards

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=47907.msg1039115#msg1039115

[esoomenona]

Ah, okay. Yeah, like I said, it's in an area that shouldn't cause any problems. It'll be under a plate, and nothing is close to touching it. I just wanted to be sure before I hang on to it and then when I get around to eventually doing something with it, having it not work.

[dorkvader]

I recently received a Phantom PCB from MK. The silkscreen was scratched off a bit and exposed some coppery color underneath. It's not a big scratch, and it's not in any area that I see would cause any sort of problem that I can think of. Is this an issue? Should I get it exchanged?

as long as the copper is fine it should still work. Therea re a few things to take note of, however.

Solder will stick to the affected area. If its not near solder joints, you shouldn't have to worry. Just dont bridge to traces by mistake or something.
The affected area with visible copper is conductive. Put some nonconductive material over it if you are using a metal case. electrical tape should work fine. cellophane tape may work as well.

If you want to be absolutely certain, take a multimeter and measure the affected area to make sure there's conductivity where there should be. if so: you are good to go with some tape. If not, do a trace repair or exchange for a different one.

I should contact MK about the returned ones: I think I'd be okay with the defects, and I need another phantom PCB.

[CPTBadAss]

1) Can I simply cut one of those huge cloth mousepads to the size I want or will it then start to come apart on the edges I cut?

2) Is there a way to reduce this ping my spacebar does (http://vocaroo.com/i/s1Y2sXWBqpsk , hard to hear, I hope you get what I mean)? Is this the infamous Filco ping (even though it's a Pure)?
PCB mounted MX Grey with lubed Cherry stabs, thin ABS spacebar.

1) Not sure but it's not really a keyboard related question . I think you could but I'm guessing you might have issues with unraveling

2)  You can try using a different spacebar material if you've already lubed the stabilizers. The material of the cap can change how the switches sound. Didn't really hear a ping though.

[BlueBär]

2)  You can try using a different spacebar material if you've already lubed the stabilizers. The material of the cap can change how the switches sound. Didn't really hear a ping though.

The ping occurs when the spacebar is "jumping" back up, I don't really know what causes it, it is louder than in the recording. I tried to amplify it in Audacity: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0L7lOYU1zCV

[esoomenona]

Maybe it's coming from the spring being so strong that when it's on it's return, it's hitting too hard and makes that sound.

[MKULTRA]

Stop listening for the ping and you won't hear it.

[AKmalamute]

Stop listening for the ping and you won't hear it.

That only works for some people. Everybody's got different thresholds for these kinds of things.

[esoomenona]

Stop listening for the ping and you won't hear it.

I wouldn't say that's necessarily true of the spacebar. For some reason, it seems the spacebar is the key you hear the most. Likely because it's the key hit most often.

[CPTBadAss]

2)  You can try using a different spacebar material if you've already lubed the stabilizers. The material of the cap can change how the switches sound. Didn't really hear a ping though.

The ping occurs when the spacebar is "jumping" back up, I don't really know what causes it, it is louder than in the recording. I tried to amplify it in Audacity: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0L7lOYU1zCV

Maybe it's coming from the spring being so strong that when it's on it's return, it's hitting too hard and makes that sound.

Yeah I think it's what moose was saying with the heavy spring's return. You have a light spacebar (Thin ABS) and a heavy spring. Maybe swap in a PBT spacebar? Or swap the spring out for something lighter?