keychron q1 flex issues

[spookrequiem]

Hey, I just got my q1! Only problem is that I have no flex...

I've tried just about every mod I can, pom plate, gaskets on corners only, removed thicker case foam, force-break, etc etc - no flex (or at least, barely any compared to youtube).
Any advice?

[Leslieann]

I think this comes down to people expecting far too much.
People hear gasket mount and flex and think lots of movement when in reality it's often fractions of a mm. Can a person feel it? If you're got very sensitive fingers, yes, but if you're one to just mash keys maybe not so much and I think those are often the people expecting the most from it. It doesn't help when Keychron show images of lost of movement on their site.

By the numbers...
For every bit of flex you allow you need AT LEAST that much extra clearance under the pcb (and switch) and then some more for safety, especially on an aluminum case. Keychron lists the official front height without caps at 22mm, a bare Gateron switch, including contacts, is 18mm tall, subtract another 1.5mm for the case bottom and say another mm for clearance, not unreasonable even in a very stiff keyboard. That leaves you 1.5mm for any flex, extra clearance and foam, that's 2 micro SDcards stacked, and I'm not referring to the thick part. Keychron makes it look like it's getting nearly three times that, but that is physically impossible given the numbers they give right on the website.

By the way,
Even if you did design it to have 3mm of clearance or more, the USB port wouldn't line up right without a much larger hole, or the use of some sort of extension cable, dongle or daughter board.

[selsik]

Flex is a meme anyway, not sure why people care so much about it.

[Leslieann]

Flex is a meme anyway, not sure why people care so much about it.

While I think it's over played and I'm not sure if it's a meme or not...
You'd probably care if you spent several hundred dollars on a keyboard for that specific feel and find out it doesn't work.

[selsik]

Flex is a meme anyway, not sure why people care so much about it.

While I think it's over played and I'm not sure if it's a meme or not...
You'd probably care if you spent several hundred dollars on a keyboard for that specific feel and find out it doesn't work.

If you're looking for a soft typing feel with consistent sound, I think the Q1 does the job pretty well.

To me it looks like OP is violently pushing the keyboard with 2 fingers like every keebtuber out there and panicking because it doesn't bend as much. To this date I don't know why they even do it... what do they achieve? Who pushes with 2-3 lbs of force on normal typing? Do they realize that, if the keyboard was actually that flexible during normal typing it would be incredibly annoying?

It's kinda like thock at this point. Newcomers pursue it above all without even knowing why.

[tp4tissue]

It's a gimmick to begin with. just be happy it's  something something  than those Other keyboards which are for  SOME reason, your choice,  INFERIOR.

Just as all single piece keyboards are inferior to Split + Tented iterations.

[CaesarAZealad]

Hey, I just got my q1! Only problem is that I have no flex...

I've tried just about every mod I can, pom plate, gaskets on corners only, removed thicker case foam, force-break, etc etc - no flex (or at least, barely any compared to youtube).
Any advice?

Honestly I've found gasket mounts are kinda ****ty for flex, and it's heavily overplayed. I ran my MODE65 as a top mount and I could definitely feel the flex on that board, even with the ALU plate. I think it's a combo of the keychron, while being a solid choice for a board, still being a budget board at heart (You can only go so far with what you've got) and the fact that, as people have previously said, flex isn't as detectable as many would think. Everyone of those keyboard youtubers talks about a "Bouncy typing feel" and do that thing where they press down on the whole goddamn board and it flexes like crazy, but that's really not the reality. You'd have to put serious effort to make them flex more than a few mm.

It's a gimmick to begin with. just be happy it's  something something  than those Other keyboards which are for  SOME reason, your choice,  INFERIOR.

Just as all single piece keyboards are inferior to Split + Tented iterations.