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geekhack Community => Ergonomics => Topic started by: steve.v on Tue, 14 October 2014, 12:16:01

Title: O rings, how many per caps?
Post by: steve.v on Tue, 14 October 2014, 12:16:01
So I just received some clear o rings; Am I suppose to put two or just one per key caps? I currently have blues; and so far I can tell the sound is muffled a bit however the travel is somewhat the same. Best regards, thx.
Title: Re: O rings, how many per caps?
Post by: steve.v on Tue, 14 October 2014, 12:29:35
Sorry, after installing everything, I do now notice a slight decrease in travel; much better in my opinion, thx.
Title: Re: O rings, how many per caps?
Post by: saint_james on Tue, 14 October 2014, 12:32:30
It depends on two factors: (a) the presence of crossbars at the base of the keycap socket, as commonly found on OEM and Cherry profile keycaps; and (b) the thickness of your o-rings.

If you have the crossbars on your keycaps and are using ~1.2-to-1.5mm o-rings, a single o-ring per keycap should do the trick.  If your keycaps lack the crossbar supports, you may need a thicker o-ring or may need to stack two o-rings per keycap. 
Title: Re: O rings, how many per caps?
Post by: steve.v on Tue, 14 October 2014, 12:47:48
It depends on two factors: (a) the presence of crossbars at the base of the keycap socket, as commonly found on OEM and Cherry profile keycaps; and (b) the thickness of your o-rings.

If you have the crossbars on your keycaps and are using ~1.2-to-1.5mm o-rings, a single o-ring per keycap should do the trick.  If your keycaps lack the crossbar supports, you may need a thicker o-ring or may need to stack two o-rings per keycap.

I am currently using PBT DSA profile caps; ones I got with my ergodox.

(http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/ww360/vang0341/IMG_0001.jpg) (http://s735.photobucket.com/user/vang0341/media/IMG_0001.jpg.html)

(http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/ww360/vang0341/IMG_0002.jpg) (http://s735.photobucket.com/user/vang0341/media/IMG_0002.jpg.html)

(http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/ww360/vang0341/IMG_0003.jpg) (http://s735.photobucket.com/user/vang0341/media/IMG_0003.jpg.html)
Title: Re: O rings, how many per caps?
Post by: saint_james on Tue, 14 October 2014, 13:00:55
No crossbars... you will need to double up or use fat o-rings.
Title: Re: O rings, how many per caps?
Post by: steve.v on Tue, 14 October 2014, 13:19:23
Gotcha... appreciated, thx a lot!
Title: Re: O rings, how many per caps?
Post by: Tony on Tue, 14 October 2014, 22:23:20
O-ring dampen the reactive force/sound as well as the typing feel, so it's a trade between typing feel and the sound.

After trying o-rings, I prefer typing without them.
Title: Re: O rings, how many per caps?
Post by: Oobly on Mon, 20 October 2014, 03:37:27
On DSA caps, I believe one thick oring and one thin oring or two thin orings will give a nice balance of feeling and travel reduction. Two thick ones is a bit too much, one thick one is too little.

Or simply trampoline mod the switches and never have to fiddle with orings again: http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=50632.0
Title: Re: O rings, how many per caps?
Post by: telegraphist on Fri, 24 October 2014, 15:38:11
So I just received some clear o rings; Am I suppose to put two or just one per key caps? I currently have blues; and so far I can tell the sound is muffled a bit however the travel is somewhat the same. Best regards, thx.
By no means: just try one ring, then two and use whatever number of rings YOU PERSONALLY prefer with your own favorite switches. Rely on your own feelings of best comfort: some people are light typers, some are heavy typers, some like to use whole travel distance to the very "bottom", some like to reduce it a little, or more than just a little.
Some enjoy hard "landings" while bottoming out, others prefer it to be soft.
Choose your own setup and be happy with it :thumb: