Something weird about Leopold FC660c

[KongPaoBurger]

Hi

So I got a Leopold FC660c last year and used it for about 2 weeks, and was very happy with the keyboard. It'e been sitting in my storage since and today I got it out and noticed something weird about the numbers row, basically they are more loose and lighter than all other switches, have less bounce and the sound is different, actually kinda feels like the 35g switches.

Is it normal? I don't think all the switches could be defect, but I also do not recall having this particular experience when I first got the keyboard.

Thanks for the help.

[Delirious]

Welcome to the world of rubber. Despite how high quality topre domes are, they're still rubber and more prone to wear, tear, and hardening. I went to a few meet ups and had yet to type on 2 HHKB with identical tactility. Realforce suffers a little less from rubber hardening because of the metal plate. I own 3 realforces and I can tell the slight differences between them. One of them ages badly, the arrow cluster is pretty much linear and the f-row feels mushy

[Zombii]

Hi

So I got a Leopold FC660c last year and used it for about 2 weeks, and was very happy with the keyboard. It'e been sitting in my storage since and today I got it out and noticed something weird about the numbers row, basically they are more loose and lighter than all other switches, have less bounce and the sound is different, actually kinda feels like the 35g switches.

Is it normal? I don't think all the switches could be defect, but I also do not recall having this particular experience when I first got the keyboard.

Thanks for the help.

Was the place where it was stored subject to humidity/temperature changes? Like Delirious said, it's possible that the rubber domes for that row simply deteriorated, although 1 year isn't really that much time, all things considered.

[KongPaoBurger]

Welcome to the world of rubber. Despite how high quality topre domes are, they're still rubber and more prone to wear, tear, and hardening. I went to a few meet ups and had yet to type on 2 HHKB with identical tactility. Realforce suffers a little less from rubber hardening because of the metal plate. I own 3 realforces and I can tell the slight differences between them. One of them ages badly, the arrow cluster is pretty much linear and the f-row feels mushy

Thanks for your reply. It just so happens that only the numbers + ESC key feels kinda mushy while all the others are the same, and my other Topres do not have such "feature” so I was just wondering if Leopolds do things differently. Considering the age of the keyboad I highly doubt it's wear or tear, maybe I'm just unlucky.

 

[Zombii]

Welcome to the world of rubber. Despite how high quality topre domes are, they're still rubber and more prone to wear, tear, and hardening. I went to a few meet ups and had yet to type on 2 HHKB with identical tactility. Realforce suffers a little less from rubber hardening because of the metal plate. I own 3 realforces and I can tell the slight differences between them. One of them ages badly, the arrow cluster is pretty much linear and the f-row feels mushy

Thanks for your reply. It just so happens that only the numbers + ESC key feels kinda mushy while all the others are the same, and my other Topres do not have such "feature” so I was just wondering if Leopolds do things differently. Considering the age of the keyboad I highly doubt it's wear or tear, maybe I'm just unlucky.

If you're not adverse to it, I would try to inspect the rubber sheet and springs. If they don't have anything visibly wrong with them, at that point my experience with Topre runs out.

[KongPaoBurger]

Was the place where it was stored subject to humidity/temperature changes? Like Delirious said, it's possible that the rubber domes for that row simply deteriorated, although 1 year isn't really that much time, all things considered.

I only got it last November, and it's actually put on a shelf in a fairly dry storage room. Just checked another Realforce which I put right next to that Leopold (with the same switches and longer usage) and it does not seem to have the same problem.

Thank you very much for the help.

[Puddsy]

My realforce has had the **** beat out of it and it's still fine.

I might take it apart and make sure all the springs are OK

[KongPaoBurger]

If you're not adverse to it, I would try to inspect the rubber sheet and springs. If they don't have anything visibly wrong with them, at that point my experience with Topre runs out.

Thanks.

So I opened it up and examined the rubbers and springs, and the rubbers of the letters are definitely stiffer than those of the numbers and esc. Springs on the other hand feels the same.

Still cannot figure out if it's quality control issue or assembly error or my storage room is too damp for it. 

[Entropia]

I have read somwhere on this forum that the top row is actually lighter than the rest of the keys, specifically on the Leopold with topres. I mean in brand new non-faulty keyboards. Maybe it's normal. Now why it's designed that way? No idea.

[dollarkoin]

Return it if possible. There have been mentions of 660C's with lighter number rows, and the solution in the few cases this happened was to immediately return/explain to the store and try to get a fully functionally one.
It's suspected to be an attempt at offloading 35g domes but could be anything from faulty switches to a defect.

[LeCado]

Is it really normal that Topre keyboards wear that much - except the Realforce keyboards? Can some HHKB long time user tell me something about this? Do I have to be careful when I buy a used HHKB from 2012-2013 or something?

[Mahm]

Is it really normal that Topre keyboards wear that much - except the Realforce keyboards? Can some HHKB long time user tell me something about this? Do I have to be careful when I buy a used HHKB from 2012-2013 or something?

This is only an issue with some of the Leopold FC660c having a lighter number row

[Erikdayo]

I used to have a 660C with the same 'issue'. Personally, it didn't bother me, but I understand why it would bother some.

[kmba]

There was a batch, or a few batches, of fc660cs that hit the market last year that consistently had lighter number row. It's a known "issue". The newest boards have uniform top row. Now sure exactly what happened that led to the light row. Speculation it that Leopold got a batch of lighter domes and decided to use them anyway, but put em all on num row where it wouldn't matter too much.