Post your Topre Keyboard

[ctm]

My last concern: how is the durability of Topre? Since it's not easily repairable like Cherry or ALPS boards, there will be a lot of troubles when it fails. Also does the feeling of keys change over time? In my impression rubber domes are not as durable as plastic and metal. I tried my friend's brand new HHKB and it feels great. Will it still feel the same after say 5 or 10 years? (That's kind of what I expected out of a $200+ kb)

There are a few people around who have had topre boards for years and they perform just fine. Normally the only wear is on the keycaps and even then just typically the spacebar.

I can't think of anyone who has had a topre board outright fail.

Good to know. In my impression cheap rubber dome membrane keyboards feel different after some years of use. It is just because they use some cheap, nondurable material for their domes? I hope Topre does not have this problem.

It isn't really fair to compare a topre board to cheap rubber dome keyboards.

And I don't think you will find any  keyboard that won't change some after years of use.

I have heard some people say that the older domes can feel stiffer, but not sure if this was quantitatively measured, or just by feel. Never heard of any damages though.

And I just got done reading an old thread about topre switches feeling lighter after many years. 

Sure it's not fair to compare $20 kb to $200 kb. I am just curious about the reason that cause the difference of durability between Topre rubber dome and normal cheap rubber dome.
Though Cherry or ALPS keyboards will also change after some years of use, they are much easier to deal with. With about $50 I can buy a bag of switches and replace them. But AFAIK there are no Topre domes or springs for sale.

[ctm]

I am really curious why Topre feels so good. Its mechanism is just similar to regular rubber dome with a coil spring, but the spring offers very little force, so I don't think it makes much of a difference. Even though the actuation mechanism is different, but I don't think that will make a difference in the process of pressing down the key. I tried Topre once and I know it feels great, but I just can't understand what magic does Topre do to make it so great.

[VesperSAINT]

I am really curious why Topre feels so good. Its mechanism is just similar to regular rubber dome with a coil spring, but the spring offers very little force, so I don't think it makes much of a difference. Even though the actuation mechanism is different, but I don't think that will make a difference in the process of pressing down the key. I tried Topre once and I know it feels great, but I just can't understand what magic does Topre do to make it so great.

I believe it mainly has to do with the high quality of dome design/material, and how each dome is pressed down by an individual mechanism that is a combination of a plunger (with a flat base) which is well balanced and supported in a plunger housing. The entire mechanism is structured that the entire key press is smooth and consistent with minimal amount of friction between all parts. I think the round plunger design is a part of all this smoothness. Standard rubber domes I've encountered are usually  keycaps with a built in square part/plunger that is not flat, which presses down (stabs more like it LOL) on the rubber dome with no proper support to speak of other than that it's clipped into a hole in the case.

The high quality PBT keycaps may also be a factor

[frosty]

Youtube videos don't seem to pop up for me (like there's no embed video for me to watch without leaving the page), anybody knows how to fix this?
By the way, nice mod and video Vesper

/heads to lurk again

bump?

[SpAmRaY]

Youtube videos don't seem to pop up for me (like there's no embed video for me to watch without leaving the page), anybody knows how to fix this?
By the way, nice mod and video Vesper

/heads to lurk again

bump?

When they turned on the https it broke embedding youtube videos, usually in your browser there is a button on the address bar to allow them since they aren't 'secure', it is slightly different depending on your browser.

[Joey Quinn]

Youtube videos don't seem to pop up for me (like there's no embed video for me to watch without leaving the page), anybody knows how to fix this?
By the way, nice mod and video Vesper

/heads to lurk again

bump?

When they turned on the https it broke embedding youtube videos, usually in your browser there is a button on the address bar to allow them since they aren't 'secure', it is slightly different depending on your browser.

On chrome it's this shield.

[btctopre]

When they turned on the https it broke embedding youtube videos, usually in your browser there is a button on the address bar to allow them since they aren't 'secure', it is slightly different depending on your browser.

Awesome, now I can finally see embedded videos. Thank you 

[VesperSAINT]

When they turned on the https it broke embedding youtube videos, usually in your browser there is a button on the address bar to allow them since they aren't 'secure', it is slightly different depending on your browser.

Yeeee!!! Thank you!!! Fixed for me too


I reuploaded my HHKB video with slightly better sound representation:

[Ngt]

When they turned on the https it broke embedding youtube videos, usually in your browser there is a button on the address bar to allow them since they aren't 'secure', it is slightly different depending on your browser.

Yeeee!!! Thank you!!! Fixed for me too


I reuploaded my HHKB video with slightly better sound representation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGoKFJGQgko

[ctm]

I see some HHKB Pro 1 with yellowed case. I guess that will also happen to Pro 2 given enough time. It is possible to re-brighten it?

[SpAmRaY]

I see some HHKB Pro 1 with yellowed case. I guess that will also happen to Pro 2 given enough time. It is possible to re-brighten it?

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=61502.0

[btctopre]

I see some HHKB Pro 1 with yellowed case. I guess that will also happen to Pro 2 given enough time. It is possible to re-brighten it?

I mean, that's standard for white plastic. But you should be able to give the case a bleach/hydrogen peroxide bath until it reaches a white suitable enough for you, then run it through the dishwasher after and be gtg.

[PunksDead]

alot of work but well worth it, dremeled holes in the fc660c topre mounts to allow the novatouch sliders to poker through and properly stabilize. Worked like a charm and feels exactly like a stock 660c. Left one topre stem for artisanal BroCap purposes 

sorry about crumb bum photo but its dark out

[Latin00032]

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alot of work but well worth it, dremeled holes in the fc660c topre mounts to allow the novatouch sliders to poker through and properly stabilize. Worked like a charm and feels exactly like a stock 660c. Left one topre stem for artisanal BroCap purposes  :thumb:

sorry about crumb bum photo but its dark out :(

Wow! I wish you posted a couple shots of the process.

[CommonCurt]

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alot of work but well worth it, dremeled holes in the fc660c topre mounts to allow the novatouch sliders to poker through and properly stabilize. Worked like a charm and feels exactly like a stock 660c. Left one topre stem for artisanal BroCap purposes  :thumb:

sorry about crumb bum photo but its dark out :(

Wow! I wish you posted a couple shots of the process.

+1  would have like to of seen that myself.

[Moralless]

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alot of work but well worth it, dremeled holes in the fc660c topre mounts to allow the novatouch sliders to poker through and properly stabilize. Worked like a charm and feels exactly like a stock 660c. Left one topre stem for artisanal BroCap purposes  :thumb:

sorry about crumb bum photo but its dark out :(

Nice man! Planning to do the same soon. Could you take a pic of the mounts that you had to dremel out? Just curious to see what it looks like.

[PunksDead]

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alot of work but well worth it, dremeled holes in the fc660c topre mounts to allow the novatouch sliders to poker through and properly stabilize. Worked like a charm and feels exactly like a stock 660c. Left one topre stem for artisanal BroCap purposes  :thumb:

sorry about crumb bum photo but its dark out :(

Wow! I wish you posted a couple shots of the process.

Thats the only in process shot i took, i was rushing to finish :D

Also im lucky the grey dyesub fc660c spacebar matches dolch exactly. Couldnt figure out how to get an MX spacebar on due to sizing :(

There are 2 small circles on the underside of the topre mounts, just point your dremel at them and go through. Leopold wierdly has markings for them  :confused:

[ApocalypseMaow]

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alot of work but well worth it, dremeled holes in the fc660c topre mounts to allow the novatouch sliders to poker through and properly stabilize. Worked like a charm and feels exactly like a stock 660c. Left one topre stem for artisanal BroCap purposes  :thumb:

sorry about crumb bum photo but its dark out :(

Wow! I wish you posted a couple shots of the process.

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Thats the only in process shot i took, i was rushing to finish

Also im lucky the grey dyesub fc660c spacebar matches dolch exactly. Couldnt figure out how to get an MX spacebar on due to sizing

Very nice!!! Now you got me wondering how hard it would be to do this to a RF...

AND AS FOR YOU VESPER!!! I HATE YOU!

YOUR KEYBOARDS ARE THE REASON I CAN'T SLEEP AT NIGHT 

[VesperSAINT]

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alot of work but well worth it, dremeled holes in the fc660c topre mounts to allow the novatouch sliders to poker through and properly stabilize. Worked like a charm and feels exactly like a stock 660c. Left one topre stem for artisanal BroCap purposes  :thumb:

sorry about crumb bum photo but its dark out :(

Show Image

Thats the only in process shot i took, i was rushing to finish

Also im lucky the grey dyesub fc660c spacebar matches dolch exactly. Couldnt figure out how to get an MX spacebar on due to sizing

There are 2 small circles on the underside of the topre mounts, just point your dremel at them and go through. Leopold wierdly has markings for them 

YOU'RE SO BEAUTIFUL... I wish I could fall asleep and wake up to you forever...

AND AS FOR YOU VESPER!!! I HATE YOU!

YOUR KEYBOARDS ARE THE REASON I CAN'T SLEEP AT NIGHT 

HUE~ I love you too... Even when you sleep... I hope you dream of my keyboards ~ <3

[Sed8op8]

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alot of work but well worth it, dremeled holes in the fc660c topre mounts to allow the novatouch sliders to poker through and properly stabilize. Worked like a charm and feels exactly like a stock 660c. Left one topre stem for artisanal BroCap purposes  :thumb:

sorry about crumb bum photo but its dark out :(

Wow punks this looks pretty freaking amazing I do say so myself can't wait till I get the confidence to start taking power tools to my boards (especially now that the leopold is a little harder to get) very sweet mod man. I love that you left the one Topre cap now you can rock Topre and MX caps on the same board.  :thumb:

[Sygaldry]

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alot of work but well worth it, dremeled holes in the fc660c topre mounts to allow the novatouch sliders to poker through and properly stabilize. Worked like a charm and feels exactly like a stock 660c. Left one topre stem for artisanal BroCap purposes  :thumb:

sorry about crumb bum photo but its dark out :(

Wow! I wish you posted a couple shots of the process.

Show Image

Thats the only in process shot i took, i was rushing to finish

Also im lucky the grey dyesub fc660c spacebar matches dolch exactly. Couldnt figure out how to get an MX spacebar on due to sizing

There are 2 small circles on the underside of the topre mounts, just point your dremel at them and go through. Leopold wierdly has markings for them 

God dammit... the stabilized keys were the only reason I didn't cave and Novatouch stem mod my HHKB. Now that I know it's possible, I'm super tempted to do this..................

[Moralless]

All about those


HHKB by iDroM, on Flickr


KWK by iDroM, on Flickr


HHKB by iDroM, on Flickr

[hwood34]

All about those

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HHKB by iDroM, on Flickr

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KWK by iDroM, on Flickr

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HHKB by iDroM, on Flickr

[PunksDead]

Apparently im an idiot and the stabilizer pods are interchangable and i didnt need to dremel my board...  Move along people nothing to see here

[naasfu]

Apparently im an idiot and the stabilizer pods are interchangable and i didnt need to dremel my board...  Move along people nothing to see here

gratuitous dremeling ftw.  that dolch and cmyw on the fc660c looks mighty tasty though.

[byker]

[ApocalypseMaow]

Apparently im an idiot and the stabilizer pods are interchangable and i didnt need to dremel my board...  Move along people nothing to see here

lol, but how about the side play... do the novatouch stems feel as snug?

[Air tree]

I yearn for the day when someone starts producing topre key cap sets. It will be the Topre revolution. We shall infect the masses with our oneness with cupped rubber and mighty keycap selections. 

[atlas3686]

Apparently im an idiot and the stabilizer pods are interchangable and i didnt need to dremel my board...  Move along people nothing to see here

lol, but how about the side play... do the novatouch stems feel as snug?

Also interested in this, does it feel snug? Between you and epzy I now need to find some novatouch sliders, dammit guys why do you do this to me

[dustinhxc]

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alot of work but well worth it, dremeled holes in the fc660c topre mounts to allow the novatouch sliders to poker through and properly stabilize. Worked like a charm and feels exactly like a stock 660c. Left one topre stem for artisanal BroCap purposes  :thumb:

sorry about crumb bum photo but its dark out :(

Hell yea dude looks so dope! Love the fc660c!

[Latin00032]

Apparently im an idiot and the stabilizer pods are interchangable and i didnt need to dremel my board...  Move along people nothing to see here

Do you think if you had a 6x mx spacebar, you could make it work on this fc660c?

[Sed8op8]

All about those

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HHKB by iDroM, on Flickr

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KWK by iDroM, on Flickr

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HHKB by iDroM, on Flickr

Wow those are super sexy man. Much envy huge beauty  :)

[btctopre]

Apparently im an idiot and the stabilizer pods are interchangable and i didnt need to dremel my board...  Move along people nothing to see here

I wasn't going to say anything, but... yeah. Just two tabs on the side of the housing that you push in/down with a small screw driver and then voila! Fortunately it shouldn't affect much should you want to put the original Topre slider/stabilizer back in there.

For the spacebar- if MX spacebars have a centered stem, you might be able to cut the backplate next to the stabilizers and then slide the stabilizer housing whichever way laterally that they need to go to make them match up (though idk if these Novatouch Cherry stabilizers use a wire to connect to each other?). The PCB might show through gaps a little but since you're doing it for the spacebar it'd be concealed pretty well. I re-did an entire bottom row on a 106-key keyboard doing this so I could use it with a 104-key PCB.

[Ngt]

Apparently im an idiot and the stabilizer pods are interchangable and i didnt need to dremel my board...  Move along people nothing to see here

I'm not sure I got what you meant. Do you mean you can take the stem of the stab and put it on the stock Leopold stab?

[SpAmRaY]

Apparently im an idiot and the stabilizer pods are interchangable and i didnt need to dremel my board...  Move along people nothing to see here

I'm not sure I got what you meant. Do you mean you can take the stem of the stab and put it on the stock Leopold stab?

You can swap the entire stabilizers, housing and all from one keyboard to the other.

[Ngt]

Apparently im an idiot and the stabilizer pods are interchangable and i didnt need to dremel my board...  Move along people nothing to see here

I'm not sure I got what you meant. Do you mean you can take the stem of the stab and put it on the stock Leopold stab?

You can swap the entire stabilizers, housing and all from one keyboard to the other.

Oh OK. Good to know, indeed it is better than drilling the board!

[Ngt]

Apparently im an idiot and the stabilizer pods are interchangable and i didnt need to dremel my board...  Move along people nothing to see here

I wasn't going to say anything, but... yeah. Just two tabs on the side of the housing that you push in/down with a small screw driver and then voila! Fortunately it shouldn't affect much should you want to put the original Topre slider/stabilizer back in there.

For the spacebar- if MX spacebars have a centered stem, you might be able to cut the backplate next to the stabilizers and then slide the stabilizer housing whichever way laterally that they need to go to make them match up (though idk if these Novatouch Cherry stabilizers use a wire to connect to each other?). The PCB might show through gaps a little but since you're doing it for the spacebar it'd be concealed pretty well. I re-did an entire bottom row on a 106-key keyboard doing this so I could use it with a 104-key PCB.

The space bar does use a wire.

[btctopre]

Well, it could still work out as long as the distance between the stabilizers underneath the spacebar are the same as wherever the new housing positions were.

Went and looked at the only pic I had of my adjusted bottom row (this, pre-sanding to level it out) and pretty much any cut to the plate made underneath the spacebar will be hidden. My original layout had something like a 5.25u spacebar, and I just measured and cut outward, then slid the housing down until everything lined up. So same sort of concept for making the Cherry stabilizers line up, but would still need a center stem spacebar as the actual spring/dome still needs to match up with that spot on the PCB.

[tjcaustin]

Apparently im an idiot and the stabilizer pods are interchangable and i didnt need to dremel my board...  Move along people nothing to see here

Do you think if you had a 6x mx spacebar, you could make it work on this fc660c?

You'd have to do a bit of surgery to the center stem of the spacebar as all the 6x cherry spacebars I know are offset.  The outer stabilizers are already in the right spot, if my memory is accurate.  If not, you're already dremeling the spacebar anyways...

[VesperSAINT]

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Edit: Inspiration credit to clacktalk.

Top stripe is best stripe:

RealForce Red Blank PBT key cap set.

Nice bro. Let us know how they look on the board!

Your wish is my command.

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Jesus Christ that photo is so bad.... LOL...

All about those

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HHKB by iDroM, on Flickr

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KWK by iDroM, on Flickr

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HHKB by iDroM, on Flickr

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. 2 gud 4 me, son. Dayum... Those are some really nice Kaps.

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Nice! I'm glad you were able to find a cap to match your Red Fn!!! Looks great!!!

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Uee's a cutey ~ <3

[VesperSAINT]

So I acquired me some blank Black HHKB keycaps earlier today from beautiful clacktalk <3

Here be my lubed 55g Silent HHKB!!!

Because I love packaging <3

[Ngt]

So I acquired me some blank Black HHKB keycaps earlier today from beautiful clacktalk <3

Here be my lubed 55g Silent HHKB!!!

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WAOOOOH it is definitely really nice! I like it. Beautiful board Vesper as always. ^^

[clacktalk]

So I acquired me some blank Black HHKB keycaps earlier today from beautiful clacktalk <3

Here be my lubed 55g Silent HHKB!!!

Because I love packaging <3

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The only proper stormtrooper look in my eyes is with a white body. hella thumbs up sky high

[VesperSAINT]

WAOOOOH it is definitely really nice! I like it. Beautiful board Vesper as always. ^^

Thank you, good sir <3 You honor me with your compliment ~ I'm just glad you like it!

The only proper stormtrooper look in my eyes is with a white body. hella thumbs up sky high

I love you, my lovely... This mane sold me this set for hella good price <333 Thumbs up sky high for you, baby. 2 thumbs up!!!

[ApocalypseMaow]

So I acquired me some blank Black HHKB keycaps earlier today from beautiful clacktalk <3

Here be my lubed 55g Silent HHKB!!!

Because I love packaging <3

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[Jokrik]

So I acquired me some blank Black HHKB keycaps earlier today from beautiful clacktalk <3

Here be my lubed 55g Silent HHKB!!!

Because I love packaging <3

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Bery nice! Bery nice indeed!

[VesperSAINT]

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Bery nice! Bery nice indeed!

You are bery nice for the compliments <3 Bery nice indeed~~~

[Sed8op8]

So I acquired me some blank Black HHKB keycaps earlier today from beautiful clacktalk <3

Here be my lubed 55g Silent HHKB!!!

Because I love packaging <3

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Holy **** ...... I love the Topre RGB. Dammit vesper you always have some of the sexiest topre boards! That gun makes more and more sense everyday :))

[VesperSAINT]

Holy **** ...... I love the Topre RGB. Dammit vesper you always have some of the sexiest topre boards! That gun makes more and more sense everyday )

Thank you!!! I was lucky enough to be able to snag up those 2 blank Blue modifier keys from a sale way back.

As you know, I'm a RGB(Y) and CMY(W/K) fanboy <3 Just something about colored mods gets my fluids pumpin'...

Lol... The gun... I can feel your intent! I don't feel safe even in front of my computer!!! )

[Moralless]

So I acquired me some blank Black HHKB keycaps earlier today from beautiful clacktalk <3

Here be my lubed 55g Silent HHKB!!!

Because I love packaging <3

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Niiice Vesper! Totally outdoing my stormtrooper hhkb with that nightowl and RGB  :-*