HHKB How to Modify to 30g?

[LoveYouFyi]

Kindly excuse me if this has been addressed many times, or if it should be self evident...  Can you help me understand how to convert a HHKB from 45g to 30g? 
I code a ton, and the joints in my fingers get pretty sensitive after a while.  Got the HHKB a few days ago and the bump + bottom out seems to be at least as problematic for me as my cherry mx blue that I had to get away from.  Two days ago I ordered a Pok3r cherry mx red to see if that will be better.  I've had red before, but not on a 60% board. 
I really like the HHKB layout.  It's just these keys I'm not yet liking too much.

[sony]

You would have to buy a 30g topre board to use as a donor. There are a few 30g boards for sale retail in Japan which you could import. Then you would open them both up and swap the domes.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

[0100010]

Either get a Topre board that has 30g domes and swap into your HHKB, or potentially get some other similar domes, and swap in.

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=84951.0

https://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/korean-replacement-domes-for-topre-keyboards-t14697.html

[LoveYouFyi]

Thanks guys, your feedback helped me narrow down my search... the guys who bought the replacements from ebay aren't liking them..
I found a board by by "Plum" which have 35g keyboards for $99 they are topre clones.  Any feedback?
It looks like I need to buy a ducky 104 key for $300 at mechanicalkeyboards, to get true topre of 30g do you think that's the only one out there? 

[ejewell89]

Thanks guys, your feedback helped me narrow down my search... the guys who bought the replacements from ebay aren't liking them..
I found a board by by "Plum" which have 35g keyboards for $99 they are topre clones.  Any feedback?
It looks like I need to buy a ducky 104 key for $300 at mechanicalkeyboards, to get true topre of 30g do you think that's the only one out there?

There are others out there for sure

I recently picked up a REALFORCE91UG-S off of massdrop for 220. and it had full 30g domes and i swapped them into one of my hhkb's. 

If you're brave, you can explore yahoo.jp and probably find one of the uniform 30g genuine topre boards for a good price.
For example, there is the exact board at the USD equivalent of 115 here:

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/258027980

and it is also silent, a modification a lot of people really praise.

[LoveYouFyi]

If you're brave, you can explore yahoo.jp and probably find one of the uniform 30g genuine topre boards for a good price.

Excellent! 

1) Did you have enough "switches" to appropriately change out all of them on the HHK?  I see the realforce has the large "enter" key. 

2) Any pointers on making that purchase from yahoo.jp?

[ejewell89]

If you're brave, you can explore yahoo.jp and probably find one of the uniform 30g genuine topre boards for a good price.

Excellent! 

1) Did you have enough "switches" to appropriately change out all of them on the HHK?  I see the realforce has the large "enter" key. 

2) Any pointers on making that purchase from yahoo.jp?

1) I absolutely had enough! a 91u JIS board will have 91 30g domes and a standard HHKB only has 60 switches. The large enter is just the standard japanese layout (JIS) and has a similar dome. my 91UJIS had a single sheet of domes that needed trimming up to fit in all the necessary locations, its a very simple modification, if a bit overwhelming in appearance at first.

2) I actually did a bit of digging, and I used buyee.jp as a proxy site to search and bid for the board i recently got from there. It is a proxy site.

[LoveYouFyi]

I absolutely had enough! a 91u JIS board will have 91 30g domes and a standard HHKB only has 60 switches. The large enter is just the standard japanese layout (JIS) and has a similar dome. my 91UJIS had a single sheet of domes that needed trimming up to fit in all the necessary locations, its a very simple modification, if a bit overwhelming in appearance at first.

1) Regarding trimming up the single sheet.  Do you recall about how many different pieces you ended up cutting it into... 3, 10, 30? 
2) Do you think since you trimmed the sheet, that having individual pieces instead of the stock HHKB adversely effected typing experience?

[moh18one]

https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%9D%B1%E3%83%97%E3%83%AC-REALFORCE108US-%E9%9D%99%E9%9B%BB%E5%AE%B9%E9%87%8F%E7%84%A1%E6%8E%A5%E7%82%B9%E6%96%B9%E5%BC%8F-ALL30g-SJ38D0/dp/B003Y2ZBUU/ref=sr_1_sc_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1503018742&sr=1-3-spell&keywords=reqlforce+108

[LoveYouFyi]

I just purchased from Ebay.. REALFORCE 91 UG-S 91 Key ALL 30g.  Total was $296 and the seller gives 60 days money back guarantee. 
I'll try out the 30g's on the Realforce and see if I like them enough to hack it up and switch out the 45's. 
I've got a Pok3r coming tomorrow: MX Red.  If I don't like the MX Red or the 30g Topre, I'll try out the new MX Silver (SPEED) on the Pok3r. 
Thanks for the link to Amazon... I'd looked into Yahoo Japan Auctions as well, but all that's too much work for me. 

[ejewell89]

I absolutely had enough! a 91u JIS board will have 91 30g domes and a standard HHKB only has 60 switches. The large enter is just the standard japanese layout (JIS) and has a similar dome. my 91UJIS had a single sheet of domes that needed trimming up to fit in all the necessary locations, its a very simple modification, if a bit overwhelming in appearance at first.

1) Regarding trimming up the single sheet.  Do you recall about how many different pieces you ended up cutting it into... 3, 10, 30? 
2) Do you think since you trimmed the sheet, that having individual pieces instead of the stock HHKB adversely effected typing experience?

I have a HHKB JP, which has a different stagger pattern than the traditional HHKB. you will have to cut the single sheet into a few different pieces. I imagine though if when you crack open the realforce, and map your cuts carefully you will be able to make at least the alphas a single cut. Just take your time and everything will turn out fine. 

The factory domes in my HHKB JP were in 1x5 rows for the alphas, and various sizes for modifiers and other keys. whether a dome is in a sheet or all cut into individual dome pieces, it should type the same. all of my BKE domes are singles and they work fine.

[LoveYouFyi]

you will have to cut the single sheet into a few different pieces.

What did you use to cut them up: scissors, razor, x-acto knife? 

[LoveYouFyi]

I absolutely had enough! a 91u JIS board will have 91 30g domes and a standard HHKB only has 60 switches.

Any chance I can buy the 31 leftover 30g domes from you?

The ebay seller sold me a board he didn't have in stock and won't have until October...

[LoveYouFyi]

Hey, I found a 30g Topre board in the USA.