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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Holzmann on Wed, 13 April 2011, 18:03:25

Title: Spring sounds?
Post by: Holzmann on Wed, 13 April 2011, 18:03:25

I posted about my new Filco Tenkeyless with Cherry Blues a week or so back and I'm still loving the sound and feel of it, but I've started noticing that the springs of some keys have a bit of a "klang" after I hit them that kind of reverberates a tiny bit through the keyboard. It's definitely audible if you listen for it.

I've never had a mechanical keyboard, so forgive my ignorance if this is normal and maybe part of the "breaking-in process", but the fact that it's not like that on every key is throwing me off. Are all springs on a mech keyboard not created equal?

This isn't really a gripe, I'm more curious than anything.

Title: Spring sounds?
Post by: MrSneis on Wed, 13 April 2011, 18:07:32

Are you bottoming out the keys as you type?

Title: Spring sounds?
Post by: Holzmann on Wed, 13 April 2011, 18:13:22

Quote from: MrSneis;330241

Are you bottoming out the keys as you type?

Oh hell yes. I'm going all-in with the "typewriter sound". The strange thing is that I'm only hearing this on a few keys even though I'm hitting them all with the same relative force.

Title: Spring sounds?
Post by: canon.tk on Wed, 13 April 2011, 18:56:14

That sound is normal.  Some boards do it worse than others.

Title: Spring sounds?
Post by: canon.tk on Wed, 13 April 2011, 19:35:00

My Filco with browns doesn't do it.
My Filco with blacks doesn't do it.
My Filco with reds does it a little bit.
My friend's Filco with browns does it a lot (makes a strong ping sound)
My Black Widow Ultimate doesn't do it.

Title: Spring sounds?
Post by: Findecanor on Thu, 14 April 2011, 02:47:53

None of my browns, blues or clears have it. My plate-mounted black doesn't do it, but my PCB-mounted black does it ...

Why? Did Cherry get cheaper springs for a batch of switches or what?

Title: Spring sounds?
Post by: The Solutor on Thu, 14 April 2011, 02:57:43

Quote from: Findecanor;330453

None of my browns, blues or clears have it. My plate-mounted black doesn't do it, but my PCB-mounted black does it ...

Why? Did Cherry get cheaper springs for a batch of switches or what?

Just noticed after reading this thread, the Q key has this sorta of echo on my brown keyboard, none of the blues has it, both are plate mounted.

Likely is just a production tolerance.

Title: Spring sounds?
Post by: Holzmann on Thu, 14 April 2011, 03:52:41

Quote from: ripster;330282

Browns can have it too.  Varies from keyboard to keyboard.  You can hear it in my MegaSoundSampleRoundup.

Yeah I definitely heard it at 38-40 seconds in your Cherry Blues sample.

I'm glad I'm not going crazy. Does the sound change over time or does it stay relatively constant regardless of use?

Title: Spring sounds?
Post by: woody on Thu, 14 April 2011, 04:29:39

Try putting some kind of a soft mat under the keyboard. For one, my desk has resonance in the audible range and makes every keyboard sound loud.