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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: kohtachi on Tue, 13 September 2011, 13:21:52
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So, i did the o-ring mod and there is a noticeable dampening of the clack. But, there is also a noticeable decrease in travel of the keys. Don't know but i think the stems of the leopod are shorter then filcos?
o-ring used
2418T114 Soft Buna-N O-Ring, AS568A Dash Number 008, Packs of 125 from mcmaster.com
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The stems are the same on both boards-- the o-rings reduce travel by .5mm. You might notice this more on a lighter switch. There have been a couple people who were disappointed by this change, though you don't notice it as much if you're not bottoming out.
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I did the orthodontic band mod to my keyboards in the past, I was also disappointed by the reduction in travel. I find PCB monted cherry brown keyboards to be my favorite (bottom out is less jarring than bottoming out on plate mounted keyboards)
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I saw a big difference from keycap to keycap. Thick cherry doubleshots for example have too short stems, and travel is reduced noticeably (perhaps 1mm). The ABS keycaps on my Poker and Kinesis have longer stems, and the travel reduction is very minimal (perhaps .5mm)
Here's a cherry and poker keycap (both O keys) side by side, with an 008 silicon o-ring installed. Never had a leopold keycap to try. Looks like someone needs to do the research and source out thinner o-rings as an alternative.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]26545[/ATTACH]
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this is probably going to be an unpopular post, but if you find yourself bottoming out on reds or browns, why not just go to a switch with a heavier spring, such as blacks or clears? I know those aren't the cool, trendy switches, but they exist for a reason...
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I hear you. I have a board with blacks (a TG3) it's a great switch! However for typing all day like I do, I find reds less tiring, significantly less tiring than even browns. I don't bottom out too much, but I want a soft landing whenever I do. So, for my needs and priorities, o-rings + my Kinesis with reds happens to work perfectly.
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Wouldn't soft landing pads shorten travel a bit less after a few days of being squished? With a round puncture tool you could even try other thinner materials as felt, plastic velour, thin pleather, industrial cardboard, or anything else creative.
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this is probably going to be an unpopular post, but if you find yourself bottoming out on reds or browns, why not just go to a switch with a heavier spring, such as blacks or clears? I know those aren't the cool, trendy switches, but they exist for a reason...
Haha. That would be way too reasonable, so they just follow the crowd instead.
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The stems are the same on both boards-- the o-rings reduce travel by .5mm. You might notice this more on a lighter switch. There have been a couple people who were disappointed by this change, though you don't notice it as much if you're not bottoming out.
What's the point of o-rings if you are not bottoming out?
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What's the point of o-rings if you are not bottoming out?
It's impossible to NOT bottom out at all, especially during quick-typing bursts, or when you are tired at the end of the day and control of your fingers is waning. It's like an airbag that has no point when you're not crashing the car, but you appreciate it when you do :-)
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It's impossible to NOT bottom out at all, especially during quick-typing bursts, or when you are tired at the end of the day and control of your fingers is waning. It's like an airbag that has no point when you're not crashing the car, but you appreciate it when you do :-)
If I'm bottoming out at all on the board that I'm typing this on (clears) it's so light that it's really not noticeable - I don't really notice any finger stress at the end of the day (which was the main reason that I started looking for alternatives to rubber domes in the first place,) and the loudest sound from the board is the switches springing back to the top, not hitting bottom. I also used a grey switch for the space bar because I to tend to give that one a good thwack; after a short adjustment period, I'm not dropping any spaces but neither am I bottoming out.
I won't say that O-rings or soft landing pads won't work for some people and their goals, but I've tried both and the shorter travel annoys me, I must be using most of the travel of my key switches because with the O-rings I definitely could tell the difference. Then again, I am using Cherry Corp. keycaps not the stock Filco ones, which may make the shortening of travel more noticeable due to the shorter height of the keycaps (but that is a big reason why I use them, they feel much less wobbly due to being shorter, which makes for a much more solid feeling keyboard.)
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In search of a replacement keyboard to replace my old zeos keyboard...I had long ago, I bought filco brown, leopod red, and 55g topre. And out of the three the 55g topre feels the best. Dam i loved that zeos keyboard but it made too much noise and not to mention I lost it during the move. Maybe i'll just man up and ignore the people around me *****ing about the clack and get another mx blue. I think the zeos keyboard was blue or were they white?
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Half the time I fail to see what the point of trying not to bottom out at all is. I type faster when I don't go through all the effort of being careful and just pound the keys. That's one of the things that I'm a bit disappointed about when it comes to my browns. I actually type faster on my laptop's scissorswitch keyboard because there is less key travel. I'm not sure what people are talking about with the "shock" from bottoming out... its just a keypress... nothing shocking about it.
If anything, I'm toying with the idea of getting really thick o-rings to purposely reduce key travel and, as such, have a keyboard that would excel at typing that bottoms out.
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What you're supposed to do is remove the metal plate mount and coat it with rubberized paint. I believe they sell this in spray paint form.
And BAM, you've got yourself a sound reducing, as well as vibration absorbing mount. =D
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could do the foam mod redpill did
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i simply make peace with the "noise" makes by my keyboard. Otherwise why buy the mechanical keyboard.
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I recently added o-rings to my Quick Fire and didn't really notice a difference in travel, but it definitely quieted it down some which was nice.
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Half the time I fail to see what the point of trying not to bottom out at all is. I type faster when I don't go through all the effort of being careful and just pound the keys. That's one of the things that I'm a bit disappointed about when it comes to my browns. I actually type faster on my laptop's scissorswitch keyboard because there is less key travel. I'm not sure what people are talking about with the "shock" from bottoming out... its just a keypress... nothing shocking about it.
If anything, I'm toying with the idea of getting really thick o-rings to purposely reduce key travel and, as such, have a keyboard that would excel at typing that bottoms out.
I'm not saying I disagree with you, but if you're doing typing constantly, apparantly, the extra shock (and it is a shock, albeit a small one) of bottoming out will add up and complicate RSI issues, and finger fatigue.
I notice that by the end of my paper, I sometimes take a break from my unicomp, which helps.
Also, if you're not pushing the key all the way down, then you move your fingers less. Less movement means faster movement (potentially) which equates to better typing speed. It makes some sense, though typing on a red, I still "brush" the keys too much, and have mistakes. I anticipate precision and accuracy to come in time.
Edit: Oh, and it's often a lot quieter.
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I have just applied this mod to my Filco brown and it feel quieter whenever you type.
Of course your fingers feel less room to roam.
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try Rutschstop: http://youtu.be/_hmQWE503cA