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geekhack Community => New Members => Topic started by: ssk on Sat, 05 September 2015, 03:28:28
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I appreciate a nice keyboard so decided to give the mechanical thing a try. Got a CM Quickfire Rapid TKL with Cherry MX Blues delivered today. There is something fun about it, but I'm struggling with it a bit. I generally hit the high 60's as my normal every day typing speed using either Lenovo laptop or Logitech K750 (laptop-like low profile scissor switches). With this thing I'm struggling to hit high 50's and feel like my hands are having to move a LOT more, and work a lot more. The throw on these keys is giant compared to what I'm used to. I find my fingers bumping into the sides of the other keys. Overall it's kind of fun and novel, but I'm not really feeling it... yet. I'm torn between messing with O rings to try and dampen it a bit and reduce the travel - or just returning it. If it ain't broke... Anybody else have this experience? Any advice?
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Well mechanical switches have a lot more travel by design so you do have to press them further than a scissor switch - your fingers feel like they're moving more because they are! The caps have spaces between them unlike scissors so I'm surprised you have a bumping issue, like anything you'll get used to it :)
I'd give it at least a week to decide if you like it then if you want to call it broken instead of returning it you could Jailhouse mod your blues - this reduces the travel needed to register a press (unlike o-rings which you still have to press just as far until the click happens, then the travel reduction kicks in) and kills the click leaving a little tactile bump, but you still benefit from the nice cushioned keystroke rather than repeatedly banging your fingers on a solid board. I expect this the mod will mean desoldering all the switches and bye-bye warranty, but if you find yourself liking the springiness and non-flat keycaps it would be worth it.
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Welcome to Geekhack!
Another alternative is to replace the keycaps. Yes, already :p
The standard QFR (I have a QFR and a QFS) keycaps are OEM profile i.e. quite tall. They also have meh legends.
If you can find a set of Cherry profile keycaps, that's about as good as it gets, according to many.
Or if you prefer a lower uniform profile (like a flat typing surface) you might seek out a set of DSA keycaps.
Different sets of keycaps won't alter the travel distance or distance to actuate, but they can make a huge difference to the feel of a keyboard!