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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: CrissSwiss on Mon, 26 December 2016, 09:25:58

Title: Am i paranoid or there is something seriously wrong with my Type-s?
Post by: CrissSwiss on Mon, 26 December 2016, 09:25:58: Last week i finally got my HHKB Type S. At the beginning everything seemed fine, but yesterday during some programming session i noticed that the spacebar makes extraordinarily loud 'plastic' noise. Sound of spacebar is pretty much what sold me on this keyboard so it's a bummer and i start to feel a little disappointed and annoyed, especially considering that i paid almost $400 for this keyboard.

Video:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2h1ay4cyh2h2n3i/File%2026-12-2016%2C%2015%2027%2057.mov?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/2h1ay4cyh2h2n3i/File%2026-12-2016%2C%2015%2027%2057.mov?dl=0)

Symptoms:

1. Clicky plasticy sound on the downstroke
2. Sometimes it even makes plastic to plastic sound on upstroke

Now there is no way for me to RMA, so here are my failed attempts to fix this:

1. Reseating spacebar - i pulled it out countless times and tried every possible way to push it into place. Sometimes it helps for few strokes but after that it becomes noisy again.
2. Opening whole case and checking stabilizers - they had a fair amount of lube on them, but just to be sure i added some extra lube to check if it helps at all. As it turned out it had no effect, so i guess that stabilizers are not the issue.
3. To determine why it sometimes makes noise on upstroke i disassembled topre switch and checked if stock type-s oring is in place. It is there so the problem is not caused by that.

Hacky solutions that kinda work(all include removing spring):

1. Putting foam landing pads on topre switch and stabilizers helps quite a bit. This however causes the spacebar to lose alot of travel and it feels heavier. Also its nowhere close it its original sound
2. Putting two landing pads only on topre switch and turning spacebar 180 degrees helps ALOT, but the keyboard ends up looking goofy and it seems silly to do that after paying $400.

Are there any other solutions to try out? I know that i probably should buy PBT spacebar, but i'm from EU so i don't have access to fancy keyboard stores until i want to pay alot for shipment and VAT. Also i don't really know where i should even try to find PBT spacebar nowadays.

Buying PBT seems obvious, but there are alot of videos with stock ABS spacebar in which it sounds amazing and not clicky plasticy at all. That makes me think that there surely MUST be a solution that will work without buying PBT keycap.

Please help me fix this. I really want to like this keyboard, layout is absolutely amazing and i find it hard to imagine to use any other keyboard now, but this spacebar slowly kills my interest in this kb.

Thanks in advance
Title: Re: Am i paranoid or there is something seriously wrong with my Type-s?
Post by: 1391406 on Mon, 26 December 2016, 14:11:48: Try reversing the spacebar(a lot of people do this as a matter of course).
Title: Re: Am i paranoid or there is something seriously wrong with my Type-s?
Post by: Polymer on Mon, 26 December 2016, 15:37:38: Its the stabilizer...so it doesn't matter that you're silencing the switch..that isn't where your problem is...Not sure where you arrive at it not being the stabilizer just because of lube.

The reason the PBT spacebar works, my guess, is because the stabilizers are locked into it a lot harder than the stock spacebar..and the fact that they're not perfectly straight so they're probably keeping a bit of tension on the stabilizer to keep it from clanking around....

What I see you haven't tried is using landing pads on the stabilizers since that is where the problem lies..that should help on the travel and feel as well....
Title: Re: Am i paranoid or there is something seriously wrong with my Type-s?
Post by: mike52787 on Mon, 26 December 2016, 15:56:12: (http://i.imgur.com/GRVXFEC.jpg)
Title: Re: Am i paranoid or there is something seriously wrong with my Type-s?
Post by: tp4tissue on Mon, 26 December 2016, 17:11:05: Quote from: mike52787 on Mon, 26 December 2016, 15:56:12
Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/GRVXFEC.jpg)

Ugh've been sayin'' it for YEARS...

Now we have proooof...
Title: Re: Am i paranoid or there is something seriously wrong with my Type-s?
Post by: Potatomonkey on Tue, 27 December 2016, 00:50:19: Quote from: mike52787 on Mon, 26 December 2016, 15:56:12
Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/GRVXFEC.jpg)

Preach
Title: Re: Am i paranoid or there is something seriously wrong with my Type-s?
Post by: DRAZAH on Tue, 27 December 2016, 09:19:31: My HHKB "Hype-S" has a very pronounced plastic-y "clack" from the spacebar as well while all my other keys were near "Type-S" level after installing hyperspheres and lube. Honestly, what helped the best is adding a touch more thick krytox lube to the spacebar stabs and wire. I also used flipped stock abs spacebar and I have absolutely no clack from my spacebar anymore.
Title: Re: Am i paranoid or there is something seriously wrong with my Type-s?
Post by: OfTheWild on Tue, 27 December 2016, 19:03:39: A couple of options I can think of would be:
Swapping it out for a slightly thicker PBT spacebar.
Lubing the sliders.
Adding some foam in the open space under the spacebar cap.

I luckily haven't had any issues with mine. I do think that calling the type-s "silent" is a bit of a stretch but it does have a reduced upstroke click sound over the stock hhkb. My opinion is that the boards i've tried that had hypersphere rings on them were way quieter.
Title: Re: Am i paranoid or there is something seriously wrong with my Type-s?
Post by: Elrick on Tue, 27 December 2016, 19:47:24: Quote from: Potatomonkey on Tue, 27 December 2016, 00:50:19
Quote from: mike52787 on Mon, 26 December 2016, 15:56:12
Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/GRVXFEC.jpg)

Preach

Hallelujah Brother, someone who has seen the Truth despite the foul influence of those caught up in the grip of this Keyboard.

Good to see a fellow believer who never succumbed to the disgusting propaganda related to this foul input device that continues to lure the innocent and weak into it's death grip.

Pray for wisdom here because that is the only way in defeating one of Satan’s most potent temptations, the HHKB.
Title: Re: Am i paranoid or there is something seriously wrong with my Type-s?
Post by: daerid on Tue, 27 December 2016, 21:08:30: Personally, I don't like the HHKB.

But I don't have a problem with people who do.

These are keyboards, not religions.
Title: Re: Am i paranoid or there is something seriously wrong with my Type-s?
Post by: CrissSwiss on Wed, 28 December 2016, 10:36:17: Ok so after reading some suggestions both under my vid and here on forum i decided to lube te stabilizers well(even on the upper side) and put electrical tape under the center of spacebar keycap.

It helped a lot and now it sounds very nice to me. If i hit the spacebar in a very specific way - somewhat forward - then i can still sometimes(rarely) hear some clicking, but it's good enough for me.

Other than that i will order pbt keycap and see if it further improves the sound.
Title: Re: Am i paranoid or there is something seriously wrong with my Type-s?
Post by: DRAZAH on Wed, 28 December 2016, 10:57:42: Quote from: CrissSwiss on Wed, 28 December 2016, 10:36:17
Ok so after reading some suggestions both under my vid and here on forum i decided to lube te stabilizers well(even on the upper side) and put electrical tape under the center of spacebar keycap.

It helped a lot and now it sounds very nice to me. If i hit the spacebar in a very specific way - somewhat forward - then i can still sometimes(rarely) hear some clicking, but it's good enough for me.

Other than that i will order pbt keycap and see if it further improves the sound.

Yeah, this was literally the only gripe I had with my HHKB and I have seemed to fix it also.