Stiff spacebar, Filco Majestouch 2 - Metallic Blue - MX Blues

[BWSR]

Hey Geekhack community,

Longtime lurker, first post. Before I begin I just want to say that, from what I have observed, this is one of the best forums/communities united by a single hobby/passion I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Virtually no infighting, trolling, or newb bashing from what I have seen, and among forums that is a rarity (maybe I have a negative bias because I play Heroes of Newerth, whose players are notoriously ignorant, racist, and condescending, and whose forums are a direct representation of that. If I had not had a long history with DOTA beforehand (the WC3 custom map on which HON is based) and truly enjoyed the game, I would not be playing still. I mean the abuse doled out by those players against everybody, not just newbs or baddies, indicates that the entire community has both some serious anger problems and a fetish for self abuse. It is refreshing to see a community where the knowledgable do not look down on the uniniated. Just wanted to thank you all for that. But I digress)

I first joined the site earlier last year to do research for a mechanical keyboard. I ended up getting the Nopoo Choc Mini (brown switches), which I love. I knew then I was also going to want to get a filco majestouch with blue switches for typing (I'm on it right now!) So when I saw the Limited Edition Metallic Blue Majestouch 2 I knew I had to have it (blue is my favorite color.) Ordered it late last week and got it today. I absolutly love it, exactly what I was looking for.

However, the space bar is much, much stiffer than the rest of the keys and it is kind of throwing my typing off as the force required to register a keypress for the normal keys is not really enough to activate the space bar. As I am typing it seems to be loosing up the slightest bit, but not enough it indicate that it will work its way down to the level of the other keys. I am just wondering if anybody else has had the same problem with the new Majestouch 2's, and if so what did you do about it?

Thanks so much,

BWSR

TL;DR: Anybody with the new Filco Majestouch 2 with blue switches have a very stiff spacebar? If so is there any solution? Is it worth sending it back to see if I could get a replacement?

[Lolcakes]

I have a Filco majestouch 2 TKL with cherry MX blues. The spacebar is as light as any other key on my board and to me it sounds like there is some problem with your board. Maybe you could RMA it?
Cheers

[F u r u y á]

My Filco with Browns has also a spacebar as light as other keys. Maybe you can remove your space bar to see if is there something going on? Or just RMA it.

[Lolcakes]

@BWSR
If you decide to go about pulling out the spacebar key cap, be sure to do it with care; you might wanna check out Ripster's guide on removing key caps.

[N8N]

maybe the stabilizers need a little lube?  As others have said, the switch on a Filco is the same as the rest of them, unlike a Cherry brand keyboard.

[BWSR]

This was exactly what I am talking about, not 10 minutes after my first post I get 5 responses, one from the ripster himself welcoming me. Thank you very much btw. I looked at your guide and gently pulled the space bar off. There was nothing obvious wrong with either the switch itself or the spacer bars. I pulled off the b key cap and did a direct comparison between the two switches and I could not feel any difference between them so I am inclined to believe it is a stabilizer bar problem. It seems the stiffness is gradually diminishing, but again, not enough to lead me to believe it will work itself out on its own. Perhaps, as N8N suggested, lubricant might help. There is a discrepency in stiffness between the left and the right extremes of the spacebar, (the left being more stiff) and when I hold the board up and look at the bar I notice that while the spacebar is near even with the right alt key (a tiny, tiny bit above) the left side of the spacebar is definitively taller than the left alt key, again leading me to believe it is a stabilizer bar problem.

Also, if I slowly compare the left/right side of spacebar and other keys, I notice that the stiffness discrepency is most notable at the begining of the keystroke, the space before the click indicating key activation. If I slowly press down on the space bar, stopping when I feel the resistance of the "bump" on the switch, that is where I notice the differences between it and the other keys. For the K and Shift keys, I can easily, lightly go between the neutral state and the begining of the resistance bump. For the spacebar, because it is much stiffer in that space, it is hard to stop at the begining of the bump because the force required to get it there naturally carries the key past the bump.

I apologize for the terminology I am using, I do not know the names of all the parts of a mechanical switch, but if you look at this animated gif from the keyboard guide for the blue switch, it is pretty easy to see what I am referring too. I guess the abnormal resistence comes while the blue part of the switch is being depressed before making the white part move, though it still probably is a stabilizer, not a switch problem. Hopefully that makes sense. Thanks again for your help.

[Edit] : Sorry about the essay length of my posts

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[nikonf5]

left side of the spacebar is definitively taller than the left alt key

Based on the above, it sounds like the small plastic pieces [image below] that hook the stabilizer bar onto the spacebar on either side of the central switch might not have been inserted all the way into the leftmost stem of the spacebar.
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