First mechanical keyboard! Need advice on o rings.

[beefblast]

I've been on the fence for a while and I've decided to get an xmas present for myself!

My Monoprice 9181 has arrived. The first mechanical keyboard I've owned since my old model M I regret getting rid of all those years ago. (and my childhood Apple //c, I suppose)
I love it! It's solid, looks amazing, and the red back lighting is adjustable from subtle to "Oh god why is the room bathed in crimson glow?"

Typing, gaming are amazing. Loving every second. I'm going to have to get a new keyboard for work now <_<  Maybe something with MX Blues.

The media keys (Really function key combos) work without any special software being installed and that makes me happy as hell. (Really I just want to mute, volume up and volume down in the middle of a game)

Anyway, it seems so many years of rubber dome typing have trained me to mash the keys pretty hard, so I'm crashing and bottoming out a lot.
I've seen a lot of posts about rubber rings and crash pads to dampen the keys if you bottom out and I'd like to find a good source for either that would be appropriate for this keyboard.

Oh! And keycaps. The keyboard even comes with a keycap puller and four solid orange keycaps, presumably to replace the wasd keys if you'd like. (Don't know what type)

Supposedly they keyboard is a re-brand of the QPAD MK-85.

EDIT: It seems the keyboard is also known as the monprice MP-GBL9  (At least that's what it says on the box. That model number isn't listed on the site)

[TotalChaos]

I've been on the fence for a while and I've decided to get an xmas present for myself!

My Monoprice 9181 has arrived. The first mechanical keyboard I've owned since my old model M I regret getting rid of all those years ago. (and my childhood Apple //c, I suppose)
I love it! It's solid, looks amazing, and the red back lighting is adjustable from subtle to "Oh god why is the room bathed in crimson glow?"

Sounds kewl!  How many $$$ was it?  I might get one.  Cherry Reds?

Anyway, it seems so many years of rubber dome typing have trained me to mash the keys pretty hard, so I'm crashing and bottoming out a lot.

I having same problem.  Except my crashing hurts my face and arms real bad

I've seen a lot of posts about rubber rings and crash pads to dampen the keys if you bottom out and I'd like to find a good source for either that would be appropriate for this keyboard.

WASDkeyboards.com  I recommend the 40a O-rings.  They have 2 thicknesses and you will just have to try both to decide what is best for you.

If u r skeptical then u can just buy their sample pack.  And see what u think.

Don't delay.  Get them.  u don't wanna wake up one day with ur life ruined like I did


I am trying to track down some 30a rubber and work out a way to cut it and hole punch it to make even squishier o-rings.

[tp4tissue]

I've been on the fence for a while and I've decided to get an xmas present for myself!

My Monoprice 9181 has arrived. The first mechanical keyboard I've owned since my old model M I regret getting rid of all those years ago. (and my childhood Apple //c, I suppose)
I love it! It's solid, looks amazing, and the red back lighting is adjustable from subtle to "Oh god why is the room bathed in crimson glow?"

Sounds kewl!  How many $$$ was it?  I might get one.  Cherry Reds?

Anyway, it seems so many years of rubber dome typing have trained me to mash the keys pretty hard, so I'm crashing and bottoming out a lot.

I having same problem.  Except my crashing hurts my face and arms real bad

I've seen a lot of posts about rubber rings and crash pads to dampen the keys if you bottom out and I'd like to find a good source for either that would be appropriate for this keyboard.

WASDkeyboards.com  I recommend the 40a O-rings.  They have 2 thicknesses and you will just have to try both to decide what is best for you.

If u r skeptical then u can just buy their sample pack.  And see what u think.

Don't delay.  Get them.  u don't wanna wake up one day with ur life ruined like I did


I am trying to track down some 30a rubber and work out a way to cut it and hole punch it to make even squishier o-rings.

Search Ghetto Rings on geekhack

[TotalChaos]

Dude u r awesome!

For those in the audience who are to lazy to battle the lame search function,    Here is the post:http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=28708.msg547620#msg547620


Only the pic is broken.  Could u please repost the pic because I am not 100% sure I am understanding what you did, exactly.

[beefblast]

Sounds kewl!  How many $$$ was it?  I might get one.  Cherry Reds?

Yep MX reds. I've been lurking this and other forums for months. I think I know more about keyboard switches than I ever wanted to know.

Its listed at $129.80 on the site.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?p_id=9181

I found a monoprice site wide 20% off coupon code here:
http://www.retailmenot.com/view/monoprice.com
Don't know if it still works, but it's worth a shot. Coupon code: INCENTIVE

That knocked off $25.96
Came to just under 120 after CA tax and shipping.

[TotalChaos]

For my movie room I could do with an LED keyboard just for kicks.  I only like Red or Purple LEDs.  Blues are sooooo bright.

Does it have good adjustable lighting?

What are the bad points to the keyboard?

[beefblast]

For my movie room I could do with an LED keyboard just for kicks.  I only like Red or Purple LEDs.  Blues are sooooo bright.

Does it have good adjustable lighting?

What are the bad points to the keyboard?

The key backlighting is adjustable. (Hold down the Fn key and press 2 for down and 8 for up) The lowest brightness is pretty dim and the highest is pretty damn bright. The settings are: Off, low, medium, high, and slow fade in/out f mode that's cool to look at but distracting in practice. The capslock/numlock/scroll lock lights are full-on bright and stay bright regardless of the backlight settings. Some people might not like this.

I have not had the keyboard long but I have not found much that I don't like about it.
The media keys are Fn key combos on the upper row F keys. I like this just fine but some people might like dedicated media keys.
Supposedly there are macro or profile keys but those seem to require the bundled software. I don't care about that in particular, so I don't install the software and I don't know how they work.
The audio ports on top are a pass through (There are audio jacks on the end of the cable) Personally, I like this. I find KBs that have a usb audio adapter built in to facilitate headphone/mic are a PITA. Windows is sometimes pretty dumb about audio devices.

The monprice site says the keyboard has 64 NKRO (or whatever) but some say it has full NKRO over USB (Like the KB that it's based off of)

[TotalChaos]

I just found out that they banned my PS/2 port from working with their keyboard.

So I banned them from accessing my bank account.  )

[Joe6pack]

WASDkeyboards.com  I recommend the 40a O-rings.  They have 2 thicknesses and you will just have to try both to decide what is best for you.

If u r skeptical then u can just buy their sample pack.  And see what u think.

Don't delay.  Get them.  u don't wanna wake up one day with ur life ruined like I did

I am trying to track down some 30a rubber and work out a way to cut it and hole punch it to make even squishier o-rings.

Tonight I put some sample O-rings from WASDKB.  It needs skilled hands to put them correctly.  It may take a few days to get the o-ring to settle down.  At this time, the red rings from WASDKB work fine, and the 50a ones are not.  After getting used to the IBM M keyboards, I am getting used to the click feel.  There is a missing feel that is not the same as the brown switches. 

I have suggestions about lowering the click noise.   

1.  Use the stealth principle on how to redirect signals.  You can put egg cartoons or ceiling panels on walls if you want to build a quiet music room or game room.  Spray the back of the keycap with non-smooth paint or material to absorb some noise.   The same for the inside of the case.   Or make a nano size ceiling tile to cover the PCB board.   

2.  Invent a noise cancellation device similar to the Bose Headphone device on the board.   It can create a 'negative' noise to even out the switch noise.

3.  Make a plastic skirt inside the keycap to keep the noise inside.  Or even better yet, a plastic skirt to cover the the top of the keyboard and the bottom of every switch. 

Perhaps I am going to obtain a patent 

[tp4tissue]

Dude u r awesome!

For those in the audience who are to lazy to battle the lame search function,    Here is the post:http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=28708.msg547620#msg547620


Only the pic is broken.  Could u please repost the pic because I am not 100% sure I am understanding what you did, exactly.

Open up a cheap rubber dome keyboard, you'll see what I mean, they're easy to cut out..

You're cutting the "dome" part of the rubber sheet in the keyboard.

[TotalChaos]

Right, but it has to be cut twice at 2 different places.  I am wondering how u could get them all to be the exact same thickness.

Do I need some special scissors?  Exacto knife?

When I do open keyboard surgical transplants I like to be prepared