[WTS] The elusive 30g Topre

[norbauer]

NB: If you're just arriving at this thread and looking to buy the domes mentioned in the subject, please see this post.


OP

Seems my penchant for enthusiastic paeans to PBT has elevated me to the vaunted status of eligible classifieds-poster. So I thought I'd give this a shot.

I'm looking for a 30g uniform-weighted Topre. 104-key or TKL; I don't really care. Used is cool. I just want to feel this switch! (I love the light touch of MX reds, and the word is that this is going to be my best bet in the Topre world.)

So, yeah, I know they're rare, and I'm probably going to have to pay through the nose. But I'd feel better buying from a GHer than shelling out extortion yuans through some shady chain of proxies to the Orient.

Any offers, leads, or ideas would be greatly appreciated! <3 GH

[___q]

Good luck -- these are pretty rare, but they're great (assuming light switches are your thing).

khaangaaroo got his hands on an all-30g (JIS layout, I think) 87U somewhere -- he used it to mod an FC660C to all-silenced-30g (which I now own).  He might know how to get another (maybe he bought his via amazon.co.jp with a proxy, I think that's a common way of getting the non-us realforce boards).

[khaangaaroo]

Yup, I bought several 30g JIS boards from Amazon.co.jp and used the domes to make two 87Us, and one FC660C. I sold one of the 87Us to grndmstr137 in France, q has the 660c, and I have the last 87u. AFAIK, no one else has modded any other ANSI boards into all-30g.

So your options are:
- get someone import the hard-to-find 104-Pro from China
- order a readily-available JIS board from Japan and adapt to the layout
- if you can't do the JIS layout, swap domes with an ANSI board
- or throw enough money at me, q, or grndmstr137 to make us want to part with our boards

Sorry, none of the options are domestic except for the last one. Perhaps someone else in the states owns an all-30g but I just don't know. It'll likely be JIS layout though.

[norbauer]

or throw enough money at me, q, or grndmstr137 to make us want to part with our boards

I'm not above money-throwing! Seriously, if you have a price in mind that would tempt you, please shoot me a PM.

- get someone import the hard-to-find 104-Pro from China

I don't think I could manage this, unfortunately. I'd rather stick with my Cherry MX Red board than have to adapt to that wonky JIS spacebar.

if you can't do the JIS layout, swap domes with an ANSI board

I would certainly be down for this if I can't come up with a better alternative. Do you have a write-up anywhere on how you did it? I would be worried about making such a large investment and then accidentally trashing the thing out of inexperience, leaving me worse off than when I started. :S

[jalaj]

The rubber domes determine the weight
So you can just swap out the rubber between keyboards.
All you need is a phillips screw driver to open up the keyboard and get to the domes.
The annoying part is just aligning the loose domes and springs back into place, sometimes a few of these suckers move while trying to assemble the KB all back together.

Buy this as your donor board, you get 108 fantastic 30g rubbers

[norbauer]

The annoying part is just aligning the loose domes and springs back into place, sometimes a few of these suckers move while trying to assemble the KB all back together.

This was my main concern. It seems that the alignment would need to be really precise, and it's hard to slice rubber in a very precise way in my experience.

I think I found an intermediary on eBay who is willing to do the Japan proxying for me. If it comes to it, dome-switching may be the solution I try (one from Amazon.co.jp and one from EK). It would still be less expensive than the cost of one directly from China (there is only one Taobao seller right now, and he is listing it at around $525), and it wouldn't require me to go through a Taobao proxy. I guess I'm just trepidatious just don't like the choice of either taking a risk on my money going down a Taobao hole (and nothing ever showing up without any recourse to a far-off seller) or ordering two expensive keyboards and accidentally ruining both of them. =\

[norbauer]

Well, FWIW, I've decided to take khaangaaroo's advice. I ordered an all-45g from EK, and as I happen to have a friend in Japan at the moment who will be coming home in a couple of weeks, I'm ordering and all-30g JIS layout for shipment to him. I shall hold my breath and try to swap out the domes when I have both in hand.

And I shall take pics and post here on GH in case anyone else wants to undertake a similar project for himself.

Thanks for all the tips everyone!

[ohgodpleaseno]

Well, FWIW, I've decided to take khaangaaroo's advice. I ordered an all-45g from EK, and as I happen to have a friend in Japan at the moment who will be coming home in a couple of weeks, I'm ordering and all-30g JIS layout for shipment to him. I shall hold my breath and try to swap out the domes when I have both in hand.

And I shall take pics and post here on GH in case anyone else wants to undertake a similar project for himself.

Thanks for all the tips everyone!

I'm excited for this. I've been curious about the 30g board for a while now.

[eth0s]

30g Topre switches are extremely light.  They are good for pinky fingers, but I don't know about a whole keyboard of 30g Topres, tbh.

I guess if you get a custom made 30g keyboard, and don't like it, you can probably find somebody to buy it.

My recommendation would be to get the silent variable Topre 87U, and try that out first.  I think you might like the variable weighting the best.  It has stiffer 45g switches for your "heavy" fingers, and 30g switches for your "lighter" fingers.

http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=topre_keyboards,rftenkeyless&pid=rf_se170s#

[norbauer]

30g Topre switches are extremely light.  They are good for pinky fingers, but I don't know about a whole keyboard of 30g Topres, tbh.

I guess if you get a custom made 30g keyboard, and don't like it, you can probably find somebody to buy it.

My recommendation would be to get the silent variable Topre 87U, and try that out first.  I think you might like the variable weighting the best.  It has stiffer 45g switches for your "heavy" fingers, and 30g switches for your "lighter" fingers.

http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=topre_keyboards,rftenkeyless&pid=rf_se170s#

I thought very seriously about getting the variable weighting (primarily because it has some of the lightest weights available, on the low/pinky end), but I would like to be able to switch back and forth between my home keyboards and others when needed, and I'm afraid if I get in the habit of working on a variable weighted-keyboard that it'll be awkward for me to switch back to uniform ones when needed (got to keep those pinkies in shape!).

I do tend—and prefer—to type in a very light-handed way, which is why before discovering mechanical keyboards in a serious way, I had always leaned strongly in the direction of kbds like the Apple and other chiclet scissor-mechanism-over-membrane switches. I have now tried all the MX switches on full keyboards, and found myself moving (to my great surprise) towards the reds, primarily because they required the lowest actuation force. I have even been investigating swapping in 45g Korean springs to lighten my reds up even more. I may just be weird in this respect. I like the feeling of lightly gliding over and between keys (which is why I also strongly prefer low-profile caps).

Why do think that very low actuation force is a problem? Accidental key presses? That does happen occasionally with my reds when I'm not paying attention and will accidentally actuate both my intended key and a neighboring key, but it's a price I'm happy to be able to pay to able to glide over the keys lightly when typing at speed—I run generally between 110-120 wpm.

So, at any rate, all this is why I ordered the uniform 45g, with the idea in mind that if it is sufficiently light, I'll just keep it. If not, I'll get the 30g uniform from Japan, swap out the domes, and sell the JIS as a modded uniform 45g.

Maybe that's crazy; I'm not sure. I'm very open to that possibility! But there is at least one person on GH who has tried and prefers the 30s (see above), which helped to fortify my resolve about trying that weighting.

[eth0s]

30g Topre switches are extremely light.  They are good for pinky fingers, but I don't know about a whole keyboard of 30g Topres, tbh.

I guess if you get a custom made 30g keyboard, and don't like it, you can probably find somebody to buy it.

My recommendation would be to get the silent variable Topre 87U, and try that out first.  I think you might like the variable weighting the best.  It has stiffer 45g switches for your "heavy" fingers, and 30g switches for your "lighter" fingers.

http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=topre_keyboards,rftenkeyless&pid=rf_se170s#

I thought very seriously about getting the variable weighting (primarily because it has some of the lightest weights available, on the low/pinky end), but I would like to be able to switch back and forth between my home keyboards and others when needed, and I'm afraid if I get in the habit of working on a variable weighted-keyboard that it'll be awkward for me to switch back to uniform ones when needed (got to keep those pinkies in shape!).

I do tend—and prefer—to type in a very light-handed way, which is why before discovering mechanical keyboards in a serious way, I had always leaned strongly in the direction of kbds like the Apple and other chiclet scissor-mechanism-over-membrane switches. I have now tried all the MX switches on full keyboards, and found myself moving (to my great surprise) towards the reds, primarily because they required the lowest actuation force. I have even been investigating swapping in 45g Korean springs to lighten my reds up even more. I may just be weird in this respect. I like the feeling of lightly gliding over and between keys (which is why I also strongly prefer low-profile caps).

Why do think that very low actuation force is a problem? Accidental key presses? That does happen occasionally with my reds when I'm not paying attention and will accidentally actuate both my intended key and a neighboring key, but it's a price I'm happy to be able to pay to able to glide over the keys lightly when typing at speed—I run generally between 110-120 wpm.

So, at any rate, all this is why I ordered the uniform 45g, with the idea in mind that if it is sufficiently light, I'll just keep it. If not, I'll get the 30g uniform from Japan, swap out the domes, and sell the JIS as a modded uniform 45g.

Maybe that's crazy; I'm not sure. I'm very open to that possibility! But there is at least one person on GH who has tried and prefers the 30s (see above), which helped to fortify my resolve about trying that weighting.

Well, 30g Topres are as light, if not lighter than MX reds.  I like reds, and I like the 30g Topres.  The problem is not accidental keypresses, but rather you lose almost all of the tactile bump of the Topre swtich at 30g.  It is almost a linear feel, with little or no resistance at the top of the keypress.  It's not that big of a deal on the pinkies, but if you had a whole keyboard?  I dunno, I don't find the idea appealing, but that's just my opinion.

It's not really a problem to go back and forth from variable weight to uniform weight.  Although, you wish you could go back to your variable keyboard.

However, I don't want to discourage anybody's dream project, so go for it.  If you can afford it, get both: a custom 30g uniform keyboard; and a store-bought variable weighted one.  If you like light switches, I really think you're going to love the variable.  But who knows?

[norbauer]

Well, 30g Topres are as light, if not lighter than MX reds.  I like reds, and I like the 30g Topres.  The problem is not accidental keypresses, but rather you lose almost all of the tactile bump of the Topre swtich at 30g.  It is almost a linear feel, with little or no resistance at the top of the keypress.  It's not that big of a deal on the pinkies, but if you had a whole keyboard?  I dunno, I don't find the idea appealing, but that's just my opinion.

It's not really a problem to go back and forth from variable weight to uniform weight.  Although, you wish you could go back to your variable keyboard.

However, I don't want to discourage anybody's dream project, so go for it.  If you can afford it, get both: a custom 30g uniform keyboard; and a store-bought variable weighted one.  If you like light switches, I really think you're going to love the variable.  But who knows?

This is a very thoughtful analysis, eth0s. Thank you. (I also read and enjoyed your insightful/amusing thoughts on MX vs Topre here, which significantly influenced me down the the Topre path.) I shall certainly bear all this in mind as I try out the boards headed my way over the next few days. Sounds like I may simply need to try out variable weight too! Sinking all this cash into these boards would be vexing, except that there seems to be such a ready secondary market (both on GH and eBay) that I should be able to find out precisely what I prefer without having all the other boards be a total loss, even though EK (rudely, IMO) doesn't take returns.

Lighter than MX reds doesn't sound so bad to me, but you make the totally valid point that perhaps then I'm simply obviating the advantages and characteristic feel of the Topre switch in that case.

I shall investigate and report back. Thanks again!

[khaangaaroo]

I feel that 30g is still very tactile when you have a full board of them. They might feel linear in a variable setup next to mostly 45g, but if your hands can adjust to the lightness of the keys (which you probably will, since you say you have a light touch) then you can definitely feel the bump, even when typing fast. Accidental key presses might happen at first, especially while gaming when you hover over the same key a lot, but you adapt and it stops happening.

Reds are my favorite MX switch as well, but I also had the itch to find something even lighter and smoother. It sounds like you're going down the same path. I think there's a good chance you'll be very happy with 30g.

Don't worry, the dome swap is pretty easy. It's pretty hard to break anything while modding a Realforce. The only thing to be careful of is dropping and losing any small screws, springs, or domes.

[Moosecraft]

A bit off topic but has anyone ever made a 30g HHKB?

[ohgodpleaseno]

A bit off topic but has anyone ever made a 30g HHKB?

I thought I read somewhere on GH about someone buying a 30g realforce and putting it into an HHKB. I imagine it's pretty fantastic.

[norbauer]

I feel that 30g is still very tactile when you have a full board of them. They might feel linear in a variable setup next to mostly 45g, but if your hands can adjust to the lightness of the keys (which you probably will, since you say you have a light touch) then you can definitely feel the bump, even when typing fast. Accidental key presses might happen at first, especially while gaming when you hover over the same key a lot, but you adapt and it stops happening.

Reds are my favorite MX switch as well, but I also had the itch to find something even lighter and smoother. It sounds like you're going down the same path. I think there's a good chance you'll be very happy with 30g.

Don't worry, the dome swap is pretty easy. It's pretty hard to break anything while modding a Realforce. The only thing to be careful of is dropping and losing any small screws, springs, or domes.

OK, so I just got the 45g and I'm typing the current post on it right now. My first impression is that in general Topre has a really cool, and interesting, feel. The key travel is much smoother, with none of the wobbling or scratchiness you can feel in unmodded MX switches. And you can totally sense the rubber domes collapsing under your fingers! I like the feeling. I like the "thock" of the keys as they pop back up. I like the cushiony feel of bottoming out; it's probably easier on the finger joints than even typing on the reds, perhaps even without bottoming out on the reds. To me, the 45g Topre feels most akin to typing on o-ring dampened MX browns (or somewhere between brown and red).

However, I do personally find the 45g domes a bit too stiff for my taste. My MX red board feels like I can use it with a lighter touch. Tactility isn't so much something that I care about per se as merely actuation force, and to me it feels like I'm having to work my fingers more than I like—and more than I'm used to with the MX reds. In terms of the actual physical metrics, they should probably be similar in terms of actuation force; I'm just speaking of the subjective experience.

So, in short, I am really digging the premise of the Topre switch architecture, but I think that giving 30g a try is the way to go for me—as I had suspected.

Thanks very much, khaangaaroo, et al., for all the encouragement and help. I would never have had the courage to undertake this project if it weren't for your posts on the 30g domes. My 30g uniform JIS is on its way to my friend in Osaka, and I should have it here in Boston in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to performing the mod.

[rowdy]

I feel that 30g is still very tactile when you have a full board of them. They might feel linear in a variable setup next to mostly 45g, but if your hands can adjust to the lightness of the keys (which you probably will, since you say you have a light touch) then you can definitely feel the bump, even when typing fast. Accidental key presses might happen at first, especially while gaming when you hover over the same key a lot, but you adapt and it stops happening.

Reds are my favorite MX switch as well, but I also had the itch to find something even lighter and smoother. It sounds like you're going down the same path. I think there's a good chance you'll be very happy with 30g.

Don't worry, the dome swap is pretty easy. It's pretty hard to break anything while modding a Realforce. The only thing to be careful of is dropping and losing any small screws, springs, or domes.

OK, so I just got the 45g and I'm typing the current post on it right now. My first impression is that in general Topre has a really cool, and interesting, feel. The key travel is much smoother, with none of the wobbling or scratchiness you can feel in unmodded MX switches. And you can totally sense the rubber domes collapsing under your fingers! I like the feeling. I like the "thock" of the keys as they pop back up. I like the cushiony feel of bottoming out; it's probably easier on the finger joints than even typing on the reds, perhaps even without bottoming out on the reds. To me, the 45g Topre feels most akin to typing on o-ring dampened MX browns (or somewhere between brown and red).

However, I do personally find the 45g domes a bit too stiff for my taste. My MX red board feels like I can use it with a lighter touch. Tactility isn't so much something that I care about per se as merely actuation force, and to me it feels like I'm having to work my fingers more than I like—and more than I'm used to with the MX reds. In terms of the actual physical metrics, they should probably be similar in terms of actuation force; I'm just speaking of the subjective experience.

So, in short, I am really digging the premise of the Topre switch architecture, but I think that giving 30g a try is the way to go for me—as I had suspected.

Thanks very much, khaangaaroo, et al., for all the encouragement and help. I would never have had the courage to undertake this project if it weren't for your posts on the 30g domes. My 30g uniform JIS is on its way to my friend in Osaka, and I should have it here in Boston in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to performing the mod.

You have excellent connections to be able to get just the keyboard you want in such a short time.  Hope it is what you have been looking for

[norbauer]

I feel that 30g is still very tactile when you have a full board of them. They might feel linear in a variable setup next to mostly 45g, but if your hands can adjust to the lightness of the keys (which you probably will, since you say you have a light touch) then you can definitely feel the bump, even when typing fast. Accidental key presses might happen at first, especially while gaming when you hover over the same key a lot, but you adapt and it stops happening.

Reds are my favorite MX switch as well, but I also had the itch to find something even lighter and smoother. It sounds like you're going down the same path. I think there's a good chance you'll be very happy with 30g.

Don't worry, the dome swap is pretty easy. It's pretty hard to break anything while modding a Realforce. The only thing to be careful of is dropping and losing any small screws, springs, or domes.

OK, so I just got the 45g and I'm typing the current post on it right now. My first impression is that in general Topre has a really cool, and interesting, feel. The key travel is much smoother, with none of the wobbling or scratchiness you can feel in unmodded MX switches. And you can totally sense the rubber domes collapsing under your fingers! I like the feeling. I like the "thock" of the keys as they pop back up. I like the cushiony feel of bottoming out; it's probably easier on the finger joints than even typing on the reds, perhaps even without bottoming out on the reds. To me, the 45g Topre feels most akin to typing on o-ring dampened MX browns (or somewhere between brown and red).

However, I do personally find the 45g domes a bit too stiff for my taste. My MX red board feels like I can use it with a lighter touch. Tactility isn't so much something that I care about per se as merely actuation force, and to me it feels like I'm having to work my fingers more than I like—and more than I'm used to with the MX reds. In terms of the actual physical metrics, they should probably be similar in terms of actuation force; I'm just speaking of the subjective experience.

So, in short, I am really digging the premise of the Topre switch architecture, but I think that giving 30g a try is the way to go for me—as I had suspected.

Thanks very much, khaangaaroo, et al., for all the encouragement and help. I would never have had the courage to undertake this project if it weren't for your posts on the 30g domes. My 30g uniform JIS is on its way to my friend in Osaka, and I should have it here in Boston in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to performing the mod.

You have excellent connections to be able to get just the keyboard you want in such a short time.  Hope it is what you have been looking for

Thanks! We shall see. If not, falling back to a Filco with MX reds is not such a terrible fate! If the Topre thing doesn't work out, I may console myself by taking up switch-stickering, Korean spring-swapping, and lube-stationing.

[HeavyArms]

I feel that 30g is still very tactile when you have a full board of them. They might feel linear in a variable setup next to mostly 45g, but if your hands can adjust to the lightness of the keys (which you probably will, since you say you have a light touch) then you can definitely feel the bump, even when typing fast. Accidental key presses might happen at first, especially while gaming when you hover over the same key a lot, but you adapt and it stops happening.

Reds are my favorite MX switch as well, but I also had the itch to find something even lighter and smoother. It sounds like you're going down the same path. I think there's a good chance you'll be very happy with 30g.

Don't worry, the dome swap is pretty easy. It's pretty hard to break anything while modding a Realforce. The only thing to be careful of is dropping and losing any small screws, springs, or domes.

OK, so I just got the 45g and I'm typing the current post on it right now. My first impression is that in general Topre has a really cool, and interesting, feel. The key travel is much smoother, with none of the wobbling or scratchiness you can feel in unmodded MX switches. And you can totally sense the rubber domes collapsing under your fingers! I like the feeling. I like the "thock" of the keys as they pop back up. I like the cushiony feel of bottoming out; it's probably easier on the finger joints than even typing on the reds, perhaps even without bottoming out on the reds. To me, the 45g Topre feels most akin to typing on o-ring dampened MX browns (or somewhere between brown and red).

However, I do personally find the 45g domes a bit too stiff for my taste. My MX red board feels like I can use it with a lighter touch. Tactility isn't so much something that I care about per se as merely actuation force, and to me it feels like I'm having to work my fingers more than I like—and more than I'm used to with the MX reds. In terms of the actual physical metrics, they should probably be similar in terms of actuation force; I'm just speaking of the subjective experience.

So, in short, I am really digging the premise of the Topre switch architecture, but I think that giving 30g a try is the way to go for me—as I had suspected.

Thanks very much, khaangaaroo, et al., for all the encouragement and help. I would never have had the courage to undertake this project if it weren't for your posts on the 30g domes. My 30g uniform JIS is on its way to my friend in Osaka, and I should have it here in Boston in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to performing the mod.

You have excellent connections to be able to get just the keyboard you want in such a short time.  Hope it is what you have been looking for

Thanks! We shall see. If not, falling back to a Filco with MX reds is not such a terrible fate! If the Topre thing doesn't work out, I may console myself by taking up switch-stickering, Korean spring-swapping, and lube-stationing.

I like the way this guy thinks.

[norbauer]

OK, so my 30g 108UDK arrived today from Osaka, and I'm actually currently typing this post on it. Notwithstanding the wonky JIS layout, which I intend to remedy forthwith, I really love the 30g domes!

They do feel very close MX to reds (which, when fitted with thick PBTs or POMs, I also love) in terms of weight, perhaps a bit lighter. But they bring to the red switch feeling all the other qualities for which Topre switches are valued: that awesome thock-click sound, the slight juicy sense of cushioning on bottom-out, the extremely precise wobble-free feeling throughout the entire travel of the key. There is something hard to describe about it, but I really love it. I think my new permanent two boards are going to be my post-mod 30g 87U and my MX red Filco (maybe with some lubing and stickers.)

I was actually already loving my 45g (which I haven't taken off my desk since it arrived, which should say something), but I did find my fingers getting a little fatigued after long typing sessions. I think the 30g is going to me much better for that, and for my general preference for typing very lightly.

So it's off to surgery, probably tomorrow. I'll take lots of pics, post them here, and report back when I'm done.

Also, for anyone else who wants to undertake the same project, I have the name of a vendor in Japan who will ship the 30g boards to the US at a pretty good price (certainly compared to anything currently going on Taobao.) The vendor contact details are on my other computer, but I'll post them here later; feel free PM me or ping me here in the thread if you want it in the meantime.

[norbauer]

FWIW, after using the board for a couple of hours, I'll note that there are some things to be said in favor of the 45g.

1) There is less of that satisfying thock sound with the 30g board.
2) There is also something slightly more rewarding in the tactile experience, if ultimately more tiring, of the 45g domes.
3) I also notice myself having a lot of accidental key actuations with the the 30g board. This is something that I would occasionally notice on the 45g board (especially with the E key for some reason), but is happening quite a lot with the 30g board. As one might perhaps expect. Possibly someone one simply learns to avoid.

I'll experiment tomorrow before actually undertaking the transplant. I suppose it's possible I might prefer to stick with the 45g. :S Hmm. I shall collect more data.

[SNF]

GL with your project, please update us with pics 

[VesperSAINT]

OK, so my 30g 108UDK arrived today from Osaka, and I'm actually currently typing this post on it. Notwithstanding the wonky JIS layout, which I intend to remedy forthwith, I really love the 30g domes!

They do feel very close MX to reds (which, when fitted with thick PBTs or POMs, I also love) in terms of weight, perhaps a bit lighter. But they bring to the red switch feeling all the other qualities for which Topre switches are valued: that awesome thock-click sound, the slight juicy sense of cushioning on bottom-out, the extremely precise wobble-free feeling throughout the entire travel of the key. There is something hard to describe about it, but I really love it. I think my new permanent two boards are going to be my post-mod 30g 87U and my MX red Filco (maybe with some lubing and stickers.)

I was actually already loving my 45g (which I haven't taken off my desk since it arrived, which should say something), but I did find my fingers getting a little fatigued after long typing sessions. I think the 30g is going to me much better for that, and for my general preference for typing very lightly.

So it's off to surgery, probably tomorrow. I'll take lots of pics, post them here, and report back when I'm done.

Also, for anyone else who wants to undertake the same project, I have the name of a vendor in Japan who will ship the 30g boards to the US at a pretty good price (certainly compared to anything currently going on Taobao.) The vendor contact details are on my other computer, but I'll post them here later; feel free PM me or ping me here in the thread if you want it in the meantime.

FWIW, after using the board for a couple of hours, I'll note that there are some things to be said in favor of the 45g.

1) There is less of that satisfying thock sound with the 30g board.
2) There is also something slightly more rewarding in the tactile experience, if ultimately more tiring, of the 45g domes.
3) I also notice myself having a lot of accidental key actuations with the the 30g board. This is something that I would occasionally notice on the 45g board (especially with the E key for some reason), but is happening quite a lot with the 30g board. As one might perhaps expect. Possibly someone one simply learns to avoid.

I'll experiment tomorrow before actually undertaking the transplant. I suppose it's possible I might prefer to stick with the 45g. :S Hmm. I shall collect more data.

Dood, thank you for these awesome posts! I've been using my 660C for the past month and I've got to say I'm loving Topre, but as much as I love my 45g, the arrow cluster on this board is much lighter and I'm actually really really tempted to buy a 30g Topre. I type 5-6 hours everyday non-stop for my job and I've come to realize I get fatigued after about 4 hours on this 45g. I think the variable weight or 30g should remedy this. The thock sound, as beautiful as it is, won't be a factor when working because I have isolation headphones on the entire time.

I'll look forward to your pictures and posts in the near future. I'm so very interested to see how it all turns out, as I may want to do the same in the future.

[goobus]

I have a variable realforce 104ub which I use at work, and the 30g keys are actually my favorite to press down on   I love them, aside from the occasional lines of q's and a's that I type in emails and msword accidentally

[VesperSAINT]

I have a variable realforce 104ub which I use at work, and the 30g keys are actually my favorite to press down on   I love them, aside from the occasional lines of q's and a's that I type in emails and msword accidentally

People often write that happens but is it really that light??? I have heard it feels like reds, and I've never had that issue typing on reds... Typos would be a major concern in my work because I scribe financial and medical related documents. Lol. Ugh need to get me a variable weight!!

[goobus]

I have a variable realforce 104ub which I use at work, and the 30g keys are actually my favorite to press down on   I love them, aside from the occasional lines of q's and a's that I type in emails and msword accidentally

People often write that happens but is it really that light??? I have heard it feels like reds, and I've never had that issue typing on reds... Typos would be a major concern in my work because I scribe financial and medical related documents. Lol. Ugh need to get me a variable weight!!

I think you can get used to them, but i find that when I'm resting my ring finger on Q/A (for whatever reason), accidental keypresses are common.  I've never had any accidents with my normal home row resting position (where my pinky is on the 30g keys) though.

Also, the Topre 30g is way lighter than reds, if that gives you an idea of how light they are!

[norbauer]

I have a variable realforce 104ub which I use at work, and the 30g keys are actually my favorite to press down on   I love them, aside from the occasional lines of q's and a's that I type in emails and msword accidentally

People often write that happens but is it really that light??? I have heard it feels like reds, and I've never had that issue typing on reds... Typos would be a major concern in my work because I scribe financial and medical related documents. Lol. Ugh need to get me a variable weight!!

I agree with goobus. It's always the Q, W, and E letter for me for some reason. But it's not when I'm actually typing. It's when I'm engrossed in reading something on the screen and resting my fingers on the keyboard, so I don't think it would actually increase your typo rate when actively typing.

I am considering some kind of hybrid board now. I may switch the 30g domes in just for all the letter and number keys but leave the 45gs on everything else where I would like a more perceptible tactile bump (such as the Enter key, PgUp, PgDn, etc.)

I'm going to spend tomorrow switching back and forth between the two boards a lot and see if I can make some sense of it. I didn't have much opportunity to do that today, unfortunately.

[norbauer]

OK, after much deliberation and strategizing, I performed the Topre surgery last night—partially swapping in the domes from the 30g board my friend brought from Osaka to my ANSI 87U—and I am very happy with the result. I'll put together a comprehensive review tutorial with photos, but in the meantime I thought I'd report here in this thread that I now have a hybrid 30g/45g Realforce 87U!! Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and information.

The operation was shockingly easy. I appreciate how easy Realforce makes it to get into their keyboards. I didn't even need any tools to get the case completely open and into the PCB!

Here is my new hybrid setup:

30g
Letters, Numbers, Punctuation
Ctrl, Alt, Menu, Shift (though I'm thinking of switching these back to 45g)

45g
Arrow keys
Esc, Function row, Insert, Home, PgUp, Del, End, PgDn
Spacebar
Enter, Backspace
Winkeys

The thing I like most about this configuration is that for the keys where I'm rapidly gliding my fingers over the board dashing out emails and so forth (mainly the letter keys), I get very little resistance but just enough tactile feedback that it feels more tactile than an MX red board. At the same time, I get the satisfying sound, feel, and thock of 45g on the keys that I hit less frequently and where I actually appreciate more tactile and auditory feedback (especially spacebar, page up/down, and the arrow keys). And within the lighter keys, I don't have to deal with the weirdness of variable weight like with the "ergonomic" keyboards.

Now I just need my custom 87U aluminum housing to come in from Korea, and I'll have the most Frankensteined Topre around.

FWIW, I now have 41 domes in 30g weight that I would be willing to sell if someone wants to undertake a similar operation. This is just enough to cover all the letters, numbers, and the non-number-key punctuation keys frequently used in English writing (period, comma, question mark, quote, and colon) on an 87U. I'd be willing to package these up and ship them anywhere in the CONUS for $100 if anybody else wants to try a similar experiment. And if you need any spare capacitive coils, I am happy to throw some of those in too. I decided I want to keep the other components for spare parts. TAKEN

So, I guess I have a JIS 108UDK PCB and housing if for some some wacky reason anyone wants to buy it. I am pretty sure the housing should fit an ANSI 104-key.

Anyway, thanks Wallethack! More soon.

[hoothoot]

OK, so my 30g 108UDK arrived today from Osaka, and I'm actually currently typing this post on it. Notwithstanding the wonky JIS layout, which I intend to remedy forthwith, I really love the 30g domes!

They do feel very close MX to reds (which, when fitted with thick PBTs or POMs, I also love) in terms of weight, perhaps a bit lighter. But they bring to the red switch feeling all the other qualities for which Topre switches are valued: that awesome thock-click sound, the slight juicy sense of cushioning on bottom-out, the extremely precise wobble-free feeling throughout the entire travel of the key. There is something hard to describe about it, but I really love it. I think my new permanent two boards are going to be my post-mod 30g 87U and my MX red Filco (maybe with some lubing and stickers.)

I was actually already loving my 45g (which I haven't taken off my desk since it arrived, which should say something), but I did find my fingers getting a little fatigued after long typing sessions. I think the 30g is going to me much better for that, and for my general preference for typing very lightly.

So it's off to surgery, probably tomorrow. I'll take lots of pics, post them here, and report back when I'm done.

Also, for anyone else who wants to undertake the same project, I have the name of a vendor in Japan who will ship the 30g boards to the US at a pretty good price (certainly compared to anything currently going on Taobao.) The vendor contact details are on my other computer, but I'll post them here later; feel free PM me or ping me here in the thread if you want it in the meantime.

I'm actually interested in undertaking the same journey, I love the Topres but my 45g type heavens are just a little bit too heavy for my tastes. Do you happen to have the contact info. for the vendor that delivers to the US? Amazon has a all 30g listed for $250 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003H04YIO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A2XV4CSVVV4ZYK) But was wondering if your vendor is cheaper.

You got me all excited here at work >_<

[jonathanyu]

OK, so my 30g 108UDK arrived today from Osaka, and I'm actually currently typing this post on it. Notwithstanding the wonky JIS layout, which I intend to remedy forthwith, I really love the 30g domes!

They do feel very close MX to reds (which, when fitted with thick PBTs or POMs, I also love) in terms of weight, perhaps a bit lighter. But they bring to the red switch feeling all the other qualities for which Topre switches are valued: that awesome thock-click sound, the slight juicy sense of cushioning on bottom-out, the extremely precise wobble-free feeling throughout the entire travel of the key. There is something hard to describe about it, but I really love it. I think my new permanent two boards are going to be my post-mod 30g 87U and my MX red Filco (maybe with some lubing and stickers.)

I was actually already loving my 45g (which I haven't taken off my desk since it arrived, which should say something), but I did find my fingers getting a little fatigued after long typing sessions. I think the 30g is going to me much better for that, and for my general preference for typing very lightly.

So it's off to surgery, probably tomorrow. I'll take lots of pics, post them here, and report back when I'm done.

Also, for anyone else who wants to undertake the same project, I have the name of a vendor in Japan who will ship the 30g boards to the US at a pretty good price (certainly compared to anything currently going on Taobao.) The vendor contact details are on my other computer, but I'll post them here later; feel free PM me or ping me here in the thread if you want it in the meantime.

dude.. this thread is two years old

I'm actually interested in undertaking the same journey, I love the Topres but my 45g type heavens are just a little bit too heavy for my tastes. Do you happen to have the contact info. for the vendor that delivers to the US? Amazon has a all 30g listed for $250 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003H04YIO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A2XV4CSVVV4ZYK) But was wondering if your vendor is cheaper.

You got me all excited here at work >_<