Opinions on the KBC Poker?

[sordna]

I found a *very* thin piece of foam, it's probably the same thickness as a paper towel folded once. It's the type of foam you find some electronics wrapped in. My PCB felt "wavy" even without the foam. I'm not sure if my PCB was a bit convex or the struts of the case a bit concave, but the foam filled the gap very nicely.
I also made extra large holes in the foam around the screws, over 1" in diameter, which allows the PCB to be in closer contact with the case at the mount points.
I'm very happy with the result. There still is a bit of a flex when I hold a key down hard, but unless I'm staring at the keyboard I don't feel it and most importantly I don't hear it.
It was the noise that was driving me crazy... without the foam, the PCB made a slight noise while bumping against the case struts even while typing on cherry reds without bottoming them out. The flex was almost imperceptible to the eye or hand, but you could hear the impact of the parts coming into contact!

[nhwhaup]

I found a *very* thin piece of foam, it's probably the same thickness as a paper towel folded once. It's the type of foam you find some electronics wrapped in. My PCB felt "wavy" even without the foam. I'm not sure if my PCB was a bit convex or the struts of the case a bit concave, but the foam filled the gap very nicely.
I also made extra large holes in the foam around the screws, over 1" in diameter, which allows the PCB to be in closer contact with the case at the mount points.
I'm very happy with the result. There still is a bit of a flex when I hold a key down hard, but unless I'm staring at the keyboard I don't feel it and most importantly I don't hear it.
It was the noise that was driving me crazy... without the foam, the PCB made a slight noise while bumping against the case struts even while typing on cherry reds without bottoming them out. The flex was almost imperceptible to the eye or hand, but you could hear the impact of the parts coming into contact!

Thanks for your quick response. I did figure it out that the foam I had, although really pretty sturdy, wasn't thin enough - thus causing the pinching at the screws and puffing up on the rest of the keys. So I took it all apart and used the kind of shelf liner foam. It is much thinner but definitely does the trick to keep any noise happening from the PCB hitting the struts. So I truly think I'm all set now. Totally becoming an expert on pulling this keyboard apart and putting it back together now.

[sordna]

Congrats! They really should have put more screws and mount points in this keyboard. A thin PCB and just 5 screws, all of them at the edges isn't good enough. They could have easily added 2-3 more mount points, around the middle of the keyboard. Let's see if the KBTalking Pure will be better, it seems to also have just 5 screws, but at least one of them is in the center. The layout seems better to me as well.

[duncan]

I see all the issues mentioned above and don't disagree with any in a big way.

I do want to remind people that FN+WASD supplies the arrow keys without the need for locking.
If you want an arrow cluster then you need to lock one in.
If you want right modifiers then use WASD.
Seems like a very sensible design decision to me and not a mistake as some seem to be characterising it.

Have only had my Poker for a little over a day (MX Reds with o-ring mod).
I love it to bits. Far and away the best value per dollar keyboard I own.
I wonder if I will still feel the same in a few weeks but this layout and typing feel for a quarter the price of a HHKB is just too sweet for words. Glad I took the plunge. Am planning to get another Poker with Browns when they are back in stock at Mechkeyboards because i suspect the life of Poker may not be as long as a better built board but the fun of working one to death over a couple of years makes having a few lying about seem a very nice prospect.

If you have $100 that you can spend on a treat get in on iMav's deal and I think you'll be happily surprised. If not whack them up for sale here and if the exchange rate and shipping make it sensible I'll take them off your hands. A cupboard full of these cuties to see out my days is a prospect that is a lot better than some other options around the place.

[rainb1ood]

Might as well ask it here:

Are these safe to stick inside the case on the modifier row area to support the PCB?

http://svana.org/sjh/images/various/laptop_feet_med.jpg

[sordna]

It's probably safe but the only way to be sure is trying them, to make sure they are not too thick, so they don't bend the PCB when you screw it down.

[rainb1ood]

Here is it. Attempting the foam mod and trying to see if the 3M rubber feet fits ok. What do you guys think

[sordna]

Looks ok to me. By the way, the foam looks too thin, you might need another layer under the top 2 rows. In my Poker at least, it was the number row that needed extra support to avoid flex/noise.

[WhiteFireDragon]

Here is it. Attempting the foam mod and trying to see if the 3M rubber feet fits ok. What do you guys think

The foam on the top two rows is too thin, it won't do anything. The rubber feet on the bottom row looks too thick, you won't be able to screw down the PCB. I've done this mod to the poker I just got, and it needs precise thickness for all the rows, otherwise it either won't do anything, or it will bulge the PCB too much.

Btw, I wouldn't use foam at all just to be safe. Foam holds static charges pretty well, and that's not good for electronics. I used different thickness cardboard for mine. It's more sturdy to prevent flexing when you type, and also statically neutral.

[rainb1ood]

I have removed the rubber feet in that row and moved it on the one above it. As of now I only have foams. I'll check if theres any other more materials i can use.

[mkawa]

i used some instamorph to build a series of vertical support struts between the horizontal ones in the rear cavities of the keyboard last night. it seems to have made a pretty big difference so far. my (admittedly wild) guess is that the problem is not the number of mounting screws but the rigidity of the case in general; when i push down hard on the center of the board it's not the board flexing relative to the case so much as the entire case kind of flexes inward.

[PixelVandalism]

Do all the pokers with blues have a green space-bar?
That is the only thing I'm not liking about mine.

[sordna]

Do all the pokers with blues have a green space-bar?
That is the only thing I'm not liking about mine.

Mine did too. It's easy to fix though, just buy a blue switch from wasdkeyboards.com, open up the switches, and swap the springs and stems.

[PixelVandalism]

Mine did too. It's easy to fix though, just buy a blue switch from wasdkeyboards.com, open up the switches, and swap the springs and stems.

That will cost me around $10 after shipping and the $3 minimum order.

[sordna]

Well, you should order some more stuff from WASD since you are paying for the shipping anyway, they have nice keypullers, parts, accessories, and of course keycaps :-)

[flags]

Could someone do me a favor and post what each dip switch does? The paper that came with mine was in moonspeak and other PDFs I've found have had different meanings for different settings.