this whole stiffening + softening issue is what held me back from an hhkb, No replacement parts.. I get that the failure rate is low, but wtf, how hard is it to send out some springs and rubber caps.
Is it just my imagination, or do Realforce keyboards (not sure on HHKB) not have discrete domes? Pretty sure you have to slice up a single sheet of domes to replace most of them. Can't find a photo off-hand.
I was sure I'd used dome keyboards with an actual PCB under the domes – when popping out a dome to clean it, there was a proper PCB there with traces. These were the ones with a carbon coating on the dome ceiling, and over time they would go less and less time between cleans before the carbon coating stopped conducting current.
