Leopold FC500 'Ringing' noise

[gbohn]

Hi;

  I recently got a Leopold FC500 (104 key) keyboard with Cherry MX Blue switches.

  I've noticed that something inside the case appears to be making a high frequency 'ringing', or 'resonating' sound for a second or two when I type hard on many of the keys.

  Putting my hand on the bottom of the case doesn't seem to help. Holding the keyboard in my hand and just tapping my finger rapidly over and over on the flat area near the arrow keys produces the same noise. I'm thinking something in the case must be vibrating.

  For comparison, typing/tapping  on my Das Keyboard professional S (also with MX Blues) produces a noise, but it's lower in frequency and doesn't bother me so much.
 
  Has anyone else seen this type of issue? Is there a 'fix' or way to dampen this noise?

   Thanks;

        -Greg

[hashbaz]

lol, you have no idea.

The summer of 2011 is referred to as the Summer of Ping around here because of the ridiculous debate that went on surrounding various ringing/pinging phenomena.

All plate-mounted keyboards will ring if you slam the keys hard enough.  Some Filcos are Leos have been purported to have a problem with loud ringing like you describe.  I'll leave it to the Summer of Ping veterans to pass judgement on what's normal and what's not.

[tp4tissue]

Hi Greg.

Pinging only happens when you Release the switch.

There is no ping on the way Down.


Hold a key put your ears up to it, and let go of it really fast, lift your fingers straight up as fast as you can. "don't punch yourself in the face".  first hand experience here. 

[swagpiratex]

Confirmed, I didn't think it would be that noticeable on my Filco as everyone says, but it actually kinda is.

Not that it detracts from the typing experience, but it's annoying.

[absyrd]

I've had some "pinging" on a couple boards. On some it seems to alleviate itself through use, on others it remains.

Give it some time to see if it goes away or you just get used to it.

[Hyde]

If I remember correctly Ripster wrote an entire article about it before lol.  But in short, all metal springs will ping to a certain degree, some people notice it some don't.  Unless you can find a way to cushion the upstroke of the key, otherwise you just gotta live with it

(or use rubber dome but we don't want to go there)

[tp4tissue]

I managed to muffle ping by folding a body towel in half and throwing it over my arms while typing.

Works fine during winters.  )

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Borrow a Fukka-based keyboard for a while, then return to a Cherry keyboard .... ;-)

[absyrd]

Borrow a Fukka-based keyboard for a while, then return to a Cherry keyboard .... ;-)

Greatest advice ever for those bothered by the ping.

[gbohn]

> Pinging only happens when you Release the switch.

  It seems to be there a little (on mine) pressing down if I really push down hard. But, it is definitely much worse on simply releasing the key!

  Sometimes it seems worse than others.

> I managed to muffle ping by folding a body towel in half and throwing it over my arms while typing.

  Too bad I need to see the keys when I type... I guess I could try shooting the keyboard full of 'Great Stuff' expanding Urethane foam  )

  From the sounds of it, I'm guessing there's no easy fix (if it doesn't get better on it's own)? Does anyone know what part is vibrating (so I can stop it)?

  I'm not sure I'm ready to void my warranty just yet, but is it hard to open the case on one of these FC500R? Would I be able to damp down the part making noise?

  Thanks;

[dorkvader]

Borrow a Fukka-based keyboard for a while, then return to a Cherry keyboard .... ;-)

IBM Model F, too.

It could be just the blue switches. I would recommend NOT putting expanding PU foam into your keyboard. Someone tried this once and it completely destroyed it, keycaps included.

I would suspect it's the metal plate that the key switches rest on that vibrates. Try removing a few keycaps and see if you can dampen it temporarily with something to see if that's the case (pun not intended).

[gbohn]

> I would recommend NOT putting expanding PU foam into your keyboard. Someone tried
> this once and it completely destroyed it, keycaps included.

    ) I was actually joking about using expanding foam. I imagined it would be a bad idea for (at least) the reason that it might explode the keyboard since it can exert a great deal of force while expanding.

    I didn't imagine that someone would have actually tried it! And never mind leaving the key-caps in place...

   I'll have to see if I can find anything that affects the noise.

[dorkvader]

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=18886.0
Looks like it was just the keycaps. Sorry.

[gbohn]

> Looks like it was just the keycaps...

   Ah. So this might not be such a silly idea after all. 

   But, certainly more gutsy than I would try (at least not yet ).

[swagpiratex]

Hopefully the keycaps are the source of the sound. I have a black PBT set coming in from Feng that I hope are a little thicker than these really thin Filco OEM's.

[gbohn]

>> Looks like it was just the keycaps...

> Hopefully the keycaps are the source of the sound

  I took that to mean that just the key-caps were destroyed by the expanding foam (in the referenced article).

  I didn't take it to mean that the key-caps were the cause of the sound.