What about dampened 55cN Cherry MX Black?

[davkol]

While I'm pretty much used to reds, and think they're the perfect switch for me, I'm testing a keyboard with Cherry MX Black switches.

I bottom out very lightly if at all on reds. That means I use a bit less than 60 cN force. With blacks, it's not enough to get to the actuation point, so I sometimes miss a keystroke, but it also means I never bottom out. Now, it the springs were a little bit lighter, I'd still type without bottoming out, but also without typos. And by the way nearly silently. No ping, no clack, obviously no click either... only the upstroke sound. Is there any way to dampen the switch? If so... all hail the _really_ quiet switch!

[BossBorot]

just put some o rings on what you like if you want some dampening.

[davkol]

just put some o rings on what you like if you want some dampening.

I don't bottom out on blacks, so I don't need o-rings. The point is, without the upstroke making noise, typing would be *silent*. That's about it.

[davkol]

Thinking about it... is there something like the TypeMatrix skins, but for mechanical keyboards? That should work.

[jwaz]

Sounds like you could use some 62cN springs

[limmy]

You could change the way you type so that switches do not make clacking sound on the way up. Just release the key slowly. It would however affect your typing speed.

There are silent versions for Topre and Alps switches(Matias recently released dampened switch), but I have not seen any of such solutions in Cherry MX switches. Rubber rings would help reducing bottom out sounds, but it would not help reducing sound of upstroke clack. The only way I can think of is putting some dampening material either on the slider or the upper casing of the MX switch, but it would be a challenging thing to do as a user level mod.

[BlindRAGE606]

Use a soft O-ring.

[TotalChaos]

Use a soft O-ring.

O-rings don't help with top-out noise.

That is where all his noise is coming from.  It is also where all my noise comes from.  From when the key tops out.

I fire my fingers very rapidly and then retract them very rapidly.

If someone would make a longer version of a cherry switch then you could "simply" glue a 1/16" thick piece of 10A rubber into the area that makes the noise.   Or perhaps a 1/32" thick piece.

I am very interested to construct new, better switches.