making costar stabilizers less extremely bad

[tauburn]

No matter what i do. my shift keys are mushy and stiff. i cant push them even slightly off center. the backspace isn't great but it's mostly the shift keys that are really bad.

[daerid]

That is odd. I've never had that problem with Costar style stabilizers. Quite the opposite, Cherry stabilizers have always been mushy and difficult.

What board is it?

[tauburn]

That is odd. I've never had that problem with Costar style stabilizers. Quite the opposite, Cherry stabilizers have always been mushy and difficult.

What board is it?

qfr. i'm not sure why this is happening. i just switched over to new caps a mix of cherry lasered keys and double shots. but both are giving me the problem. when i had the SP doubleshots on it the shift key felt very loose and wobbly but this is completely different.

[daerid]

Pop a cap off and take some pics. Sounds like either an insert is loose or the stabilizing wire isn't connected properly.

[tauburn]

[tauburn]

it almost feels like the keys arent properly bottoming out. like a normal key feels like it's hitting a hard surface flat but these feel like its crushing or pressing into something.

edit:

i put some seran wrap around the plastic pieces to help secure them to the key and it has improved so i guess the issue was that they were too loose in the key.

[tp4tissue]

Ah... LOL...  I know exactly the problem

The keycap is miss-molded  where the prongs are not straight..

Now either the problem is "left-right"  or "front-back"..


Find a horizontal surface surface, put the stabilizers on the keycap and the cap w/ stabilizers touching said surface..

look at it closely at it sideways to determine in "which orientation / or both"  that the stabilizers are tilting..


For left-right... you can fix that easily by putting a paper ring 2 "sheets thick"  YES it can make all the difference..  on the side that is too LOW..


If it is Front-back misalignment.. then you'll need to mod the stabilizer slightly so that it correctly orients.



It could also be that the switch is Not properly mounted on the board.. Desolder, and resolder while pressing down on the switch to make sure it gets "in-there-good"

[gigibecali]

I get that with a cherry profile, thick pbt spacebar. It's been straightened.
Tested on 2 keyboards, same model: on one if them it sometimes gets stuck, on the other it's marginally ok.
It seems some geometries get pushed to the limit but I had no time to really check what's going on inside.

[tp4tissue]

I get that with a cherry profile, thick pbt spacebar. It's been straightened.
Tested on 2 keyboards, same model: on one if them it sometimes gets stuck, on the other it's marginally ok.
It seems some geometries get pushed to the limit but I had no time to really check what's going on inside.

did you try ^ my procedure?

[gigibecali]

I get that with a cherry profile, thick pbt spacebar. It's been straightened.
Tested on 2 keyboards, same model: on one if them it sometimes gets stuck, on the other it's marginally ok.
It seems some geometries get pushed to the limit but I had no time to really check what's going on inside.

did you try ^ my procedure?

Will do, for sure.
Thank you.

[tp4tissue]

Also, I'd like to add that this is NOT an isolated COSTAR issue.

The same mis-molding of caps happens and affects Cherry stabilizers..

The problem is actually more pronounced on Cherry stabilizer because it has more friction points if/when misalignment occurs


Tauburn, it also doesn't look like you're lubed up..

I recommend white lithium lube because that way when you want to clean it, you can see the lube.. if you use a clear lube.. you won't be able to see it when you want to apply fresh.

[tauburn]

alright that did it. thanks for the help.

[daerid]

Lubing the Costar stabs made all the difference in the world.

[alaricljs]

Another thing is making sure the inserts are in the cap with the right orientation, the channel is offset from the stem.  The extra overhang should be to the back of the KB when everything is put together.

[tp4tissue]

Another thing is making sure the inserts are in the cap with the right orientation, the channel is offset from the stem.  The extra overhang should be to the back of the KB when everything is put together.

I don't think it even slides all the way down when you put them in reverse.

[Turkishrambo]

it does.

[tp4tissue]

it does.

Just tested... it gets stuck and doesn't even come back up.. there's no way you could confuse this with the correct orientation.

[phoenix1234]

it almost feels like the keys arent properly bottoming out. like a normal key feels like it's hitting a hard surface flat but these feel like its crushing or pressing into something.

edit:

i put some seran wrap around the plastic pieces to help secure them to the key and it has improved so i guess the issue was that they were too loose in the key.

Please make sure your Cherry MX Keycap Stabilizer Inserts are having the right direction. Wrong direction of Insert will lead to strange behaviour.

These are the inserts:
http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/cherry-mx-keycap-stabilizer-insert.html

You can view the clip from WASDKeyboards how to install stabilizer and inserts:

Indeed, you may already know all of these things, these are just in case you missed them.

[phetto]

That is odd. I've never had that problem with Costar style stabilizers. Quite the opposite, Cherry stabilizers have always been mushy and difficult.

This is exactly how I feel about it too.

[Grim Fandango]

Glad this issue got resolved. Good info there tp4tissue. Something to look out for when trying new keycaps then. Being used to Costar stabilizers, I actually always feel that Cherry stabilizers feel kind of mushy and awkward in comparison. For me, it is enough to avoid them.