Dental Banding Topre - will it cause faster deterioration of the domes?

[Bomble]

Hi there,

So I was thinking about dental banding my HHKB, and I thought - would this cause the domes to diminish in quality faster due to the fact that they are all partially depressed at all times?

I do realise that the shortening is minor and people often mention that they barely notice any difference at all. So this makes me unsure whether it would have any lasting affect.

So what do you guys think, would the slight depression of each dome tangibly shorten the lifespan of the domes due to the fact that they are always partially compressed?

[spiceBar]

Hi there,

So I was thinking about dental banding my HHKB, and I thought - would this cause the domes to diminish in quality faster due to the fact that they are all partially depressed at all times?

I do realise that the shortening is minor and people often mention that they barely notice any difference at all. So this makes me unsure whether it would have any lasting affect.

So what do you guys think, would the slight depression of each dome tangibly shorten the lifespan of the domes due to the fact that they are always partially compressed?

Yes, I think it's possible.

You should do the ironed landing pads mod instead.

[Bomble]

Hi there,

So I was thinking about dental banding my HHKB, and I thought - would this cause the domes to diminish in quality faster due to the fact that they are all partially depressed at all times?

I do realise that the shortening is minor and people often mention that they barely notice any difference at all. So this makes me unsure whether it would have any lasting affect.

So what do you guys think, would the slight depression of each dome tangibly shorten the lifespan of the domes due to the fact that they are always partially compressed?

Yes, I think it's possible.

You should do the ironed landing pads mod instead.

Where could I look to find more information on that mod?

[rowdy]

Hi there,

So I was thinking about dental banding my HHKB, and I thought - would this cause the domes to diminish in quality faster due to the fact that they are all partially depressed at all times?

I do realise that the shortening is minor and people often mention that they barely notice any difference at all. So this makes me unsure whether it would have any lasting affect.

So what do you guys think, would the slight depression of each dome tangibly shorten the lifespan of the domes due to the fact that they are always partially compressed?

Yes, I think it's possible.

You should do the ironed landing pads mod instead.

Where could I look to find more information on that mod?

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=49046.0

[Bomble]

Hi there,

So I was thinking about dental banding my HHKB, and I thought - would this cause the domes to diminish in quality faster due to the fact that they are all partially depressed at all times?

I do realise that the shortening is minor and people often mention that they barely notice any difference at all. So this makes me unsure whether it would have any lasting affect.

So what do you guys think, would the slight depression of each dome tangibly shorten the lifespan of the domes due to the fact that they are always partially compressed?

Yes, I think it's possible.

You should do the ironed landing pads mod instead.

Where could I look to find more information on that mod?

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=49046.0

Awesome, cheers.

[Heliosphere]

I think it's a possibility. I purchased a modded 45g realforce a while ago that was modded with unflattened landing pads for possibly half a year and the domes felt very light and not tactile. However I've also heard 45g feels different on a Realforce compared to other keyboards, and I don't have a stock 87U for comparison so I can't confirm if landing pads actually caused the issue.

[Polymer]

Did you remove the mod or is it still modded?  If still modded, it is because it has already slightly depressed the dome because the band hasn't let it move all the way back to its original position. 

45g definitely feels slightly less tactile than other 45g Topre but they're far from not being tactile at all...the mod is what is doing that for you..

[derb2k2]

i just did this mod with bands and hadn't given thought to the domes. I think I'll have to order the EK landing pads and do it with those. I do love the reduced travel distance though but having the domes depressed constantly is probably not a good thing.

[spiceBar]

Hi there,

So I was thinking about dental banding my HHKB, and I thought - would this cause the domes to diminish in quality faster due to the fact that they are all partially depressed at all times?

I do realise that the shortening is minor and people often mention that they barely notice any difference at all. So this makes me unsure whether it would have any lasting affect.

So what do you guys think, would the slight depression of each dome tangibly shorten the lifespan of the domes due to the fact that they are always partially compressed?

Yes, I think it's possible.

You should do the ironed landing pads mod instead.

Where could I look to find more information on that mod?

You will find the state of the art method here:
  https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=65853.0

There, I explain how to do it for a CM Novatouch, but all Topre boards are the same internally, so it works with the Realforce (all models), HHKB, FC660C, Novatouch, ...

My original FC660C silencing mod post is still valid, but it misses one important step: you must use a clothing iron to flatten the landing pads as much as you can. You must do that on a hard surface (wood board) setting the iron as hot as possible without reaching the landing pads melting point. You will put the landing pads inside a sheet of paper in order to avoid direct contact with the iron.

Ironing is important because the landing pads are too thick out of the box. But with a clothing iron you can flatten them until they are as thin as a sheet of strong paper.

This way of doing it is the only one that guarantees that the feel of the Topre switch will be preserved:
- No reduction of travel distance
- No risk of having the domes constantly pressed and deformed over time

The mod significantly reduces the "click" sound on the release of the Topre switches. The keyboard becomes pleasantly silent and is otherwise not altered.

[Heliosphere]

Did you remove the mod or is it still modded?  If still modded, it is because it has already slightly depressed the dome because the band hasn't let it move all the way back to its original position. 

45g definitely feels slightly less tactile than other 45g Topre but they're far from not being tactile at all...the mod is what is doing that for you..

Of course I removed it, which is why I described the experience here. It still feels the same now, just with more travel. However, I transplanted the pads to my Novatouch and it made the Novatouch enjoyable to type on whereas I hated the stock Novatouch experience.

I have both an FC660C and the Novatouch, which I assume are 45g, but feel much more tactile than the Realforce 45g. The FC660C feels nearly as tactile as my Realforce 55g, which is quite stiff.

Another note: I brought my 45g Realforce to the local GH meetups, and people described the modded 45g Realforce as feeling "linear." I removed the mod, and at the next meeting people still thought I had the mod in because it still felt linear. My Novatouch with the landing pad mod still feels as tactile as it was before the mod. So either the 45g Realforce normally has reduced tactility or the domes were softened from the induced compression of the mod.

[spiceBar]

Did you remove the mod or is it still modded?  If still modded, it is because it has already slightly depressed the dome because the band hasn't let it move all the way back to its original position. 

45g definitely feels slightly less tactile than other 45g Topre but they're far from not being tactile at all...the mod is what is doing that for you..

Of course I removed it, which is why I described the experience here. It still feels the same now, just with more travel. However, I transplanted the pads to my Novatouch and it made the Novatouch enjoyable to type on whereas I hated the stock Novatouch experience.

I have both an FC660C and the Novatouch, which I assume are 45g, but feel much more tactile than the Realforce 45g. The FC660C feels nearly as tactile as my Realforce 55g, which is quite stiff.

Another note: I brought my 45g Realforce to the local GH meetups, and people described the modded 45g Realforce as feeling "linear." I removed the mod, and at the next meeting people still thought I had the mod in because it still felt linear. My Novatouch with the landing pad mod still feels as tactile as it was before the mod. So either the 45g Realforce normally has reduced tactility or the domes were softened from the induced compression of the mod.

I can confirm that the Novatouch is completely transfigured by the mod. It's a good keyboard, but for some reason it does not sound good out of the box. It is also really tactile, more than the variable weight or 45g Realforces, but the way it sounds just ruins the experience.

Once modded, I find it more enjoyable than the Realforces (even modded ones): the keys are snappier and the Thock is deeper.

I can't be absolutely positive, but I fear that a Topre keyboard that has been incorrectly modded (i.e. with dental bands or non-flattened landing pads) can permanently lose a little bit of its tactility even after the mod is removed (assuming the bad mod has been in place for several months). I have removed the non-flattened landing pads from a RF87U, after almost a year. My impression is that the tactility has not been fully restored, due to the fact that the rubber domes have been kept compressed for too long.

Maybe someone with more knowledge about rubber than me can confirm if it can really happen.

Anyway, this won't happen with flattened landing pads: the domes are not compressed at all when the keys are at rest.