Using rubber snubbers on the Buckling spring

[Funderwood]

Hello ghackers.....

long time lurker, but found a way to contribute.

As much as I like the feel of the model M I am not so much a fan of the racket, (I blame my HHKB at home).  It was mostly the pinging that got to me, well at least mine pings alot.     



was cleaning my model M and took some measurements and got some of this:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#1775t21/=11pylzk

It is plain rubber rod. 1/16" diameter, you slide a section of it inside the spring.  So far I have just started playing around today and found it definitely eliminates the ping.  Also depending on the length of rubber used can go from preserving the original click of the spring to eliminating entirely. 

The cool part of this is that it is totally adjustable and reversible too boot.   Oh, and cheap as well. 

Pardon if this technique has already been discussed, I could not find anything in my searches.  Has anyone else done this?     I am curious what the BS fans think.

[fohat.digs]

Very cool. At under a dollar per foot, is there a minimum order? I suppose that shipping is far more than the price of the material.

Considering that this is an evolutionary step up from the floss mod, the first question that many (most) people will ask is whether it changes the feel?

General consensus seems to be that there is little or no degradation to the feel from floss, but this rubber must be considerably more firm.

Long-term, what is the longevity of "natural rubber"? If that is what rubber bands are made of, then a couple of years is about all you can expect before they start to harden and crack.

[Funderwood]

No minimums with mcmaster unless clearly stated.  I bought 10 feet, added it to the rest of my order and picked up at will call  .  Although mcmaster is very reasonable with their shipping, yes you would likely face shipping charges more than the cost of this particular material.  Although any keyboard enthusiast should be familiar with the mcmaster catalog.  Need small screws for your bolt mod?  need some krytox?  you can easily bulk up that shipping box.

It is just a natural rubber like rubber bands, so degridation is possible.  but these are black, the carbon in the rubber would help preservation and it is mostly UV light that messes with rubber so I think it should last long enough. 

This was the only type of rubber that was available in that small of a diameter.  silicone for example, would have been preferable but I can only get that in a 1/8" diameter.

[Funderwood]

floss mod? now I gotta look that up. 

[fohat.digs]

Here is the TL;DR version:

[xtrafrood]

If anyone decides to go with silicone I found a store that sells 1/16" cord. Ten feet for under $3 

https://www.grainger.com/product/GRAINGER-APPROVED-Rubber-Cord-6RTF5?s_pp=false&picUrl=//static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/6VFA8_AS01?$smthumb$

Edit - I never knew of the floss mod hmmm. I guess there are a few options for buckling spring users

[Funderwood]

I found mcmaster has  a silicone variant, only it was listed under o-ring cord stock:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#96505k21/=11q0cz5

will order some oring stock this week and try this out.  It is harder A70 vs A40 compared to the rubber I originally tried.  I am sure will feel or sound different.  Along with this "super floss" didn't even know that stuff existed, suprised the wife (who is OCD about her teeth) didn't already use this stuff. 

Does the super floss dampen the click at all?

BTW are there any resonable microphone recommodations? I would like to do a sound test of this.

[katushkin]

Would putting rubber tubing around the outside of the barrel do something similar? If you could get a thin thickness (say 2mm) rubber tubing that is the right diameter to fit in the barrel with no overlap, then the spring would buckle but when it hit the outside of the barrel then the sound would be dampened? Or is it the spring buckling making most of the noise rather than contact with the barrel?

[fohat.digs]

It is harder A70 vs A40 compared to the rubber I originally tried. 

Does the super floss dampen the click at all?
 

70 is quite hard. I would be looking for something softer than 40 but it probably does not exist because it would be too weak.

The floss mod is wonderful for Model Fs because it takes out the high ringing overtones without bothering the underlying sound or feel very much.

On a Model M it is much less satisfying because the M is generally pretty "dead" anyway, although it does mute the sound somewhat.

My guess is that microphones and decibel meters would probably register hardly any difference, and that it is an emotional sensory thing more than something that could be realistically measured.

[klennkellon]

This is nice and all, but you own an M, embrace the ping!

[xtrafrood]

Ah very good point  I missed the 70 durometer. That's almost the same durometer as a rollerblade wheel 

[Melvang]

I found mcmaster has  a silicone variant, only it was listed under o-ring cord stock:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#96505k21/=11q0cz5

will order some oring stock this week and try this out.  It is harder A70 vs A40 compared to the rubber I originally tried.  I am sure will feel or sound different.  Along with this "super floss" didn't even know that stuff existed, suprised the wife (who is OCD about her teeth) didn't already use this stuff. 

Does the super floss dampen the click at all?

BTW are there any resonable microphone recommodations? I would like to do a sound test of this.

If you can't find any of that super floss, I use the core strands from paracord.  With 550 lb paracord, you get 7 core strands, don't quote me but I believe the 325 lb paracord has 5, and the 750 has 9.  I don't have much experience with those other weights, so I could be off.  Paracord is very cheap, has tons of other uses, and you can use the outer sheath for sleaving USB cables as well.