I have had 3 Filco Tenkeyless boards and all 3 have a very loud reverb-tank echo-chamber sound to them from the metal plate. The sound is very high and many people might not be able to hear it. Other plate mounted switch keyboards do the same thing, but I've noticed it is particularly loud in Filcos. Model M's do it, and it's worse on broken rivet models, so that tells us that dampening the metal plate is an option.
EDIT: I found
this thread about the same issue and Magestouch indicated the springs will ping after being depressed on some keys. I believe a dampened plate would isolate this instead of amplifying the sound through the entire device.
Because of this, I have leaned toward PCB mounted cherries and like the feel of them better than plate mouted... but many great boards are plate mounted only, such as Filcos. So dampening these boards would be a great option.
I've read on here about silencing cherry key caps but never about silencing the metal plate in Filcos and other plate mounted keyboards.
Now, I realize I am extra picky because my ears are twice the sensitivity of a normal persons, that doesn't mean I hear well, it means they are more sensitive and I experience pain and annoyance at half the decibel level that an average person does. So things like reverberations from a metal plate in a keyboard drive me crazy.
This is the most intriguing mod I've seen yet, posted by Ripster in the
Cherry Key Silencing thread. But this mod is more about the plate than the keys/caps. I haven't bought any
Sorbothane yet, but may do so.
Has anyone else done anything to dampen switch plates specifically, without desoldering switches?
