[Interest Check] Silencing Rings for Topre RF or HHKB

[Stev]

I never understood that /r stuff.

Muiriums-Mac-Pro:~ Mu$ cd /r/mk
-bash: cd: /r/mk: No such file or directory

Anywho, this one looks intriguing:

Someone really needs to try that on a black case. Or lighter caps.

Like this? (u/livingspeedbump)



Btw, any news on Europe group buy for these?

[Hypersphere]

Thanks the the pics! Given the colors and the profile issues, I prefer standard Topre profile caps on the HHKB. That said, it might be worth trying out the two-tone keycap set from the Korean HiPro model, the RF 104UK.

[Muirium]

Nice pics, folks. Reminds me of my Round 5s on a 60%, of course. Although much more muted colours.

You're right Hyper: you need one of those Korean HiPros to improve on this.

Btw, any news on Europe group buy for these?

Yes. "Coming soon." I don't fly over until December, and I'm lazy, okay? I should still be able to beat Round 5a, and there's no need to learn how to talk to a bot in my GB system…

[Stabilized]

Tried my HiPro keys on my Leopold and I agree it looks good, but the typing experience is pretty poor. The HiPro has stabilising plastic mounts for the keys, and without them the keys sometimes get stuck when typing on it.
I mean you could swap all the key mounts over from one to the other (in theory), not sure how well that would work though.

Yes. "Coming soon." I don't fly over until December, and I'm lazy, okay? I should still be able to beat Round 5a, and there's no need to learn how to talk to a bot in my GB system…

Great, not long then! Been looking forward to finally silencing my Novatouch

[Stev]

Nice pics, folks. Reminds me of my Round 5s on a 60%, of course. Although much more muted colours.

You're right Hyper: you need one of those Korean HiPros to improve on this.

Btw, any news on Europe group buy for these?

Yes. "Coming soon." I don't fly over until December, and I'm lazy, okay? I should still be able to beat Round 5a, and there's no need to learn how to talk to a bot in my GB system…

Good to know. A Realforce is on its way over from Japan and I am very interested in trying these out.

I really like the look of the HiPro caps on the black case but I would be concerned about the profile causing keys to wobble a bit, still would love to try it though.

[Muirium]

Yeah, personally I'm way too picky to do a Topre mashup. The stock Realforce caps are excellent (as long as they're the white dyesubs) and my MX boards could sorely use a set that good. The HiPros are intriguing, but I only like the look of the light ones, specifically the JustSystems Realforce:



That's one hell of a board. Just the sort of thing I'd learn JIS for! But the idea of stealing its caps for my HHKB or 87U simply isn't right, and likely wouldn't be even if they fit. I hate parting things out, especially things that good and new.

Out of curiosity: are you using Tenso for your import? I bought my HHKB that way, but I didn't trust it to local customs. It came across two oceans instead!

[Stev]

Out of curiosity: are you using Tenso for your import? I bought my HHKB that way, but I didn't trust it to local customs. It came across two oceans instead!

I am using Tenso, they have been good really - though I did have concerns with how they were saying the package weighs 2kg when the board is 1.2kg according to Amazon (accessories and packaging really 820g?).

It's in Parcelforce Customs atm.

[vinzbe]

Same experience with me (2kg instead of 1.5kg) but local customs forgot to charge me (usually it never happens). All things considered all these errors worked in my favor.

[Stev]

Same experience with me (2kg instead of 1.5kg) but local customs forgot to charge me (usually it never happens). All things considered all these errors worked in my favor.

Wow, I sure hope I don't get charged. I did with my HHKB.

[Muirium]

The European GB:

http://deskthority.net/group-buys-f50/h ... 11938.html

I'm gauging demand with an IC first. Go and speak up!

[Hypersphere]

@Muirium: Thanks for launching your IC and for undertaking the role of proxy for those in the UK and Europe. Much appreciated.

[ccc24]

hey I'm in the U.S and was wondering are your ebay listings still available for the damping rings?

[Hypersphere]

hey I'm in the U.S and was wondering are your ebay listings still available for the damping rings?

Yes. The eBay listings will continue as supplies last. The eBay listings are more or less independent of the proxy setup that Muririum is running for those in the UK and Europe.

[ccc24]

hey I'm in the U.S and was wondering are your ebay listings still available for the damping rings?

Yes. The eBay listings will continue as supplies last. The eBay listings are more or less independent of the proxy setup that Muririum is running for those in the UK and Europe.

okay thanks, i'll put my order in later then.

[Hypersphere]

ccc24: Supplies of rings are dwindling fast, so that I would recommend not waiting too long.

[XMIT]

I openly wonder if some variant of Poron foam would be a good replacement for the dreaded degrading foam of so many foam and foil keyboards. One day I'll hopefully have a chance to experiment with this.

[Muirium]

It might be good for Model F mats, too. Seems a nice material from Hyper's rings.

[axtran]

hey I'm in the U.S and was wondering are your ebay listings still available for the damping rings?

Yes. The eBay listings will continue as supplies last. The eBay listings are more or less independent of the proxy setup that Muririum is running for those in the UK and Europe.

I'm so happy that I was able to get in on-time for two sets to outfit my RF87U 55g and my new HHKB

[Hypersphere]

UPDATE:

I've decided to tool up for another batch of rings. If all goes well, I expect them to be ready by around mid-January 2016. These will again be available via "katesattic2" on eBay.

[JanitorJoe]

Finally installed mine in my HHKB today and they're fantastic. Sound just as good as they do in Muirium's video from forever ago.

Thanks for all your work in getting these made Hypersphere.

[Hypersphere]

UPDATE: The Hypersphere Silencing Rings are available again via "katesattic2" on eBay. If you go to eBay and type "Silencing Rings" in the search box, this should get you there.

For those in the UK and EU, Muirium is once again serving as a proxy. You can contact him with your order.

[ajx]

Hello, does anyone feel silenced modded keys feel scratchy?
I have on some keys, some keys producing a little friction at light pressure
When you bottom-out, it tends to be absorbed
It annoys me because i have an inconstant feeling on all keys
Some keys dont have detectable frictions while others do
Btw i m using landing pads
I thought it was spring+dome alignment but i aligned several times and still have this scratchy feeling
I also did inverting sliders into another housing

https://vid.me/vIxP
https://vid.me/MrPS

[Hypersphere]

@ajx: I have never tried landing pads. Do you use them "out of the box" or do you iron them to make them flatter? I should imagine if they were not ironed that they would be too thick, and if they were ironed, it could be that they might be of inconsistent thickness. I can only speculate, but it is possible that some of the pads are not seated properly. In contrast, with the Silencing Rings, I have not experienced the problem you are having.

[ajx]

I found also stock HHKB produces these kind of friction but its less noticeable
Silencing sliders somehow accentuates it?
Could be a bad alignment aswell?
Any pic of a perfect alignment?
I am not sure my alignment was perfectly accurate

[robotsokk]

I purchased Hypersphere's silencing rings a couple of months back or so, and after having used my new Novatouch for the past few weeks, I finally got around to doing the silencing mod on it. Just finished, and it truly feels like a new keyboard. I even feel that I'm able to type on the keyboard more quickly now; it feels like the keys have a faster rebound with the silencing rings than it did when I was just using the keyboard with the sliders in their stock form. For the stabilized keys, I lubricated the wires at their contact points and doubled up the silencing rings on the stem. End-to-end it took me ~115 minutes to take apart, mod + lube, then reassemble the board (while taking some pictures along the way), which wasn't too bad.

I knew the keyboard would feel nicer to type on after the mod, but this is fantastic. Thanks Hypersphere for the time and money you invested into the R&D and production of these. So glad I grabbed some

[Hypersphere]

@robotsokk: Thanks for your comments; I am glad that you are enjoying the results of installing the Silencing Rings in your Novatouch. I am not sure that you would need to double up the rings on stabilized keys, but if this works for you without noticeably affecting key travel, I suppose it must be okay.

My most recent ring job was on a Realforce 87UB55, which gave me my best result yet.

http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/best ... 12474.html

The difference is that this time, in addition to lubing the stabilizers, I lubed all the switches using SuperLube 51010 oil. I applied the oil sparingly just to the slider rails in the switch housings using a small paintbrush. The transformation was quite amazing. Now I hear only the "horse hooves clopping on clay" sound of the keys while typing, along with the sound of my thumbs sliding on the textured surface of the matt3o PBT spacebar.

[robotsokk]

@Hypersphere: Regarding the slider rail lubing, I'm very curious to hear how that holds up for you in the long run. While I had my board open last night, I contemplated lubing the sliders as well, but decided to hold off until I've had time to enjoy the silencing mod on its own first (plus to give myself time to do more research on lubing for Topre boards). From your experience so far, it sounds really promising.

And yeah, you're probably right about my double-ringing the stabilized keys being overkill But so far, so good.

[Hypersphere]

@Hypersphere: Regarding the slider rail lubing, I'm very curious to hear how that holds up for you in the long run.

How shall we define "long run"? Should I post again around 20 years from now about how the lube is doing?
No, seriously, I will try to remember to monitor how things are going, and if I notice signs that the lube may be losing its effect, I will let people know. On the other hand, as long as one has his keyboard opened up to install rings, I think he might as well go ahead and lube the slider rails of the switches. Even if this does not last forever, why not enjoy it while it lasts? As John Maynard Keynes famously said, "... in the long run we are all dead...."

[Madeupword]

Boss, could you get Mrs. Hypersphere to update the stock for HHKB's 63 silencing rings set when possible? Happy early new year!

[Hypersphere]

@Madeupword: Thanks for the reminder. I did not realize that the initial lot of 63-packs had sold out. I will let her know to replenish this as soon as possible.