deskthority

This is not a new mod. It is a combination of steps gleaned from experiences of others posted on GH and DT. However, I thought it might be useful to pull the steps together and add some tips of my own that might be helpful to others who are thinking of converting a black HHKB Pro 2 into a 55g Type-S.

Items required:

Black HHKB Pro 2; Donor 55g RF for 55g domes; Donor HHKB Type-S or Silent RF for silent sliders and silencing disks; small Phillips-head screwdriver (#00); blunt plastic instrument to push the sliders out of their housings -- I used the cap-end of a Sanford "Sharpie" permanent marking pen.

You will also need something to support the edges of the top case of the keyboards that contain the sliders. I used two books of approximately 1.5-inch thickness placed just far enough apart to hold the keyboard top case by the edges so that all the plungers were free to move up and down. To keep the keyboard top case from slipping off the supports, I put a strip of thick double-sided tape along the edge of each book.

To keep the sliders from bouncing off the bench when they are pushed out of their housings, place a soft cloth, such as a terrycloth towel, underneath.

Optional:

For additional sound suppression, I placed a piece of 1/8-inch silicone foam in the bottom case, cut to fit the case and with cut-outs for the three main case screws and interior controller cable. I also added two self-adhesive rubber pads under the spacebar. In addition, I took this opportunity to lube the stabilizers and sliders. I used EK MechLube 2, sparingly applied to the side rails of each slider and to friction points along the stabilizer wires.

Procedure:

1. Remove all keycaps from the keyboards, open the cases, detach the controller cables, and remove the screws from the PCBs. Put the PCBs with their domes and conical springs aside.

2. Suspend the top case by its left and right edges between the two supports. The top case should be right side up for this step.

3. Push the sliders out using a blunt plastic tool, pressing on the top of the slider and ejecting it out the bottom. Before pushing out the sliders for the stabilized Left Shift and Return keys, first detach the stabilizer wires. The stabilizer wire for the Spacebar can be left in place.

4. Be sure that the empty slider housings are free of any debris -- when the sliders are ejected, small bits of a plastic retainer nub may break off; this material should be cleaned out to be sure that the slider housings are as frictionless as possible.

5. Invert the top case, again suspending it by its left and right edges between two supports. Swap sliders, pushing the Type-S sliders into the housings on the black HHKB Pro 2. Be sure that the silencing disk is in place on each slider before snapping it into place.

6. If desired, lube the slider rails and stabilizer wires.

7. Place the domes and their conical springs into the inverted switch housings. Domes are placed concave upward with a conical spring inside each one; the pointed end of the conical spring is pointed down. Be certain that the domes and conical springs are oriented correctly with the notches on the domes aligned with the nubs on the slider housings.

8. Carefully place the PCB over the inverted top case of the keyboard, taking care not to disturb the domes or conical springs. Secure the PCB by carefully reattaching all the screws and then tightening the screws for a snug fit -- do not over-tighten the screws.

9. Flip the keyboard top case with attached PCB over and test that each of the plungers works smoothly. If so, reattach the top case to the bottom case, reconnecting the controller cable. Before closing the case and securing it with the three case screws, insert foam padding into the bottom case if desired.

10. For a quieter spacebar, place two squares of self-adhesive rubber anti-skid pads on the case under the spacebar.

11. Reattach the keycaps.

You will now have a black HHKB Pro 2 that has been converted to a Type-S with 55g domes.

Notes and observations:

For those who want a black 55g Type-S, the conversion is relatively straightforward. In addition, I found that the converted HHKB Pro 2 is quieter than the original Type-S and that the silencing is more uniform across the board. In particular, I noticed that the Left Shift, Return, and Spacebar are much quieter than before. I also enjoy the extra springiness of the 55g domes.

The Type-S silencing disks are extremely thin -- something less than about 0.2 mm. They also have a shiny surface, and they do not seem highly compressible. Nevertheless, they do the job of damping the "clack" from the return-stroke impact of plastic on plastic.

For me, the easiest part of this mod was pushing out and replacing the sliders. The most tedious and fiddly part was getting the domes and springs aligned correctly.

That's, uh, quite a bill of materials you got there…

I'd like to do a related mod with taking spherical keycaps from a 104UG and putting them on a black 87UB 55g keyboard. But for that I would need two expensive keyboards - and I would be left with a keyboard that has numerical key caps that differ from the rest of the board!

Alternately I could also buy a numeric keypad that had keycaps that match the 87UB - namely a 23UB keypad. Then I would have an 87UG 55g board, a 23UG keypad with 45g switches, and a 104UB to sell off in the Classifieds. Except the numeric keypad keys don't quite work out.

At Amazon.co.jp prices that's still 62347 YEN (526 USD, 461 EUR, 342 GPB) at today's rates.

For the exorbitant prices of these keyboards, I wish Topre just had a direct-order custom build option. That would be less expensive than all of this fiddly keyboard swapping. My 87 key 55g board with spherical key caps would still not be silenced! Can't have it all I suppose.

There was a HiPro posted in the Great/Interesting finds thread for about 10,000 Yen.

More bad news for you: HiPro keyboards have many switches with taller sliders that are only compatible with HiPro caps. I think only the bottom row is spared this nasty trick.

So your donor HiPro would be completely unusable, let alone unsellable!

However, I'm not sure about the spherical capped Nissho boards. Search the great finds thread and you'll see that 002 found a bunch of them for sale right now. I'm tempted to get one myself. But I need to ask 002 for more info about these boards.

I wanted to get one myself, but it ended up being about 140 euro including shipping (form roughly 70 without), which would definitely catch the eyes of customs. Shame.

@Mu: Yes, this requires a commitment to getting the finished product that you really want, and accepting that you will end up with one or two "Frankenboards" after patching the donors back together. However, the modified donors will still be quite usable. As it turns out, I have 60+ silencing disks that I purchased for a very favorable price from a GH member, and I am going to see if these will work to restore silencing to the donor white Type-S.

@jsoltren: It would be great if some keyboard vendors would negotiate deals with the keyboard manufacturers to sell spare parts, such as sliders, silencing disks, and keycap sets. I've contacted EK in the US about this, and they are at least looking into the possibility of producing some silencing disks of their own. However, they say they would need substantial interest from potential customers to make this financially feasible -- at least 200. I hope that they will do an IC, and if they get enough interest, perhaps organize a GB. Unfortunately, I think this is unlikely, and I hope that we can find the raw materials and tools to make silencing disks of our own. A number of people on DT are working on this. Keycaps are another issue; I have seen standard sets for the HHKB on EK and for the RF on eBay, but I have not seen the spherical caps being sold separately from their keyboards.

What kind of rubber and foam padding did you use for the space bar and case?

@lunarl0n: For the inside of the case, I used some 1/8-inch silicone sponge with "skin" on both sides. For the spacebar, I used some pieces cut from some self-adhesive foam strips (in the US at Carpenter Brothers hardware stores, "Do-it" brand, 1/2 x 2-3/8-inch). I put the foam strips on top of the rubber contact points under the spacebar.