O-Ring 2-O (MX internal dampening)

[scottc]

I'd definitely be interested in trying them out!

[snoopy]

Jmneuv send me a bag of those. Thanks a lot!

I installed them last night in my Frankenboard (G80 / MX Black). The first impression is very very good.

Will test them for a while and give another feedback next week.

[passerby]

A quick newbie question here: I've been thinking of ways to dampen the sound of my keyboard (Filco Majestouch 2) and this made me curious. How easy/hard is it to disasseble (and reassemble) the switches?

[Jmneuv]

For a store bought keyboard you'll need to desolder any switch you want to open. Once out you can easily open them with a pair of tweezers.

[demonkoryu]

Oh, this will be fun. I'm very happy with my new Ducky with red MX but my GF isn't quite fond of the noise when she wants to sleep. So I've bought the Silicon Mat and will try your mod, Jmneuv. Thanks everybody for trying and confirming.

[Muirium]

Yeah, the trouble is all in getting to the switches. Mods like this (and living, spring swapping, etc.) are quite simple once you have access. But getting there is the hard part.

Your Filco is plate mounted. The switches clip into a metal plate, that you can see when you pull the caps. The plate holds the switches right around the centre, where you want to open up. My Ducky is plate mount, too. I'd like to try this technique on its MX reds, but it's a lot of work removing every switch.

There are custom plates out there with extra holes to allow switch opening without removal. But no commercial keyboards use them… yet.

[passerby]

Thanks for the explanation. So I won't be starting with this modification then. I think I'll give o-rings of some size a go first and keep this one in the back of my mind.

[nerdvana]

These internal dampers (I-rings?)...

Might I proffer the tongue-in-cheek term "I-pads"? (Hyphenation & capitalization matter, naturally!)

I too am intrigued by the prospects for this mod, having now spend 3x as much on Round 5 keycaps as on the boards they're meant to dress out. However, I'm also one of the unlucky majority dealing with plate-mounted commercial boards. My research has thus far turned up a dearth of PCB-mount prospects, and at this point I'm strongly considering the purchase of a "cheap" Rosewill or Monoprice board to hone my soldering/desoldering skills (might be a good opportunity to procure some feather-light Reds, too).

[damorgue]

That was the problem I had when I tried them — it was like moving to a really bad scissor switch, squishy with short travel. The O-rings undermine the advantages of using Cherry MX switches in the first place.

I too have hated all O-rings and foam pads I have tried since they make the switches feel like typing on wet newspaper.
Am I understanding this correctly that these pellets can decrease the bottom out noise whilst not affecting the feel?

[Jmneuv]

The feel remains solid, just a little softer.. a tough softness. The bottom out contact point remains in the switch bottom like without any dampening.

[snoopy]

I'm still in love with those little things.

Thock thock thock thock

[tricheboars]

got a letter in the mail yesterday from jmneuv cause he is awesome. i cant wait to install these in the clear switches i am going to modify once my massdrop ergodox arrives. thank you so much man.

i am grateful and you are the shit. plus i have never gotten a letter from germany before so that is cool too!

[Muirium]

Every time I get something from Germany, it's to do with DT. Either caps, switches, or the occasional full keyboard. I imagine a land of high quality mechanicals everywhere, like it's the seventies or eighties…

Anyway, my limited testing with these I-rings/pads/Jmneuv specials has all been positive. So when I get the maker's bug again this summer, my next build is going to contain a full set! Thanks from all of us.

[scottc]

Same here, Muirium!

[demonkoryu]

To be honest, that's a false impression. I went through all 30 keyboards with price range up to 300€ in our tech stores without finding any mech kb. Asking for mech Kbs usually results in blank stares. Phoning the specialty Pc hardware stores got me answers like "we only have gaming keyboard and pro keyboards, if you want "mechanical" stuff got your car mexhanic."

And don't even get me started about süecific questions concerning Mx switches. "This is an mx gold switch, it is printed on the package" one store clerk went....

In short, it's quite a sad situation.

In the end, I had to order a mech kb at getdigital.eu

[scottc]

So Jmneuv was kind enough to send me a bag of these the other day.

They make a very interesting difference to the switch. I only have a G80-1800 with MX blacks around , so naturally that's what I used these in.

I'm not intimately familiar with using O-rings having never used them for extended periods of time so I'm not really in a good position to do a full comparison. They really do make a noticeable difference to the bottoming-out of the switch: it's considerably softer, but not as mushy as with an O-ring. I don't really notice much of a difference in the travel, which is different from my experience with O-rings: it was definitely noticeable there.

The only downside: I think I miss the clacky sound of MX blacks bottoming out.