Did a silence mod on my Topre 88UB.

[huttala]

Hello!

I did a silence mod on my Topre 88UB since I wanted a board that is really quiet, and this really hit the spot, it's really, really quiet.

Here's a video with the topre VS my Filco with blues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2HyDCMI ... e=youtu.be

And this is where I bought the rubber bands (extremly fast shipping, got it in under a week from USA to Sweden).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-16-Medium-3-5 ... 20d081031e

Took some pics of the mod as well.

Top cover removed.


Screws that holds the plate and PCB together.


Plate removed.


Dental rubberbands on the sliders. They are so cute.



Some more pics that does not really matter but might be fun to look at.

[cookie]

That mod is pretty popular, pretty much a type-s kind of switch. I like it!
The difference between the RF and the Filco is huge! Do you feel less key travel after you put the dental bands on it?

I am falling more and more in love with Topre switches because you can make such a quiet keyboard ouf of them... a similar result with cherrys is a lot more work, especially with the bottom up sound, I have some great Ideas but not the time to do it...

[ne0phyte]

Nice. It's a shame that Topre (or rather EK) wants +$100 for the silenced HHKB.
Where did you buy the rubber bands? What size did you use?

[huttala]

That's the thing I really love with the Topre, I like the feel of Cherry blues better, but since the Topre is so silent I like it better.

Nice. It's a shame that Topre (or rather EK) wants +$100 for the silenced HHKB.
Where did you buy the rubber bands? What size did you use?

Oh sorry! Forgot to add the link in my first post. I'll add it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-16-Medium-3-5 ... 20d081031e

[Muirium]

How different are these bands in size, compared to Cherry MX o-rings?

[Gilgam]

Nice pics

Is it hard to remove al this stuff ?
Did you experience some problems ?

And more important is the feeling different ?

[huttala]

How different are these bands in size, compared to Cherry MX o-rings?

These are thinner and a lot more elastic then the o-rings for cherry.

Nice pics

Is it hard to remove al this stuff ?
Did you experience some problems ?

And more important is the feeling different ?

It was really easy, did not use anything else then a small screwdriver to make this mod.
I did not experience any problems at all.

The feeling is just the same, I don't feel any difference at all except the lower sound.

[Muirium]

Interesting indeed. Wonder if they work on Cherry?

[Jmneuv]

The matias alps tactile solved the upstroke dampening real nicely - on cherry mx it's not really possible.
On the picture you can see the small white rubber inlays whch dampen up and down contact. Upstroke contact is against a small bump in the casing, that's why it's not protruding above the slider rail on that end.

[Findecanor]

Interesting indeed. Wonder if they work on Cherry?

I have 3/16" medium orthodontic bands on one of my Cherry keyboards, and they work fine. Only two bands broke after between two to three years of home use and the broken bands weren't even on any of the keys that I used the most.
I have also tried the same brand of O-rings as Huttala, same weight and size but white, and they worked fine too. They are not exactly the same height, though. Both brands have tiny moulding artifacts that make them slightly uneven in height but I think that these are less important on Cherry MX than on Topre.

I got the idea from a thread on Geekhack back in summer or fall of 2010. I don't remember if it was Ripster who posted it first, but I remember that he evaluated them in the thread.

Edit: They work on Cherry keycaps, but not on Signature Plastics', WASD Keyboards', Kinesis' or other OEM-profile keycaps. The space between the keycap "struts" and the top of the switch has to be small enough, and so far only my Cherry and BTC keycaps have worked.

The matias alps tactile solved the upstroke dampening real nicely...

Yep. Matias copied the idea from vintage Cream Alps.

[Gilgam]

How different are these bands in size, compared to Cherry MX o-rings?

These are thinner and a lot more elastic then the o-rings for cherry.

Nice pics

Is it hard to remove al this stuff ?
Did you experience some problems ?

And more important is the feeling different ?

It was really easy, did not use anything else then a small screwdriver to make this mod.
I did not experience any problems at all.

The feeling is just the same, I don't feel any difference at all except the lower sound.

Ok thanks. As the price is high i don't want to break that keyboard

[guilleguillaume]

Great mod! Ordered some for my Topre keyboards and I'm going to try it for the first time with my loud HHKB Pro 2.

[huttala]

Great mod! Ordered some for my Topre keyboards and I'm going to try it for the first time with my loud HHKB Pro 2.

I'm glad that I inspired people.

FYI, to get the sliders off I used a small scredriver and pulled them off through the plate. It went pretty easy. And on the keys with stabilizers I just unhooked the stabilizer from the sliders and they went off really easy after that.

[cookie]

Is it really neccessary to took the sliders off? Is the dental band not flexible enough to just slip it over and set it in place?

[huttala]

Is it really neccessary to took the sliders off? Is the dental band not flexible enough to just slip it over and set it in place?

Do you mean push it through the plate ? If you mean that then no, I do not think so, and even if you get it through it will probably not get assembled good enough.

[guilleguillaume]

Today I received the dental bands and tomorrow I will play with my loud HHKB PRO 2

[Muirium]

Edit: They work on Cherry keycaps, but not on Signature Plastics', WASD Keyboards', Kinesis' or other OEM-profile keycaps. The space between the keycap "struts" and the top of the switch has to be small enough, and so far only my Cherry and BTC keycaps have worked.

I'm getting some SP caps, but in DSA profile via the Dolch replica GB. Perhaps this will work on DSA, rather than DCS. I'll look closely when I get my hands on them.

[guilleguillaume]

Today I finished the silence mod to my HHKB PRO 2 and I couldn't be happier. The size of the rubberbands is just perfect and it's really easy to put them on.

It took me around a couple of hours and I had to cut the bump on the sliders in order to take them off but it didn't affect the switch so there is no problem for doing it. I also took off some of the lube that was in the stabilizers because they made some rattle noise and after I finish the mod the spacebar is now super quiet and sounds fantastic with a deep "tock" instead of "cha".

I was planning to sell the keyboard because it didn't feel nice at all with the noise of rattling modifiers and that crispy sound but now I'm convinced to keep it

Thanks to huttala for the advice. Now I also want to do the mod to my HHKB Pro JP!

[cookie]

Where did you get the rubber bands?
I already have some of them but I think they are way to thick and this would decrease the travel too much.

Verry thin foam rings like on the HHKB type S would also be really nice though!
First I have to fix the Spring rattle on some switches.... they don't thock as nice as they should

[guilleguillaume]

Where did you get the rubber bands?
I already have some of them but I think they are way to thick and this would decrease the travel too much.

Verry thin foam rings like on the HHKB type S would also be really nice though!
First I have to fix the Spring rattle on some switches.... they don't thock as nice as they should

I got them from the Ebay seller huttala linked:

[...]

Oh sorry! Forgot to add the link in my first post. I'll add it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-16-Medium-3-5 ... 20d081031e

They're a perfect fit for the slider and the feel is exactly the same, you may loose 1mm but you won't notice it. Some of the keys have a spring noise if I put my ear near to the keyboard but if I can't hear the noise if I0m typing normal.

I really recomend this mod.

[cookie]

Unfortunately the seller is located in US, and as I can see there is no international shipping availabe :/
Nevermind, I will look for verry thin rubber foam or silicon film. something around 0.5 mm

I can actually feel the spring vibration in my fingertips, BUT I have some Ideas to get rid of t

[Jmneuv]

http://www.ebay.de/itm/130949159695
shipping to de is 5,99$

i just copied the itemnumber from ebay.com to .de

[guilleguillaume]

The seller does ship international because we got the rubberbands from them.

Seriously I'm super happy with the mod. I will eventually make a video with the truly THOCK sound a Topre deserve

[gh_pp]

Great mod! Ordered some for my Topre keyboards and I'm going to try it for the first time with my loud HHKB Pro 2.

I'm glad that I inspired people.

FYI, to get the sliders off I used a small scredriver and pulled them off through the plate. It went pretty easy. And on the keys with stabilizers I just unhooked the stabilizer from the sliders and they went off really easy after that.

huttala, that's very nice. but the contrast from mx-blue to your modded topre is huge.
I wonder if someone can make a before and after video with the same topre? That way we can gauge how much reduction of noise this mod made.
Bonus point if we can compare with the type-s

does opening up the board and install these rings void the warranty?

very nice info btw, thanks.

[huttala]

Great mod! Ordered some for my Topre keyboards and I'm going to try it for the first time with my loud HHKB Pro 2.

I'm glad that I inspired people.

FYI, to get the sliders off I used a small scredriver and pulled them off through the plate. It went pretty easy. And on the keys with stabilizers I just unhooked the stabilizer from the sliders and they went off really easy after that.

huttala, that's very nice. but the contrast from mx-blue to your modded topre is huge.
I wonder if someone can make a before and after video with the same topre? That way we can gauge how much reduction of noise this mod made.
Bonus point if we can compare with the type-s

does opening up the board and install these rings void the warranty?

very nice info btw, thanks.

Well, since you are taking every switch off the plate I would say that you are voiding your warranty.
But I don't think there is any varranty stickers that you are breaking if that's what you are asking.

About the video I do not have a "normal" topre or a type-s at home.