NOS rubber dome. After how many years of storage it still makes sense?

paperWasp · 02 Jul 2021, 11:29

I’m thinking of getting a nice looking ‘vintage’ HP keyboard from around 1995 – 1998. It’s new old stock goods and assume it has been stored under normal conditions (e.g. no freezing or extra high temperatures, average air humidity). But some materials degrade anyway.

It’ll probably work but some keys may become unreliable, some others tough to press when not pressed in their centre. What’s your experience? Is those 25 years still ok or what’s the maximum you’d accept for rubber dome keyboards?

TNT · 02 Jul 2021, 11:45

My experience with older rubber domes was as far, that they're usually still good as long as they have not seen too much use. So NOS + good storage should be good imo. Feel free to correct me tho if I'm wrong on this.

Karmel · 02 Jul 2021, 13:42

I don't own any really old HP rubber dome keyboards, but if the keyboard hasn't been used much it will probably feel pretty good.

As for just basic rubber domes, I have one of those later IBM keyboards from 1998 which was sitting in a shed for around 17 years and it doesn't feel that bad. It feels a bit more scratchy than most modern rubber dome keyboards but it's pretty nice in terms of tactility.

I do know that rubber domes don't feel as good when used a lot, they're one of those switch types that feels best when new as possible. It's probably because all of the parts that rub against each other are made of ABS, which gets worn out really fast. It's not the same material on all keyboards but most are ABS.

an_achronism · 02 Jul 2021, 15:29

I am assuming you're talking about an "HP" Key Tronic E03633QLUKQ. If so, I got one of those. It's not a very smooth key travel experience but they're extremely rigid/binary/snappy (choose your preferred adjective) rubber domes so I have a certain soft spot for it. I don't think it's particularly degraded over time, based on that.

Bjerrk · 02 Jul 2021, 15:31

I had one of those too. Didn't enjoy it, but I would agree with the binary statement. It was quite stiff, not sure if age played a role there.

paperWasp · 02 Jul 2021, 18:05

an_achronism wrote: ↑
02 Jul 2021, 15:29
I am assuming you're talking about an "HP" Key Tronic E03633QLUKQ.

No, it was the attached model (SK-2502C). I guessed its age from the Win logo shape (so correct me, if it isn't so old).
In the meantime, the seller told me, it isn't available anymore so it sort of solved my problem.

But thanks for the opinions, I'll use it in case of a similar purchase.