Cherry Corp Stabilizers, GIMME BACK MY CLACK! "Ok." WHAAAT?!

RC-1140 · 27 Jun 2012, 16:59

I don't even know, why one should open the keyboard for this mod. Take off the keycap, and maybe the keycap of the key beyond, take some pliers, and, in ripsters words: wiggle!. You have to be careful with the pliers, don't apply too much pressure to the middle of the stabilizer, it's better to grab it on one of the sides. Then tilt the pliers and you have removed the stabilizer. I only pulled 7 keycaps on my G80-2551. No taking apart.

ripster · 27 Jun 2012, 17:01

Yeah, I SURE DID NOT HAVE TO DO MUCH to access those stabilizers.

off · 27 Jun 2012, 17:07

In my case I just wanted to keep them in shape and used pliers to unlock them from the bottom, your call ofcourse.
And Ripster, THAT (doubleposting (probably even quadposting to GH/OCN as well) so it gets more hits) is what I'm referring to when I mention whoring. One reddit might already be too much.
Plus, isn't getting them off that easily a plus? My ex used to think so..
And they go back in just as easily!

ripster · 27 Jun 2012, 17:29

Whoring I thought was legal in the EU?

off · 27 Jun 2012, 17:34

Legal; yes, in some places. Frowned upon, depends: In cases like these, no lube, no satisfaction; most definitely.

off · 27 Jun 2012, 18:19

RC-1140 wrote:But honestly I still don't understand, why you put some tape under the stabilizers. I simply cut off the two extra legs, and cut off the extra plastic so the bottom is even now, and I have a wonderful clack. Why would you put tape there?

Addendum to my previous answer; the tape is way thinner than the removed plastic is, and seeing how the 'clack' comes from the keycap hitting the switch housing (which is now possible since the movement isn't halted by the stabilizer), hence still allowing that same sweet clack to occur, and ofcourse removing that miffy end of the drop.
Now, as said before, the tape is just 'to make me feel good' basically; this way I'm sure the PCB remains unharmed, as well as satisfying that little feeling I had that without tape the bar tends to rattle (more audibly).

ripster · 27 Jun 2012, 18:33

Why cut off the legs as opposed to simple clipping the .5 mm peg thingies?

Edit...Oh I see, gives you an extra .5mm of travel. I gotta measure that...brb..

ripster · 27 Jun 2012, 18:37

Damn, I'm good at eyeballing measurements. Call me Terminator Ripster.

off · 27 Jun 2012, 20:16

ripster wrote:the .5 mm peg thingies?

what pegs?

ripster · 27 Jun 2012, 20:56

The pointy two things on the legs.

off · 27 Jun 2012, 21:01

Please. Pretty please (no sugar).

Read the thread. Entirely.

Before you post. Again.

It really is quite something, when the one with probably the second most post in a thread, from the start, comes with an 'idea' on page 4 that has been used, mentioned, repeatedly, and was basically the first step of the entire mod.

Seeing how I've already asked that of you in this thread, perhaps twice even, and how it's assumed in any thread any user posts in; I'll assume you won't, and just give you a hand:
Yes, cutting off just those pegs/feet will have a very noticable effect, it's all what the Koreans know of (afaik); but personally I did notice an improvement cutting off more; whether actually so or imaginary.

ripster · 27 Jun 2012, 21:05

Jeez, you asked. I answered.

Are you juggling to become a DT moderator or something?

itlnstln · 27 Jun 2012, 23:38

off wrote:Please. Pretty please (no sugar).

Read the thread. Entirely.

Before you post. Again.

It really is quite something, when the one with probably the second most post in a thread, from the start, comes with an 'idea' on page 4 that has been used, mentioned, repeatedly, and was basically the first step of the entire mod.

Seeing how I've already asked that of you in this thread, perhaps twice even, and how it's assumed in any thread any user posts in; I'll assume you won't, and just give you a hand:
Yes, cutting off just those pegs/feet will have a very noticable effect, it's all what the Koreans know of (afaik); but personally I did notice an improvement cutting off more; whether actually so or imaginary.

Where the fuck did this come from? Don't yell at the guy for answering your question.

ripster · 28 Jun 2012, 02:48

It's not a problem. He's Off today.

off · 01 Jul 2012, 17:39

itlnstln wrote:Where the fuck did this come from? Don't yell at the guy for answering your question.

I did not. It came from frustration of having to ask the guy for the second time at least to actually read and comprehend the thread he posted frequently in.
Not in response to him answering my question, but in response to him demonstrating yet again that he wasn't interested enough in the thread to actually try to read and comprehend it.
It wasn't too friendly, that I'll admit.

off · 05 Jul 2012, 12:36

Updated OP for all TLDR folk (actually since thread's a mess anyhow)!

litster · 19 Aug 2012, 01:04

Thanks for the info. I modded one of my KMACs and it feels so good now. I made a video to demo how to do the mod.

Acanthophis · 19 Apr 2013, 16:01

Just tried this mod + lube.
Amazing what difference it makes. especially if you hit the keys harder, you can really feel it.
Didn't try the fabric tape on the PCB though, I don't have any :/

Broadmonkey · 23 Apr 2013, 22:17

Just tried this mod too. It makes my mushy Cherry stabs feel like better build Costar stabs, and by that I mean superior to Costars.
I used a single layer of some regular duct tape under the stabs. I only cut the small bits at the end of the legs on the spacebar, but cut the two protruding legs completely off of my 2x mods, as they still seemed somewhat mushy with them. The only downside is that bottoming out on the mods now make more noise, though still less than my costar.

litster · 24 Apr 2013, 05:02

Seriously, with this mod, I like Cherry stabs on my KMAC and The Cheat way more than Costar on my Filcos now.

My problem is I have one other KMAC1 without the mod. And to do the mod, I would have to desolder all the switches to get to the Cherry stabs

Acanthophis · 24 Apr 2013, 10:07

Broadmonkey wrote:[...], but cut the two protruding legs completely off of my 2x mods, as they still seemed somewhat mushy with them. The only downside is that bottoming out on the mods now make more noise, though still less than my costar.

Did you also put tape on PCB on this second mod? I wonder how much a fabric tape would make a difference.
On my mod, I just cut off the little feet, gotta try clipping away those entire legs, if it really does feel better than just cutting off the feet.

Jmneuv · 24 Apr 2013, 10:14

I think you're shifting bottoming out to the switch itself by shortening the stab stems.
On a plate mounted board that should be fine, i'd rather have the force distributed on a pcb mounted one though.
Personally i take no offense in my soft landing stabs, i think it makes the keys feel a lot tougher like you could mash them really hard.

Broadmonkey · 24 Apr 2013, 13:23

Acanthophis wrote: Did you also put tape on PCB on this second mod? I wonder how much a fabric tape would make a difference.
On my mod, I just cut off the little feet, gotta try clipping away those entire legs, if it really does feel better than just cutting off the feet.

Yes, I placed duct tape under all my stabs. I am thinking about adding another layer to one of them to try and see how much difference it will make (thank god for the 1800 being PCB mount) But at the moment I am pretty satisfied with the feel. I only really think some lube will make it much better.

Jmneuv wrote:I think you're shifting bottoming out to the switch itself by shortening the stab stems.

That is exactly what I am doing. Personally I like all my keys to be uniform in feel and preferably sound, and moving the bottoming out to the switch instead of the stabilizer achieves that goal, or at least moves it closer to.

Edit: Added some pics

Setsuna · 27 Jun 2013, 19:04

I just did the mod to my Poker and I wanted to add a little potato picture to contribute somehow - It's sad that I have a better camera but I didn't manage to get a proper focus so you could appreaciate the difference (anyway the shadows in the picture help).

I noticed the mushiness on my Poker modifiers since the very first day but I didn't know why it felt like this until I found this thread. While I was modding the modifiers I wondered why did this happen to my Poker and NOT to my Race (both with Cherry stabilizers and PCB mounted). So I opened up the Race just to find out that the little footchops were gone! (not fully cut off)

Could it be that Cherry is making a new stabilizer or did the KBT folks simply cut them off before assembling the keyboard?
Second option sounds more plausible to me...

Anyway I used a precision knife to do the mod (the plastic is quite soft) and I managed to cut all the stabilizer legs and also my thumb twice.

: (left is Poker; right is Race) stabilizers; IMG_20130627_090557.jpg (1012.21 KiB) Viewed 13078 times

Left is the default Poker stabilizer; right is the default Race stabilizer. Both without any modification by me.
The resulting stabilizer to the Poker is not worth taking a picture of because there's plenty of them in this thread.

A big thank you to all the posters (not only for the info, but also for the randomness, physics lessons and general entertainment found here)