Floating friction-fit gummy o-ring mount, anyone?

Learning and discussion
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Hello everyone.

I would like to change the mounting style of my Klippe to gummy o-ring mount, but I wouldn’t really want to modify my PCB(s), or buy specific PCB(s) for this mounting style. After doing some reading and research, and searching and finding some NBR 70A o-rings to order in different sizes and strengths, I wondered …

Would it be possible to remove all of the poles and stand-offs in my Klippe (also TOFU, and others), and have the gummy o-ring around/in-between my PCB + plate sandwich tightly friction-fit press against the inner walls of the case, without touching any poles below but basically “floating” in the case (above some dampening foam/neoprene/silicone)?

Looking forward to what you think about this, and your advice.

Thanks!

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Should work. One friction-fit mounting method I’ve been thinking about trying uses thick tall columns of Sorbothane, half of its length made thinner than the rest. It’d have a ledge at half-way point for PCB to sit on. Placing such columns around inner sides of the case would squeeze the PCB enough to hold it in place and their ledges would provide support from below.

Alternate approach is to use a combination of over-sized plate padding and rubber struts.

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I did a similar build that I documented on here. I used a custom PCB, but you might be able to just cut parts of your PBC so that the gummy o-ring can rest on the stand-offs.

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Thank you for your answer. Do you think the gummy o-ring mount woult work without stand-offs, i.e. the gummy o-ring would only be pressed agains the inner walls of the case, but not rest on any stand-offs?

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I think that is tough to say. It really comes down to can you find the right o-ring. You would need one with a thick enough diameter that it would sit comfortably. I know that the o-ring I am using currently would fall straight through without the standoffs.

I can’t think of a gummy o-ring build that ONLY relies on friction fit… Bakeneko, Unikorn, OTD, etc. they all rely on some stand-offs around the edge of the case.

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Also haven’t found any case that only relies on friction-fit; glad you can confirm this.

Thank you! I did indeed order a handful of different o-rings with inner diameters of 175/177/180 mm, 3.5/4.0 mm thick, all of them NBR 70; think they will be delivered in a few days, then I could try them and report back. Maybe I even need to order some more to try out …

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Quick update: Today I modified my polycarbonbate Klippe, i.e. removed all poles and stand-offs on the inside. I’m still waiting for the various gummy o-rings in different sizes and strengths which I ordered yesterday, but I was able to quasi try out the intended floating mounting method with some regular colorful household rubber rings I found at home, and the PCB + plate don’t fall to ground, and the typing experience is already pretty neat.

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Good news, everyone: The o-rings arrived today, the floating mount style works … kind of?

There’s three circumstances that should be addressed.

  1. The modified Klippe R4 PC is slightly warped (hence I got a replacement back in the days — thanks Mekanisk — and therefore I was quite up to modifying the case this irreversibly the first place).

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  1. Also my PCB is slightly bent in a U-like form, which is somewhat unfortunate, especially because …

  2. I’m using screw-in stabilisers which have, well, screws on the bottom of the PCB, basically at the peak of the bent PCB.

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To workaround these issues, I added in total four tiny silicon bumps to the case; I mean, at least they’re slilicon and not polycarbonate, I guess?

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The o-ring I ended up using is 175 mm inner diameter × 4 mm thick NBR 70 …

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At the screw-in stabilizers, I carefully pushed down the o-ring with some flat thing, in my case the back of some tweezers.

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I still think that with all of the parts maybe not warped, and probably using clip-in stabilizers, the mount style might work a little better. The typing feel, at least, is great, and also the sound profile was never as pleasing as it is now (even though we’re talking about nuances here). Compared to before modding, I’m not using any foam, neoprene, or silicone anymore … I though about adding 1–2 mm of liquid silicon to the case instead of the four silicon bumps; might give that a try, maybe.

:upside_down_face:

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This post inspired me, so I ordered a couple orings from Cannonkeys and went to work on a couple of my 60s.
The most satisfying one has been the Blade60 with a wt60-d weirdflex + a Carolina Mech FR4 half-plate. Feels like a whole new board.

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Edit: the Blade has fully removable posts, so this mod was a breeze. Seems kbdfans could offer some o-rings as addons and would have a board with two very distinct mounting styles.

Still need to dial down the Klippe, don’t want to drill the aluminum, so I’ll probably add some poron o-rings on top of the fixed posts.

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Hey there, i have some questions regarding your build however i cant PM you for some reason :confused: do you have a discord or reddit that i can message you?