I had to graciously sit this one out. I’ve just spend too much in the past month. I even have a 87u in it’s stock case just waiting to be gussied up. Perhaps there will be more down the road. Really holding out for a retro refrigerator finish some day.
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Also hoping to get a glossy Retro Norbaforce into my hands someday.
@norbauer Would it be possible to create a custom plastic plate for this like what you are doing for the HHKB? I imagine 3D printing would not be good enough so it might probably need molds.
@herandi Do you mean a custom plastic plate for the Realforce?
@norbauer Exactly 
I think the reason that Topre doesn’t do this themselves is that for such a larger plate area relative to the HHKB, the ABS material would have awkwardly too much flex.
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@norbauer Interesting, that definitely makes sense, specially because compared to mx style switches the switch housing doesn’t really reduce the flex, like with polycarb or FR4 plates that some mx mount boards use. But it’s just too enticing thinking about having the same feel as an HHKB on a Realforce/Norbaforce!
I agree. It’s definitely something I think about sometimes and would like to explore in more depth at some point. I’m just assuming that this is the reason why it has never been an offering from Topre before and therefore don’t necessarily expect my experiments to go well. 
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Got my foam accessory today. I actually bought 2 b/c I thought I was going to buy another Mark II case. Ha! So here I am with this extra foam. A logical human would try to sell it. But I’m wondering… any chance we’ll see a restock on Mark II aluminum finishes some day? 
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Yes. I had some stragglers left at the factory, which they are now long overdue on sending me, but have supposedly been working on this week. As always, stay tuned to my email list. I will send an email there as soon as they’re in stock, hopefully in the coming couple of weeks.
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Hey there,
I was wondering if there was an approximate date for the latest round of the polycarb Norbaforce boards to be completed, since I understand production should have already started by now.
Thanks!
Yes, the parts are complete and just undergoing inspection now before shipment to me.
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@norbauer: Are the remaining veracity finish cases still in the queue for polishing? I know there are always factory delays, even moreso during these…heated times as of late, in California! 
@norbauer got the dampener today. the “unboxing” experience was something else even for such a simple thing. the wrapping paper you used was super pretty, I carefully peeled the tape so the thing is still in perfect condition. Speaking of the dampener itself, the texture is so nice to touch, cut to the size of the PCB and all the cutouts are perfectly aligned with the components. And once installed it does exactly what you advertised, dampening the sound a lot. This is with my Ghost MKII, I imagine the effect would be even more pronounce if I install it in the Tactical Black MKI.
One suggestion for improvement though, is to make the dampener thicker by 1-2mm. Right now, I can make the dampener move about in the case by just shaking it, the LHS where there’s no cable/componentry are move freely as it doesn’t fully touch the rear place. Whereas the RHS is anchored in place due to cables and cutouts.
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Thank you for the kind words, as always! 
And you’re absolutely right: the difference is way more perceptible on metal housings. Aluminum doesn’t have the best acoustic properties, frankly.
This is something I considered, but I didn’t really want the wool to be in physical contact with the back of the PCB. I tested it and haven’t been able to elicit any electrical interference, but I figured it better just to err on the safe side.
Also, I know I’ll feel daft when you explain, but what are LHS and RHS? 
Also, if you’re shaking your keyboard enough to make that dampener move inside, you might not be using it right? Just sayin’. 
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I’m going to take a wild guess and say that it stands for right-hand side and left-hand side? 
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@norbauer yeah I meant it as left-hand side and right-hand side 
The moment I placed the order, instantly regretted not making it 2 for the MK1. But I don’t really use it much nowadays to justify a 2nd order, yet 
Shaking was a bad choice of word I noticed the dampener got out of position when I picked up the keyboard from 1 room to another. just my OCD as I don’t want anything to move out of place, especially after I align the dampener to be exactly on top of the PCB visually. Really nice to know you’ve thought about it too, thorough as you always have, and that it was a deliberate design choice. I’ll probably forget about this in a few days so it’s a non-issue.
Now the last thing I need to some landing pad for the spacebar stabilisers, then the keyboard should be extremely quiet, all thock and no plastic-on-plastic noise. Unless you come up with more parts to mod the Norbaforce further 
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Do you happen to have a recording of the ghost and your RGB with the wool dampener installed?
unfortunately I don’t. and I still don’t have everything setup properly yet even (just relocated a couple of weeks ago)
Are these extras that someone who missed the GB will be able to get? I am keeping an eye on this thread since I want a Mark II in the stainless steel finish 
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