Thanks to this thread I have now fully converted my FC660C for the Heavy-6. I used the Niz sliders, JTK sliders for the mods and Axioms 3d printed stabs for the spacebar.
I accidentally didn’t use the smoothest printing material for the space stabs which was an issue I could mostly fix by filing the plungers down a bit. There is still some friction there but with a BKE heavy dome its fine for me under normal usage.
The JTK sliders are a bigger issue, the SA caps fit too loose or sit too low, specially the enter key feels like it can leap off the board if I try hard enough. I used o-rings in the caps to help them sit at the right height but I might try some thin plastic foil on the sliders to tighten them up a bit. They don’t feel or sound as nice as the Niz sliders.
I only received SA Spacecadet about two months ago at about the same time as I received the Heavy-6. It was the last SA set I ordered (fall 2018) since just like many others I had become a GMK fanboi. And I didn’t plan for it but boy, is this a great combination! Despite the 2u mod issues, together with BKE domes and Hasus FC660C alt controller I am very happy with the end result.
I’ve tried to find the KBDFans sliders when I was sourcing all my parts but I had no luck there.
2u costar plus 1u Niz sounds very interesting, should help with a more even feel too. I take it you have done that. Did you need to hot glue the 1u switch to stop it from sliding horizontally in the plate? Could you share a picture?
Cool, thanks for your replies. There was so much discussion in this thread about the space bar that it didn’t land with me to use the costars for the 2u keys Time to raise my expertease
I’m a little late to the Topre-MX-slider-modding party, but this thread was a wild ride/read
Given that @PremiumBoss’s amazingly detailed guide on how to use a Cherry plate stabilizer for the spacebar was posted almost 8 months ago - I wanted to check to see how the mod has been holding up, and if there were any other developments in this arena!
I know Deskeys is still actively working on topre MX sliders as well as domes, but neither has come to market yet. I believe the current “ideal” MX conversion would be:
1U keys: Niz housings and sliders
Mods: KBDFans stabilizers
Spacebar: PremiumBoss’s Cherry plate mount stabilizer mod
All: slider rails lubed, stabilizer bars lubed, and probably Deskeys silencing rings as well? #3s?
Before I embark on my MX-compatible journey, I just wanted to touch base and validate that my understanding above is mostly correct. I’m sure there is something I’ve missed, or some development I haven’t caught wind of - time to continue the research!
Edit: most of this thread has focused on the FC660C, however these mods should all translate the same onto its bigger FC980C brother as well, right? With the impending launch of @norbauer’s Heavy-9, I wanted to make sure this was a feasible approach for that board as well
I’ve been using my modded fc660c daily over the past 8 months since completing the swap. I use it for work, gaming, and hobbies. It’s seriously a great keyboard.
The spacebar mod I detailed earlier in this thread has held up very well. It still feels and sounds excellent. That being said, there are two small things that could be better.
Instead of the fc660c’s 6u space, if you use the standard 6.25u stabilizer wire then you need to use speciality 1u modifier keycaps to fit (Alt left and right.) It doesn’t bother me, but it could be better if you found or made a 6u wire and had the right spacebar to match, then you could use the normal modifier keycaps. The holes in the plate support either width stabilizer wire.
Speaking of the holes, that brings up the second point. Because there is room for the stabilizer clips to move left and right, even when mounted snugly they can get a little out of position when changing spacebars and cause some binding / rubbing. It’s a minor annoyance but after a little pushing or pulling with needle nose pliers you can get them aligned again and working smoothly.
You might consider making or 3D printing some spacers to keep the stabilizer clips at just the right position in the holes. That’s what I’ll do next time.
This is pretty much what I have on my board right now, except for the silencing rings, the NiZ housings and sliders came with rings installed and coming from a purely stock board to a fully modded one, I decided to leave those rings on.
I first made the spacebar mod with a 6.25u wire but the gap that this created in the bottom row really triggered me so I decided to redo it with a 6u wire (bought my stabs here), forces me to buy spacebar kits when I join a GB, but it looks much better!
Quick tip: don’t forget the band aid when you do the spacebar mod - I didn’t do that when I used the 6.25u spacebar (not because I didn’t want to, I just didn’t have any Band-Aids at home) and sure enough, just like PremiumBoss said, there was some noise.
I know it is ugly but I have been running this spacebar setup for a few months now, no issues at all!
This will require a few rgb slider housings…I hacked them up just enough that a plate mount cherry stab would fit snugly between the modded housing and and the plate. Then I put caps on around the space bar and put the space bar on and positioned as I desired it. Next I removed the space bar, put tape between stabilizer and plate, flipped plate over and loaded with black epoxy.
Oh and you’ll want an rgb slider for the actual switch, it provides enough clearance for the stabilizer bar.
The result is a great 6u spacebar, comparable to my best built mx boards.
I know this is all a little abstract but nice mx compatible spacebars can be done, just need some patience and thought.
Sorry to bump this thread but I managed to mod my R2 PFU to use mx sliders now. Niz housings and sliders for 1U, kbdfans for 2U, and 6.25U Costar stabilizer for the spacebar. There’s almost 0 rattle with the spacebar too which really impressed me.
I hope so too. I just couldn’t wait for deskeys sliders to come out so I dove right in for this. To be honest Niz’s sliders is just as good as stock Topre’s, I am quite impressed. The KBDfans 2U slider is adequate. Only the costar stabs that’s a little bit shabby.
I am currently rocking MT3 Susuwatari on the Norbaforce. Loving it!
A few of the folks on Discord made the joke that if we modded our keebs, maybe it would bring on the announcement of Deskeys sliders sooner. Well, I thought I’d contribute to the karmic forces by finally modding my VHS Norbaforce R2 to be MX compatible.
Norbauer VHS Norbaforce Mk II
Realforce R2 30g uniform silenced + additional Deskeys #2 silencing rings
stock Topre 1u and 2u housings
combination of 1u JTK and Niz MX sliders pulled from an ABKO K935
KBDfans 2u sliders
Costar 6.25u stabilizer from ABKO K935
Leopold FC750R white on black keycaps; Artifact Bloom yellow accents
My original idea was to strip the K935 for the entire Niz slider unit and the spacebar stabilizers, but the housings on that keyboard seem to be built into the plate or held in by a rigid “gasket” made of the same plastic as the housing. So I just took the sliders and put the original Realforce silencing rings; used some Deskeys #2 and stacked them where I didn’t have any rings for some reason.
Installing the Costar stabilizer was interesting. I had to read this thread several times and look at photos closely–turns out my initial install was upside down last night. Even now while it sounds and moves well–it is crooked. So are the rest of the keycaps. I think that’s because I mixed Niz and Topre parts, but oh well.
The Leopold caps have a bit more plastic/clicky sound compared to the stock Realforce caps. I don’t know yet if the entire exercise was worth it just to have an MX-ready board; the sound is nowhere near stock silenced Topre. Probably need to sit a good month with this board and see if my experience changes.
thank you. it was borne out of novatouch aftermarket price desperation. i’ve since switched the caps to gmk hyperfuse redux, and the sound is much better. the spacebar still proves to be the most questionable part of the conversion as the costar wire has a tendency to get dislodged if one hits the spacebar at an angle.
I see that some of you on this thread are familiar with Niz keyboards, specifically the ABKO.
I am thinking of replacing my stock ABKO K935P 45 G Niz domes with 35 G domes.
I have a replacement sheet of 35 G Niz domes ready to go [TKL]. How complex is this operation? I’m not very familiar with EC boards in general. Is this something a layperson could do, or I should I send it to a specialist?
Time to raise my expertease 
