obviously not very pretty when the board is opened up but I managed not to scratch anything that’s visible when assembled and most importantly it works!
One of the selling points of the plexus PCB I’m using is that it has flex and the newly installed daughterboard does interfere with the flex slightly, though not enough for me to really notice while typing. Eventually I will go back in to make a bit more space so that the port sits bit lower and stops interfering with the flex, but for now I’m happy to have my favorite board back in working order!
On my workbench today is the Heavy-9. I 3d printed some adapters to mount the plate and PCB. The was needed because using an acrylic plate that is too flexible to mount with the traditional methods. There is a small scrap from the backing of a mouse pad between the 3d printed part to give a nice bouncy feel. Also had to stack up a few 15mm x 30mm under the spacebar to prevent too much flex under the spacebar.
I still need to cut 2 of the screws down a mm or so to dial in the feel.
Edit: All done! Its nice keys feel like I wanted them to.
USB-C cable fits through the opening without molding the housing (I am using a zap cable, regular off the shelf cables didn’t fit.
I ran out of screws that were the right size to secure the USB breakout board to the standoff. I had to result to hot glue which I know is lame. But it works and is surprisingly strong. I will swap that out with screws next time I am in there along with a universal usb-c daughterboard
Update: Finished the actual build of the break in machine with an m4 standoff completing the build. It can be taken apart quickly and is balanced so it can be hands free. This guy is my desk buddy while I am doing actual work and not in meetings.
Edit: Controlling speed with dimmer switch because the trigger is super sensitive and I didn’t want to mess up any switches. If after all this hassle the switches are still scratchy I am so going to run this full power hammer drill mode. I will video the destruction but lets hope it doesn’t come to that…
Trying to gauge how quickly to run it. I have run it at about 300~400 actuations a minute for 150 min. The switches are smoother but still have some scratch. While it is fun to run it faster (this drill could do a couple of thousand RPMs) I feel like going too fast may not break in the scratch parts in addition to probably eventually breaking the switches. Going to run it for 4 hours total rotating the switches 90 degrees every 60~90 minutes and see how they turn out.
@DonPark there is 1 rack of diamond paste and 1 of toothpaste in there just for you
I was removing residue from double sided tape with my fancy, new heat gun and was so focused and excited that it was working that I didn’t notice that the hot air was destroying another portion of the plastic.
Dis-assembled Ink V2’s, and Kailh Black stems - ready for sonic cleaning.
After that, I’ll be lubing the springs with 106 and the rest with 205g0, and then re-assembling for some very smooth and clacky long-pole linears.
Side note; I’m curious, wondering why the POM stems from Creams smell so much worse in a closed container than other POM stems… I took out my “Creamy Inks” to compare them to a test one of these, and whoof - they stanky. Definitely adding a bit of dryer sheet to the lid of that jar…
Swapped the Lavender Linears out of my MAJA. Swapped in some T1s. Tried out linears for as long as I could, but I really have learned that my preference is tactile.
Good on you for trying. Honestly, eliminating a category of switch options will save you from a lot of regrettable purchases as you try things out. Now you can focus on finding your perfect tactile (or enjoying the differences between them).
I enjoy using both linears and tactiles. Tactiles typically are for having some fun while working, but linears are for getting down to business (tactiles can break my concentration sometimes).
That’s really interesting. I like the simplicity in sound and feel of linears, but I’ve found I’m much more accurate and thus concentrated while working with a heavier tactile or clicky.
For me I guess it’s more of a feeling of being held back by the tactility as I have no choice but to ride the bump trough the press – the press and typing experience is pre-determined with a certain cadence. With a linear, as long as the switch actuates, my fingers can press down as hard or as light as they want (inconsistently I suppose, per finger, per press) which really speeds up my typing – there is more freedom in the press. I mean, I’m being a little over dramatic about this, but I hope you see my point. I can definitely see how the consistency of tactiles would promote accuracy though.
Used Rit DyeMore to dye some clear Techflex black. The black color is not at all interesting. What is more exciting is now you can attempt to better color match your setup more then the 30 or so commonly available colors. Next I am going to do a similar scrap test but with white instead of clear. I want to see if it will help with the depth of the color to reduce any transparency.
Gentile prototype: I was curious about how a silent linear with abrupt bump near bottom-out feels like. Lack of usual audible feedback on bottom out makes silent linears boring. My design intention is to add a bump to see if that helps. That grey lump is just epoxy clay which will be sanded down after it hardens. It may not bond solidly to POM so .
Ah interesting. I’m a white noise kind of person, so predictable noise becomes something I can rely on as feedback rather than distraction. Linear switches actually make me feel like I’m going to miss the next stroke, so sometimes I catch myself looking down to make sure I know where I’m going. Meanwhile, with tactiles, the bump assures me I can move on confidently. BKE Redux being my ideal form of tactility. I do like to mix it up though as I have 4 desks I frequent. Two of them are serious business and have the same heavily modded FC980Cs, while my lab desk and bench areas see frequent MX keeb changes.
