Topre Silencing Rings?

[JCMax]

What silencing rings for Topre would you recommend? It's for a little project that I have coming up with my Realforce.
I've heard good things about Deskeys but I'm not sure which ones to get. Really I just want something that will come close or possibly exceed the quietness of silent Topre switches.

[Riverman]

I've used the Deskeys rings on a few Topre keyboards and they're great. If you get the thinner ones, there's virtually no loss of tactility, and the silencing is very good. They're also extremely easy to install, once you have the keyboard disassembled. I used KBDFans Silence-X rings the first time I silenced a Topre, and it took me nearly two hours to do it. They were a horrible PITA to install compared to the Deskeys rings due to how thin they are and how they stuck to each other. I used the Deskeys ultrathins on the last one I did (a Type Heaven), and used the thins on a 104U before that. I didn't really notice a big difference in tactility between the two, but the ultrathins make the keyboard a little noisier. It's still an extremely quiet keyboard, though, and right up there with a factory silenced one.

[wobbled]

Realistically your only choice now is deskeys since kbdfans have completely ditched topre and did a mass sell off of all their stuff.

If you have purple realforce sliders, type s sliders, or deskey sliders then hypersphere rings could be an option. However I personally wouldn’t use these on an unsilenced hhkb as it will pre-compress the dome taking away tactility and causes long term damage.

For a HHKB with normal sliders use deskey number 2 or 3

[Muirium]

However I personally wouldn’t use [Hypersphere’s rings] on an unsilenced hhkb as it will pre-compress the dome taking away tactility and causes long term damage.

Got a source for this claim?

I use Hypersphere rings on all my non Type-S Topre boards, because that’s precisely the point of them. If a board is already factory silenced, it doesn’t need aftermarket rings (unless some dirty hacker nabbed them before it got to you).

The rings are very thin, and I can’t see them causing damage to the domes with their “tension.” There’s more loose play in Topre switches anyway than the thickness of these rings. You’d need something much thicker to keep the domes pre-loaded, according to my habitually key-stroking fingers. I like to wobble them gently while I think. The play is easily noticed, on stock Topre, factory Type-S, and indeed my Hypersphere damped HHKB and friends too.

[wobbled]

However I personally wouldn’t use [Hypersphere’s rings] on an unsilenced hhkb as it will pre-compress the dome taking away tactility and causes long term damage.

Got a source for this claim?

I use Hypersphere rings on all my non Type-S Topre boards, because that’s precisely the point of them. If a board is already factory silenced, it doesn’t need aftermarket rings (unless some dirty hacker nabbed them before it got to you).

The rings are very thin, and I can’t see them causing damage to the domes with their “tension.” There’s more loose play in Topre switches anyway than the thickness of these rings. You’d need something much thicker to keep the domes pre-loaded, according to my habitually key-stroking fingers. I like to wobble them gently while I think. The play is easily noticed, on stock Topre, factory Type-S, and indeed my Hypersphere damped HHKB and friends too.

It's more from personal experience from different boards I've used and acquired from other people that have done interesting silencing mods. The normal unsilenced sliders are shorter than purple or type-s sliders which compensate for the thickness of their silencing rings.
Typically you can get away with adding silencing rings between 0.2 and 0.3mm from deskeys to a normal slider and not lose any noticeable tactility (a sign of dome compression)
Hypersphere rings are 0.6mm which is 0.1mm thicker than an OEM topre silencing ring, and you're adding this to a slider that isn't longer to compensate for the rings thickness.

To be fair, It's not like you're using a dental band on here which would turn your domes into linear mush, but I'd put bets on the rings affecting tactility. If you run into a type-s board that is as old as your white pro 2 (and cheap) - pick it up to compare!

[Muirium]

My 2014 HHKB is Type-S original. The black one I bought last year is the one with Hyper’s rings, along with my 87U and NovaTouch.

I’ll keep an eye on the younger (2020 manufacture date) black model for any change in tactility as you say. I’ve already said I prefer its lightness to my heavily used 2014’s heaviness with age, so who knows how I’ll like it?

Incidentally: while digging up that link, I found this:

https://fujitsuscannerstore.com/CG01000-307201/

Is this “Snow” model news? Does it deserve a separate thread? And can anyone guess what I make of its “Helvetica style lite typeface”?

[JCMax]

It sounds like I'm going for the Deskeys thins. I am shooting for quiet but no affect on tactility.

Incidentally: while digging up that link, I found this:

https://fujitsuscannerstore.com/CG01000-307201/

Is this “Snow” model news? Does it deserve a separate thread? And can anyone guess what I make of its “Helvetica style lite typeface”?

If you're like me, you're probably thinking, "Cool, but...why?"
The board looks good and all, but the black and white they have already are fine. I think I prefer the white and gray key-caps on the white as opposed to the snow's. Same for the font too.

Maybe it's for the hardcore hhkb collector with too much time and $ to spare!

Jokes aside, personally, if I were them I would be thinking about new accessories for existing boards. More variety key-caps, mx sliders, (hell even) key-cap pullers, etc. Maybe even replacement parts/domes to upgrade on older boards. That's the kind of stuff I would like to see.

[wobbled]

My 2014 HHKB is Type-S original. The black one I bought last year is the one with Hyper’s rings, along with my 87U and NovaTouch.

I’ll keep an eye on the younger (2020 manufacture date) black model for any change in tactility as you say. I’ve already said I prefer its lightness to my heavily used 2014’s heaviness with age, so who knows how I’ll like it?

Incidentally: while digging up that link, I found this:

https://fujitsuscannerstore.com/CG01000-307201/

Is this “Snow” model news? Does it deserve a separate thread? And can anyone guess what I make of its “Helvetica style lite typeface”?

The snow was re-released a couple of months ago when Ricoh took over. They even made a really cringe youtube trailer for it. And it was originally supposed to be a limited run for their anniversary, but they brought it back with the realforce mac edition keycap font.
Personally I’m not a huge fan of the font and opted to buy a blank snow hybrid, and I have a 25th anniversary snow hybrid as well which has the traditional hhkb font.

The snow blanks look incredible on a black hhkb if that tempts you at all

[wobbled]

It sounds like I'm going for the Deskeys thins. I am shooting for quiet but no affect on tactility.

Incidentally: while digging up that link, I found this:

https://fujitsuscannerstore.com/CG01000-307201/

Is this “Snow” model news? Does it deserve a separate thread? And can anyone guess what I make of its “Helvetica style lite typeface”?

If you're like me, you're probably thinking, "Cool, but...why?"
The board looks good and all, but the black and white they have already are fine. I think I prefer the white and gray key-caps on the white as opposed to the snow's. Same for the font too.

Maybe it's for the hardcore hhkb collector with too much time and $ to spare!

Jokes aside, personally, if I were them I would be thinking about new accessories for existing boards. More variety key-caps, mx sliders, (hell even) key-cap pullers, etc. Maybe even replacement parts/domes to upgrade on older boards. That's the kind of stuff I would like to see.

In one of the HHKB events they did say MX sliders were in the works for pro 4 (or whatever trendy name they give it) personally I would rather they kept topre sliders, there’s always a slight change in feel when you use mx caps on topre. It’s not worse, just… different.

[Muirium]

It’s too early in the day to summon the fury and dismay my actual reaction to those Christ awful legends, which are yet another step entirely in the wrong direction for the HHKB. Maybe I should just hoard the good ones while they’re still out there, like Wobbled?

I am however in favour of MX topped sliders, and even—sacrilege alert!—a 6.25u spacebar for the HHKB. I’d love more freedom in caps for it, if they’re really hell bent on ruining the gold standard they’ve always had, right out the box.

[wobbled]

It’s too early in the day to summon the fury and dismay my actual reaction to those Christ awful legends, which are yet another step entirely in the wrong direction for the HHKB. Maybe I should just hoard the good ones while they’re still out there, like Wobbled?

I am however in favour of MX topped sliders, and even—sacrilege alert!—a 6.25u spacebar for the HHKB. I’d love more freedom in caps for it, if they’re really hell bent on ruining the gold standard they’ve always had, right out the box.

Surely it’s only hoarding when they no longer fit on your desk? As it happens, I am safe at the moment.

308FE8B2-7B2C-4B4C-8F9E-83A0352BF4DD.jpeg (2.99 MiB) Viewed 4390 times

[JCMax]

That collection is BAD ASS!!!

The snow blanks look incredible on a black hhkb if that tempts you at all

You better believe my temptation is through the roof at that thought!
In fact I've thought about buying the blank snow key-caps and then seeing about doing a custom dye-sub job including the front legends.

Just out of curiosity, are there any differences between the Hybrid Type-S's (charcoal, ivory) and the Snow/25th Anniversary you feel? Plastic quality, typing feel, etc? Or do you think they feel the same?

I am however in favour of MX topped sliders, and even—sacrilege alert!—a 6.25u spacebar for the HHKB. I’d love more freedom in caps for it, if they’re really hell bent on ruining the gold standard they’ve always had, right out the box.

The Hybrid Type-S was the first and only HHKB I've bought so far. But there are some things I've seen on the older boards that I wish they'd kept on the new ones, like the logo in the lower-left hand corner. Don't know much about typing feel. If I ever buy a new one, I'll probably go for the Classic in ivory.

Still....................I wish I hadn't come so late to the game that I knew what this "Gold Standard" actually felt like...

[wobbled]

That collection is BAD ASS!!!

The snow blanks look incredible on a black hhkb if that tempts you at all

You better believe my temptation is through the roof at that thought!
In fact I've thought about buying the blank snow key-caps and then seeing about doing a custom dye-sub job including the front legends.

Just out of curiosity, are there any differences between the Hybrid Type-S's (charcoal, ivory) and the Snow/25th Anniversary you feel? Plastic quality, typing feel, etc? Or do you think they feel the same?

I'd love to see some custom dye subs! That's pretty much the only thing the topre community is lacking - custom keycaps.

The snow Hybrid is identical to the original two with one exception - lube.
Out of the box I've never seen a more effective stab lube job than the ones on my two Snow Pros. I don't feel any need to open them to mod them which I've done on every other board I own. My Ivory Hybrid (now a Heavy Grail) did receive a lube job on the stabs, as did my charcoal hybrid which is at work as the lube jobs weren't as effective as the snows was at eliminating stab rattle.

If you're after a different experience, pick up a classic. They retain the Pro 1 and 2s *real* 45g domes which are a lot more snappy than the ones in the Hybrid boards. PFU confirmed that the hybrids got softer domes than the classics and older gen pro 1/2.

[Muirium]

That’s the whole point of MX mount: many orders of magnitude more cap selection, including greats like Cherry dyesubs instead of just those ho-hum KBDfans ones with the dodgy stems. Topre with actual honest to god caps parity with MX? Heaven! And just as tricky to attain, it seems…