Topre Rubber Dome Stiffening

[cookie]

Hey there, I recently bought a used HHKB Pro1 and what can I say, I am in love with it.
I like the yellowish vintage look, the heavy used spacebar every single scratch on it.

You can see the whole cleaning here: http://deskthority.net/photos-videos-f8 ... t6955.html

The keyboard has this "Undestroyable, always reliable" aura and I believe it is not even a lie

Okay, now here is something I noticed right away.
You need a lot more force to press the key down, a positive effect is that this keybaord has a nice and deep "thok the downside of this is that I feel a fast fatigue typing on it, so am not using it atm.

I buildet a quick ripOmeter to check if my assumption is true. I used 15x10 Eurocent coins with a total weight of 61Gramm.
On my pro2 it is totally enough to press the keys, even the spacebar which has the spring installed.

On the Pro1 there is no chance to press the keys down

Can someone confirm that topre domes stiffen over time?
Maybe a solution for this problem?

Thanks a lot!

[Soarer]

I presume you've read this...?

[mj45]

I was thinking of swapping my HHKB Pro2 45g domes for 55g Realforce. But maybe I should reconsider and let time do it for me for free.

[cookie]

@Soarer: I read this but it was not rly helpfull, only thing I can see is that a few people had this issue. But it's hard to tell if the rubber stiffened over the years or if they just build it that way back then. I presume that the rubber stiffened over time.

@Mj45, if you wish we could swap the domes if you prefere more force to activate the keys They are all equally heavy

[Soarer]

@Soarer: I read this but it was not rly helpfull

Quite! The "..." in my post was meant as "but found no answer"

I'm afraid we probably can't give you one either, just more opinions. Mine is that it is plausible.

[cookie]

So you mean that the rubber will stiffen up over time, or that the board should have been measured back in 2005 to prove the assumption?

Currently I am trying to find a way to soften the rubber again, or to find adequate replacement parts, Some people may like the stiffer HHKB's but I prefere the light ones

[hasu]

In my case lubing plungers solved the problem. I found my plungers were ground out a bit and it caused stiffness.
I'm in Japan so I use RO-59KT, of course I can swear it works well but I've never used Krytox yet.

And silencing mod makes key feel lighter with shortening its travel. With lub and silencing my Pro certainly feels lighter than stock Pro2.

[mj45]

I have also read (don't recall where or who) that his HHKB domes got softer even mushy on most used keys. He was very disappointed in the HHKB Pro2 because of the uneven key feel that developed. So I've heard both ways, but more stiffening than softening.

[cookie]

@ Hasu, thanks mate, this is giving me hope to fix the Problem, the Lube I used was terrible... I need to see where I can get krytox or RO-59KT, heard good things about it. Travewl will not be affected that much, I found a 0,5mm silicone sheet for the dampers.

@mj45, I'd be also dissapointed if my crisp HHKB turns into mushyness... But my problem is the opopsite tbh.

Lets hope that the silencing will solve the problem, otherwise I will try to lube the plungers.

Thanks for advice!