I can confirm plate mount stabs on FC660m / 750r too. But lubed and a bit tuned they are good, no rattle no annoying sounds.
Looks like the FC980C 30g is now out of stock on mechanicalkeyboards.com and it’s also disappeared from the “incoming stock” page.
I pre-ordered one less than 24 hours ago… fingers crossed that there’s no problem with availability.
does that mean that the FC980c and 980m plastic cases can be swapped between them too ? Thanks
@norbauer ought to get a commission on all those sales.
I was considering buying a second one just to get more 30g domes without having to import them.
Toward that end, if anyone wants to swap 87 ct of 45g domes swapped out of an R2 RGB for 87 ct of 30g domes, let me know.
@norbauer: Quick question about the K2 finish—is this the same finish as the “white” steel backplates from the Norbaforce MarkII? I ask, because I have the matte-version Retro Refrigerator MarkII, and the white backplate is noticeably rougher (thought still not too rough on an absolute scale) than the case itself. I 100% adore the subtle and luxurious texture of this case, and assumed that the K2 finish would feel the same as matte Retro—but wanted to make sure.
For full edification—same question about Royal Wrinkle and the “black” textured backplates from the MarkII!
The Matte Retro is not really a texture finish, strictly speaking. The K2 finish is an explicitly white texture, so its texture is a bit more aggressive. The Mark II rear cover plate is the exact same powder formula.
The Royal Wrinkle is an entirely different sort of texture, but also an explicit/intentional texture finish rather than just being matte black.
Hope this clarifies a bit.
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Not necessarily but it’s possible. If I were Leopold, I would certainly prefer to make one mold for these rather than two.
I use an entirely different mounting strategy than the plastic stock housing, so compatibility with mine doesn’t necessarily imply cross-compatibility between their two housings, however. The main issue would be the larger of the two breakout PCBs and its mounting points. On my housing when used with the M, that PCB hangs onto the main PCB by pressure fit on the jumper wires. I don’t have the plastic housing close at hand at the moment, but there may have been some other kind of contact point between that larger breakout and the housing on that one. My way seems to work fine, however. I’ve been typing on it for a decent while since I installed it with no issues. You could also sure it up with a bit of electrical tape between the breakout and main PCB if you were worried about it coming loose if the board got shaken around hard or something, since on my housing there is necessarily a bit more of an air gap.
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Thanks for the further description! Have any of your other finishes (across all projects) felt the same to the touch as the Matte Retro?
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Just placed my order. It’s going to be beautiful!
Originally had my heart set on K2 but after using it for a while on a heavy-6, Royal Wrinkle is just the most singularly unique finish I’ve seen and I have to have it in a larger formfactor. Very classy.
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I just passed out
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wow.
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My 980C delivered. Domes feel slightly lighter than the 30g domes I harvested from a R2TL-US3-IV. I took a janky portrait video to demonstrate.
Maybe it’s just that the stock PBT keycaps are heavier than GMK?
Also, shame I’ll have to cover my serial number in the Heavy-9, hurr
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The fc980c is a good board. Especially after you tune the space bar stabilizer. I also swaped the 1u with rgb sliders, 2u with kbd sliders, lubed everything, swapped 45g domes in alphas, and silenced it. The modded board makes me want to sell all my custom keyboards. Lol.
Also after tearing down the fc980m, it really is a surprisingly good board for a production unit. The pads are present for lock key leds, the plate mount stabilizers really are the best I’ve ever used. Leopold has their own plate mount stab molds and it shows.
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A properly modded topre board truly is a magnificent thing.
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Speaking of modded Topre boards, this handy mod guide was posted on r/mm in a post where the op was selling a beautifully modded FC980C. I haven’t done any mods on current FC980C aside from adding the silencing rings from KBDFans, but I’ll be using this guide for at least addressing those rattly stabilizers.
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Very interesting guide that I may attempt. Any idea what the “Unreal Topre Gaskets” listed here are? A quick search did not turn up anything useful.
From what I understand is they are product being developed and will be sold by UnrealKeyboards - who is the original poster I mentioned in my earlier post. Their online shop isn’t up yet. Definitely something to keep an eye out for.
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I came across this document as well - extremely thorough and extensively tested to land on those results! I had never hear of either the heat shrink stabilizer bar mod nor the stabilizer landing pad mod in the context of Topre boards before seeing this 
If anyone has any other Topre mods they feel are worth doing and missing from this guide, I’d be interested in knowing of them (and the guide’s author as well, I’d assume)!