I’ve been actively working and prototyping on this for some time now and have made a lot of progress. I’m currently experimenting with an entirely new mechanism for stabilization of wide keys, which seems promising. Switch lubrication I can take or leave, but rattly and wobbly stabilizers are, to me, the worst aspect of the MX experience, and I’m hoping to be able to offer an improvement there before proceeding with offering a full keyboard. But we’ll see. My solution is entirely postulational at this point.
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defnitely saw prostitutional and then something relating to prostate. anywhoo, that’s cool news. And yes, I did break down and buy a third FC660c for the polycarb heavy6 
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How many folks have used the realforce r2 rgb for this beautiful case? I’m looking at pulling the trigger to build this based on that board as I have been looking for both a tkl and a topre board for some time now. This could give me both but it’s hard to read on if the realforce r2 rgb is worth the investment. I’m unclear what other options would be for the norbaforce(I know novatouch bundle is available on originative but I previously loved my realforce tkl and the norbaforce vhs is just awesome). Also a note this would be for daily driver on a Mac so I’d be interested if anyone else is running the realforce r2 rgb on mac with any issues.
Thanks everyone, stay safe!
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I guess I should also call out that I’m clearly interested in Mx keycap compatibility for this rig.
Thanks!
The R2 RGB would pretty much be your only option for MX Topre unless you wanted to order third-party sliders and swap them onto a normal R2 or 87U.
Reviews of the R2 RGB are mixed and I would agree that it doesn’t sound nearly as nice as the stock Topre without modification, but it’s not also quite so bad as some people make it out. Many folks here have reported good modding results to make it sound good. Most recently here. A foam or sorbothane liner on the inside of any of my housings is also a great idea, and perhaps especially on the RGB.
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Got my astrophysical purple Mark II yesterday. It’s awesome, just like my tactical Mark I. My Mark I has been inaccessible since my work was locked down weeks ago, so it’s nice to be typing on a norbauer product again.
Note the dramatic difference between the cool LEDs and white background in my kitchen and the warm incandescents and black background in my office. (warm is much more accurate to my eyes)
I have been collecting purple GMK sets while waiting for this to arrive. I liked Vaporwave the best, it’s in the shots above.
- Plum - pretty good match if you don’t mind the yellow in the cream on the alphas
- Laser - not a good match - keyset much more blue than astrophysical
- Taro - fine, but the dark purple in the mods looks too dark (almost black) against the case
- Mitolet - close, but a little bit too red
- Vaporwave - my favorite
- Violet on Cream - not a good match - keyset more red than Astrophysical
Still waiting on First Love to arrive, have my eye on Frost Witch. Probably going to stop watching Black Lotus now that I’ve seen the astrophysical in person.
Shout out to @ubben for trading me the variable domes I swapped in while I was assembling the case.
Look out for part 2, where I’ll decide between Carbon, Skiidata, Oblivion and Boba Fett on my aperture finish (and 9009 when it arrives).
PS - I may list a ton of GMK sets on classifieds soon 
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on second thought, mitolet is actually a little bit too red for astrophysical. mitolet is the Delete next to the up arrow.
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For anyone that has used a noise dampening sheet in the mark ii, what thickness should I be looking for or what have you had success with? Currently I’m looking at 1/8 inch think neoprene sheet here: https://www.amazon.com/Neoprene-Sponge-Rubber-Sheet-Rolls/dp/B07BKP6KFX/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=neoprene+foam&qid=1586770017&sr=8-5
Anyone have recommendations for material and thickness? I’ve been spoiled by pre-cut foam from mkultra for my Mx boards.
I used Silverstone Case Foam, which I think is 4mm, but the fit was definitely snug. I’m pretty sure the cable and ports for the breakout PCB kit are compressing the foam a bit.
FWIW, I’m currently working on offering die-cut Sorbothane sheets that fit the Norbaforces and nicely navigate around the components that hang off some of the PCBs. Waiting on a quote right now.
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@norbauer as usual thank you so much. Do you mind sharing what thickness you plane to use? That way I can try to hack my own until your offering is available. My VHS case and realforce r2 rgb shipped this morning so I’m looking forward to some fun next week
My current plan it 1/10". I would have gone a bit thinner normally, but that’s the smallest thickness they offer. I still need to test, however and am working on getting samples right now.
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Tough one. They both look great with that finish. Gonna have to go with the boba fett for the higher contrast.
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I am running the R2 RGB on a Mac with no issues. I use Karabiner to customize what I need and everything works great. I was very disappointed with the noise that the R2 RGB made when I first received it. It was rattley and loud. The first thing I did was change the keycaps and that made a much bigger difference than I was expecting. Then I lubed the rails and put in silencing rings from Deskeys. I am now more than happy with the sound. Here is the sound I ended up with. Sorry, I don’t have a recording with all those mods in the Norbauer case yet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5W7_DkqM7A&feature=youtu.be
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I have two R2 RGBs newly installed into two of these Mark II cases. I have an older variable weight 87U in a Mark I that was my daily driver for almost 2 years of software development on a mac.
Run all of them on macs with no issue. I swap the R2s between mac and PC all the time.
The R2s are definitely a little rattly. For me, the MX stems outweigh the rattle. I considered lubing the stabs, but the rattle doesn’t bother me enough, even though I just took one of the R2’s apart to dome swap it and had lube on hand. I haven’t tried silencing rings because I can’t stand the reduced travel.
I used karabiner for a while, but some Mac OS update (High Sierra?) broke some of the functionality I used, so I switched over to a hasu usb-usb. It has been perfect for me.
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What dimensions would the sorbothane sheet be?
What would the cost be - relative to purchasing a sheet online?
Thanks Ryan!
Definitely in for OEM Sorbothane sheets. Hoping for compatibility with both Mk I as well as Mk II.