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.
hi is there an instruction guide on how to assemble the RF R2 to the norbaforce mk ii?
are there only 2 screws to fix the realforce R2 plate to the case (situated in the upper half area).
I am experiencing a play in the internals when I type on the lower half of the keys which makes the internals to wobble up and down, but when I type on the upper half, its stable.
There are four screws to attach the plate to the housing, so the issue you described would just be due to not yet installing the remaining screws. The lower two attach to the bottom two tabs of the R2 plate; just make sure to use the included washers with those two (and only those two) screws. That is pretty much the only difference compared to the 87U install.
I hope this helps, but just let me know if I can answer any other questions or be of any other assistance.
Ordered some RGB deskey silencing rings the other day, and they were delivered this morning. I went through the same routine as my novatouch:
Removed sliders
removed housings
lubed plate around housings
reintalled housings
installed rings
put sliders back in
Not hard, but tedious. I also took the opportunity while it was apart to add extra lubrication on the stabilizers.
I have to say, even with all of this work, the RGB Realforce still doesn’t sound nearly as good as a factory silenced FC660c or my deskey modded Novatouch. I really think it’s the springs under the domes. They seem to rattle during keypress. I hadn’t noticed it on my previous topre boards, but you can hear it if you get close.
Not a huge price to pay for such a lovely boad though
Yep, only the pcb, inside the circles under the springs/domes.
Got this from another keebtalk thread here if I remember well, where someone said about how he eliminated the newer produced fc660c problems.
I’ve dealt with spring ping after switching to bke’s or just messing around with domes. After that, I pretty much did that mod to all my boards (fc660c/980c/nova/hhkb) to stop the annoying sounds and after that all my topre mods are mostly in one go.
Do you think there is a difference in the springs between the RGBs and the older RF boards like the 87U and the FC660C?
Or a difference in the PCB?
I always attributed the difference in the noise to the sliders and housings. From doing a few dome swaps between 87Us and RGBs, I never noticed any difference in the springs, but I wasn’t looking for it.
Do you think there’s any chance of unintentionally changing the capacitance or spring tension when doing this?
“Do you think there is a difference in the springs between the RGBs and the older RF boards like the 87U and the FC660C?”
I did not experienced opening up a RGB but opened Novatouch, Realforce R2, HHKB, FC660c&980c and from my opinion all the springs were the same.
I lubed the pcb on 4 keyboards, more than a year from now, used and re-opened them and did not get any trouble or any change besides silence and ping disappearing.
I forgot where I’ve read the specs of the lube and it clearly said that it does not affect the surfaces where it’s applied and it’s a neutral substance.
Edit: apologies for grammar, I’m a bit drunk and english is not my main language
I assumed it was the sliders in the rgb version making it louder, but once you put the silencing rings in, you can clearly hear the springs making noise under the domes.
I also own a regular and factory silenced FC660c and and non-silent 87u (R1), but I cannot hear the same spring noise. None of these are as quiet as my Novatouch with deskeys #3 rings.
I think I’ll try lubing the pcb this weekend and report back
A slight spring ping isn’t uncommon if you listen for it really carefullly on Topre boards. I know that HHKBs do it out of the box, especially if (don’t ask), you try typing on them when they’re upside down. It’s very subtle, so my advice is: simply don’t listen for it and you’ll never notice.
