[GB] the Norbaforce Mark II

Indeed. The factory has finished all the work as of Friday and I’m just weight for them to arrange the freight shipment back to me.

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I finally dug out my camera after moving -

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HiPro and WKL. Very nice.

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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 :slight_smile:

For topre spring noises I lube the pcb too inside the circles with a thin layer of tribosys 3024 , takes care of ping / boink

I might give it a shot. So just the pcb and not the springs?

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?

Well I did it.

VHS norbaforce
Realforce r2 rgb
Deskeys 3 silencing rings (rgb variant)
Lubed with 3204
Lubed stabs
Gmk metropolis
Sorbothane sheet

I couldn’t be happier with it. Thanks @norbauer! Brilliant work.

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“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

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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

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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. :hear_no_evil: :slight_smile:

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For some reason my first assumption is perhaps the most unreasonable

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It’s less noticable with DSA caps. Current setup :slight_smile:

horrible photo, but you get the idea. I forgot how good 0 degree incline with DSA can feel. Top 10 board, right here.

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I have experienced sticky spring ping from all topre boards I have (RF 87u, FC980C, RF R2, RF RGB). I hear it when I listen up close, press and hold down a key and very slowly release it.

I have tried to lube the PCB once to RF RGB and it works. but now I don’t bother to have very subtle spring ping.

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I hear it too on my lubed but not silenced 87u. It is there if you put your head right next to the board. Never noticed it before.

I find the bright white of the metal plate that is visible around the keycaps to be distracting on the R2 RGB that I have in my Aperture housing. Has anyone tried painting it? I never use the RGB.

I dislike white plates on black or gray cases too. I would definite have painted mine if I didn’t have the VHS finish which pairs well with white.

Should be really easy to paint. The slider housings come out with no issue. Use your fingernails or plastic spudger to ensure you don’t break the plastic tabs. You’ll probably need to either sand it gently or use self-etching primer first if you don’t want it to scrape off down the road. Honestly, it won’t get much wear after paint. I’ve painted cheap anodized plates with regular spray paint. They chip in the areas around where the switches go in, but you can’t see it once the keyboard is built. Just a matter of how special the keyboard is to you, I suppose.

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Thanks so much! Right now I am trying to decide if I want a black plate badly enough to put in the work. Right now I am enjoying using the board so much I don’t want to take it out of commission.

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Some of the PVD plate owners may have a black one to sell as well. I believe veracity is coming with black plate and I have my PVD plate in the closet ready to go. May not be a bad option to have different plates to experiment with different colors.