IC: Sorbothane Sheets

Hey guys, here’s a sound demonstration of a Klippe with and without the Sorbothane sheet. You can definitely hear the difference. To hear the keyboard without Sorbothane, go to around the :30 mark.

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How did you cut your sorbothane? Did you cut small patches and spread them around or just cut a large rectangle with stand-off holes?

I just cut it with a pair of good scissors. To make holes for the stand offs I used a hole punch from a grommet kit I bought at a hardware store.

sorbothane is difficult to cut straight consistently, even with a good pair of scissors or sharp razor. some alternatives I haven’t tried:

  • use laser.
  • freeze and cut.
  • cover with thick paper then cut.

in the end, I decided to just give up on tidyness and cut the sheet into small pieces and assemble.

Lasers don’t work. Fiber laser might work but CO2 is just going to melt the thing.

Waterjet cutting is advertised by suppliers so I assume that could work well, but I’ve been trying to do that with my school facility they’re such a pain in the ass to work with (the people in charge of the machine) I just gave up trying.

Maybe I should also just cut small patches instead of one large sheet.

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I found that if you leave it sandwiched between the plastic sheets it comes packaged in, you can make pretty clean cuts with a pair of scissors. While not perfect, it’s still pretty good.

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Makes a huge difference in sound in my Singa. I cut with a new pair of general purpose scissors after having in the freezer for like 20 minutes. It’s not perfect, but I was able to cut the shape I wanted and still kept the plastic on both sides of the sorb so it didn’t stick to the PCB.

Good idea sticking it in the freezer.