I recently installed KBDFans Silence-X silencing rings in both a Novatouch and a Realforce 88U. On both boards a couple of the keys have a loud noise on both the downstroke and upstroke after installing the rings. EDIT: They actually make the noise when just tapping the keycap a bit, I don’t even have to actuate the key. I’ve added a video at the bottom highlighting just this.
I have not opened the board yet to check the alignment of the rings yet, but I suspect they are moving around a bit, or I didn’t get all of them properly installed.
Here’s a short video highlighting the sound on both the downstroke and upstroke on the F-key, compared to the properly silenced D-key. The noise is exaggerated by my microphone, it doesn’t sound this bad in real life.
Here’s a video showing the sound when just tapping the key, without actuating it (sorry for the rotated video!).
Overall I’m really pleased with the result, and hopefully I will manage to remove this noise from the 2-3 keys that have it.
Not sure but it sounds like Silence-X rings are sticking to the slider. Try blowing some compressed air while key pressed to unstick the ring off the slider.
I thought they were supposed to stick to the slider, and not the housing…? In fact I think I read that someone had used a dab of on the slider where the silencing ring goes to make it stick better. I might have misunderstood something though!
They are definitely sticking. Did you lube the sliders alonside the ring install? After lubing a Niz board that has rings pre-installed I encountered the same phenomenon on a few keys. Then again, it could have been a byproduct of taking the sliders out to lube, and the rings moving on the sliders (since I only lubed the rails on the slider housings).
No, Silence-X rings are not supposed to stick to the slider. They’re supposed to stay fairly loose between housing and slider base with rings wings aligned with base wings to keep them in place.
If ring stick to anything, it should stick to the base of the slider. What’s happening here is that ring is sticking to the cylindrical part of the slider. Lubing the rings makes it worse so compressed air may not help.
No, I did not lube anything.
It felt like there was a light touch of lube from the factory though…?
I’m not sure what wings you are talking about. The silencing rings I got from KBDFans are completely round, no wings of any kind. Like the photos on the product page.
Oops. Got confused with KeyClack v1 rings. Still, it doesn’t need to stick. I did use install the rings as-is from the sheet it was on, meaning bottom-side stayed at the bottom.
If you didn’t lube the rings, try the compressed air which you should be easy to get.
PS: I just got the KeyClack v2 rings but I’m planning to wait for KBDfans 9009 keyset for Topre before going through the trouble to put them on.
