Cool, thanks for confirming!
Thanks, Iām really happy with it. Itās probably my favorite thing to type on out of everything I have ever tried.
Hereās the final product for that @Norbauer Novatouch Case! Itās candy purple. Itās not perfect but I love it and itās mine.
http://imgur.com/gallery/h2FN6I0
Did you encounter problems getting it powder-coated? I find that flat (rather than textured) finishes like this are super challenging to get absolutely perfect with powder.
Absolutely. The bottom part of the case does not perfectly match the top color, itās a little redder with a slight haziness. There is slight orange peeling on the bottom section. There is also specks where contaminants stuck to the powder while curing in the oven. Luckily almost all those issues were on the bottom section not the top so I can let it slide but I would probably avoid a mirror gloss finish if you donāt want to strip and respray half a dozen times to get it good enough to charge someone money for.
This was after all more of a fun little project but I would definitely stick with a light color gloss or matte/textured finishes for the next one. Iām also looking forward to the Tactical Black Hard Ano that I ordered from the latest GB to compare. (That one is staying dead stock, this is my tester piece)
haha. Iām afraid that I have some direct experience with this exact situation.
How would you say the 87u 55g compares to the HHKB? I have a variable weight Realforce, but have been considering replacing it with a 55g, hoping it would be closer to a HHKB.
TL;DR: They feel completely different to me.
To me, theyāre completely different. With a HHKB the switches are light enough that I canāt rest my fingers, and I feel like I can practically type by thinking the letters.
The 55g realforce is noticeably stiffer and requires a deliberate action to actuate. My spacebar seems to be significantly heavier than the other switches. Tactility is also more noticeable than the 45g.
Also bottoming out on the realforce has a harder feeling than on the HHKB. The HHKB feels more forgiving on bottom out. HHKB sound wins hands down for me.
Thanks for this!
I havenāt really gotten used to my HHKB yet, but the switches feel heavier to me than what youāre describing. But perhaps just because they arenāt properly broken in yet.
I have a Type-S, and the overall typing feel and sound is the best of all my boards. Thatās what compelled me to try silencing the Novatouch.
Silencing rings helped a lot with the sound of the upstroke, but the tactility is still lacking a bit. I think perhaps the SA keycaps I have on it is a bad match, so I might try some MT3 pbt caps or perhaps GMK and see if that helps.
I switch which switch I use frequently, but recently Iāve been on Hako Trues, and I bottom those out with relative ease, so I am a bit heavy handed, which makes switches like 45g Topre feel light to me. YMMV. The 55g are definitely noticeably heavier than the HHKB 45g
Yeah Iāve had a type-s a few times, and they do have a really nice deep sound. Really a great board.
Twinsies RF87u 55g
(Iām new and can only post 1 image per post, I also have a white key/black base HHKB Pro 2.
That looks great!
You need to post the direct links to the images (right-click the image and click ācopy image addressā, then insert the direct link here).
Thanks for the tip! Worked like a charm
My Leopold FC660C, not in itās usual dingy environment. Along with a very nice oak wrist rest that I had made to measure by a local furniture company.
Stock caps
Stock 45g domes
Hasu controller
Silence-X rings on the sliders
Lubed with 3204, housings and stabs
Pieces of sorbothane stuck to the underside of the plate where there was space
Silverstone foam + sorbothane across the bottom of the case
My favourite board. The Leopold Topreās are keyboards that you often hear people saying āI always come back to thisā, and I can completely see why. No matter what else I try nothing seems to compare to the feels and dependability of this thing. The layout is IMO pretty much ideal for a small form factor keyboard, for my usage that it. Perfect compromise between saving space and having all of the keys that I might want to hit. Pretty much every key on the board gets good use, right Alt/Ctrl being the least used. Topre boards are a great hobby in themselves, in that opening up and swapping things around or lubing doesnāt require any soldering, which is good because I must have disassembled this thing a good couple of dozen times by now, and itās still holding up perfectly.
I have tried BKE domes; the Ultra Lights I found to just not suit the board somehow, perhaps the solidity and steel plate require a more sturdy dome, I think I would like them more in a plastic plate board perhaps. The BKE Lights I liked a lot, and I used them in the FC660C for quite a while, and only recently decided to go back to the 45g stocks, as I felt like I needed a softer less binary feel. I think I would actually like something in-between 45g and BKE Light, but with the same weighting. Would be really great if more alternative dome designs could come out sometime, some more with a closed-off top would be great, as that seems to sound the best and isolates the spring a little. I might go back to BKE sometime soon if I feel like it, but Iām certainly very happy with feels and tactility of the stock domes for now.
Actually I am using three BKE Lights in the board currently, replacing three single domes in the stock config that were just far too light. This seems to be one of the biggest downsides with Topre at the moment, IMO the dome variance is a little like Cherry having so many switches feeling as rough as they do, a weakness that both should be trying to weed out. Iāve put the BKE Lights on Esc, and Insert/Delete (page up/down for me), where they work pretty well and donāt interfere with the feel of the main block.
For the Hasu QMK setup Iāve got PgUp/PgDn on Insert/Delete, backslash is now delete (a setup that makes me appreciate ANSI much more now, having delete right below Backspace is very handy), CapsLock is an additional Fn (essential for me on boards without the F-row, so that I can one hand alt-F4), Fn + Ctrl opens file browser (love this, also works in most Linux distros), Fn + Enter opens the calculator, and Iāve got a dvorak toggle and a toggle that swaps the F keys to the top layer, with numbers accessible through Fn combo (a function that I have yet to feel the need to engage, but I know it will come in handy sooner or later). Iāve also set a very tiny actuation point raise (-1) which is something that can be done on both FC660C and FC980C, and with the BKE domes I found it preferable to set a much higher actuation, -8 IIRC, this kept the actuation in or just barely after the ābumpā.
Iāve gone back and forth on what I eventually would want to do with this board, considered other caps which would mean new sliders, and clearly a fair bit of pondering on which domes. But I think that Iāve really settled with a mostly stock config like this, at least for now. When I was buying this I was pretty torn on whether to get the grey/black or this more retro feeling one, and Iām pretty happy I made this decision honestly, a very handsome board worth every penny I spent.
Since we pretty much all know each other on every website and discord I figured I could just post this everywhere since why not and I love looking at it Also, this hard anodization is really a winner! Great job Mr. @norbauer
Another Norbaforce incoming.
The machining and anodizing is pretty damn good. And the unboxing experience was spot on, I love the textured lid on the box. Much love, Ryan.
Where did you get the letter stickers ?