Using Caulk

Learning and discussion Custom keyboards
1

Has anyone tried using caulk in keyboards? Caulks I have around in the house are:

  • soft and moldable
  • sculptable and removable
  • relatively cheap and commonly available,

I have no idea how good they could be but I think they may be useful as alternative solution in many places like:

  • padding (plate, case bottom and sides, under stabs)
  • gasket (thin coat on plate wings)
  • filler (around plate-mounted stabs to prevent rattle)
  • shaper (to sculpt acoustics and vibrations)

WARNING: Caulks may also be terrible for these type of use so beware. I’m just throwing this out there to as an idea that may be worth exploring.

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2

You should caulk it up so so we can find out if that will cock up our keyboards.

But I think @Walkerstop has done this before

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3

I wonder how well they’d do on the end of stab wires…

4

Caulk is good in that it is generally very hydrophobic, non-conductive, and malleable. Though you will run into adhesion issues. General purpose caulk likes rough surfaces to adhere to. More specialized solutions like GE silicone adhere well but are nearly impossible to truly ever remove.

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5

Probably not well unless there is some grease between the wire and caulk.

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6

Have you ever tried RAMA’s heat shrink technique? All my attempts resulted in no key return. I’d love to know what I’m doing wrong.

https://rama.works/silencing-stabilisers

rw-stab_heat-shrink
rw-stab_heat-shrink800×450 37.1 KB

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7

just posted on this Keyboard Chores: Share your projects! - #23 by ddrfraser1

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8

I haven’t tried it yet - I’m guessing that method’s success depends heavily on the tolerances of the given stab; I’ve read comments from people who swear by it - but I think I’ve read more where folks experienced what you have.

Edit: @ddrfraser1 - That’s really cool. It reminds me of the pre-cut modular foam from KBDfans - I’d imagine your method is less expensive.

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9

I’ve tried the heatshrink mod and it didn’t make any noticeable difference for me. putting lube inside the housing where the wire touches, however made a world of difference.

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10

$12.95 for the whole roll. Used maybe 5% of the roll on this project.

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11

I’d be careful with using caulking, I think it could serve as a great basis for a mod, but make sure of what chemicals are in the caulk you’re using. I can’t remember what chemical in what type of caulking, but I know one of the fairly common ones eats PCBs up! :grimacing:

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12

I’ll slap some of each major store brand on my Jane and report back in a few months. Just squeeze the tip under the space bar and squeeze until goop comes out of the top right of the board? Am I doing this right?

:upside_down_face:

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13

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

14

Sorry about that comment. It’s Friday and I’ve had a few. I’d be interested to hear back, but I can’t imagine I would put caulk on my keyboard. Seems too messy. Athough… I do have a Tex low profile case that I adore and might benefit from something like this.

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15

Yup. That’s the main problem with caulks, making it difficult to work with. So far, I’ve identified epoxy clay and moldable foam as useful material for making or modding custom keyboards but felt something is soft yet more resilient than foam was needed.

I’m planning to ‘get to know’ caulks I have in-house more intimately. :slight_smile:

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16

Apparently there are some that don’t release acetic acid, I’d look for those.

Link

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