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The very first reason and the most important is the wire, which has a curvature. Then it is already important which case, which stem, which lubricant.
You can buy 10 packs of stabilizers and each will have its own wire, with its own bend. It is this bend that will give ticking. It will be different. One will be on the left, the other will be on the right
This is all about short keycaps, such as shift or enter.
Because with the space keycap, we add another problem. The crooked keycap itself. The legs of the keycap where the stem of the stabilizer is inserted may be crooked. This makes the wire curve, which gives it a ticking sound.
And it also happens with cheap plastic keyboards. When assembling the plate bend. banana. This also gives a tick))))))))))

I concluded and it is working) but hemorrhagic. This is if you align the wire, then you need to assemble the entire stabilizer and check it without lubrication. If there is no ticking without lubrication, then lubricate. So I came across when the wire is even, but ticking. Because the keycap is a bit crooked. Then I made a curved wire and it became normal. And I do lubrication only so that nothing hangs inside.

And in one video there is a guy who just started making videos on the keyboard. He checks the stabilizer after assembly on silent switches. So it’s even better to understand if there is any problem. I just got it a few times so that the ticking was due to the switch. Simply replacing the switch removed the ticking. These were switches with a long stem. As an example, there was a problem with Bob LT.

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Ye, I’m a firm believer that the wire needs to be straight to get a good stab.
But the keycaps can definitely bring some issues.
Over tighten the screws may also cause problems, but mabey not ticking.

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@pixelpusher Got it. I’ll try it and see what it does. How much DG do you use on the wire?

@Neprawda @skepp I see. Maybe I’ll try straightening my keycaps/wires.

Will report back soon.

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How much you got? Lol. I use a lot. If you miss when inserting you’ll probably lose some lube, so you’ll want to reapply and give it another go. /giggle



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I should call her.

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You know you’ll both only end up hurt.

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Trying out some different switches with these Polycarbonate caps from SP. Well that was the original plan. Turned into an hour long fight with crappy Novelkeys stabilizers and resoldering a diode.

More photos if you’re interested

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Are you part of the 35g Topre gang? :slightly_smiling_face:

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Been playing with macropads over the course of the last month or so. Price per unit is about ~$35, but there are corners that could be cut and certainly cheaper options for keycaps, and possibly microcontrollers as well.

Pictured above:
-SA Function Row keycaps from the Misc section on PMK (they look like they could maybe be related to Dasher or Symbiosis, but I have no technical info on them)
-BOX Jades with 205g0 donut-dipped springs.
-Brass stand offs I made out of some rod I had lying around with M2 hardware

Pictured Above:
-Akko Black & Pink ASA numpad
-Speed Navy Thick Clicks
-8mm standoffs on one end and double-stacked 8mm standoffs on the other end to make a slight typing angle (top and bottom plates have 2.5mm diameter holes and M2 hardware)

Pictured Above:
-F10 Flat keycaps from PMK
-Gateron Yellow KS3-x47 with 205g0 lubed stems/springs and films and in-switch diodes because I just have a knack for making things more difficult than necessary!
-M2.5 standoffs/hardware

All in all it has been a fun learning process. I have a much better understanding of QMK now, so that’ll be useful for future larger keyboard projects. The SA/BOX Jade macropad lives with my sister now, hopefully helping to assert dominance in her workplace. The Black & Pink/Speed Navy one is currently on my desk and is very satisfying to use, even if it is mostly just for the enter(menu) key at the moment (I haven’t gotten to adding layers and other functions to it just yet). The F10/Gateron Yellow macropad is also on my desk and currently gets used as a MIDI controller when I’m messing with VCV Rack (software and concepts I am even less familiar with than QMK, if thats even possible). I might make a separate thread documenting the process better, I don’t want to take up too much space here and there are lots of little details that I find interesting and wouldn’t mind sharing.

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I downloaded a keyboard. Now I’m printing a keyboard. What a time to be alive

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Ultimate Stab Rattle Assessment/Rant V2

On the previous episode, we uncovered the very bone of what might as well be the worst part of the hobby. “Thocky”, “Claccy”, “Creamy” are saints compared to ticking.

takes of business suit

Oh boy, it’s round two. I’ve been trying alot of the meathods recommended here and even revisited some, so here’s V2:

Holee Mod: Screw this. The bandaids going in should register to become an organ donor when they turn into shreds.

Epsi Mod: Yet to find some permanent double sided tape or Deskey Films, but I’m kinda done with inserting little pieces of adhesive into a small gap.

Wire Wrap Mod: Gonna try right now. Will edit.

Dielectric Grease: The guy at O’Reilly seems to know what I’m getting (they’re little packets of grease meant for cars) and had them set on the counter. Such a chad. Also still WET and the wire pushes all the lube out.

BDZ-ing: @Deadeye was kind enough to have a clart* left around. Let’s see if it really is liquid marshmallows.

Crying-in-the-corner-because-your-stabilizer-you-bought-2-weeks-ago-still-tick-because-you-can’t manage-to-find-way-to-de-tick-them: Ah yes. My mental health is fine. No, I would not like a appointment with Dr. Phil.

I have a lot less suspects of what I’m doing wrong now, but most needs me to buy something.

Ruled out:

Bad Bandaids: “Stop! He’s [sanity, time, productivity] already dead!” - Meme

Bad Wire: I’m not quite sure. It still might have a slight difference, but like Andy said:

“If you bend one side, you’re met with equal force on the other side. So you basically f**ked up both sides more than it already started with.”


Things that still might be wrong:

Fake Stabs: “How many other lies have I been told by the council?” - Anakin Skywalker

Incorrect Tolerances: I think durocks are actually pretty consistent in manufacturing stabs, but hey, I could be the 1/100 that has a faulty stab. Makes me want to stab. Ba Dum Tssss

I’m just not skilled: “There are no accidents.” - Master Oogway. Maybe I’m just bad at stab modding.

Conclusions:

There is light in the tunnel though. @ajoflo was kind enough to send a set for reference that I will take the secret sauce from. Not yet here, but Article V3 will be triumphant for sure. :+1:


If you skipped here, I gotchu with a TL;DR:

Ticking bad

I go try more mod

All ass

Bad Bandaid no sus now

Bad Wire no sus now

Thank you those who helped

Now go read the entire thing!


Toodles, and I’ll see you again soon!

Josh

P.S. Clart: Noun: a clot or daub of mud or other sticky substance

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Trying to build a wireless keyboard using the new ESP32-S3 chip.

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I want to say that the dielectric grease in the packets is less viscous than in the tube, but I can’t confirm that (it’s been a while since I changed a car battery). I’ve never had an issue of it running out that quickly. I would pick up a bottle from your local home goods store or Amazon (really cheap) for experimentation.

I just watched Alex’s method for application, and can confirm that both a wire and 5ml syringe application is the way to go (also pretty cheap).

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Just buy ortho.

I no longer want claves with spaces. I still don’t understand why such a huge long stick is needed if the pressing area is like a shift.

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@fatalruin Got it. Probably the Dielectric is different because mine leaks out from time to time.

@Neprawda I thought about this, but not sure if Ortho is Wortho for me. I’ve tried all the different typing languages (Coleman, Dvorak, workman) and had to quit because it was either too hard or too different.

Assembled. Started programming.

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I was tempted to recommend ortho as well when I first saw your laments about stabs, can’t have rattle if you don’t have stabs! I don’t think the difference between ortho vs staggered is not exactly comparable to qwerty vs [any other layout]. Ortho essentially moves your top alpha row .25u to the right and your bottom alpha row .5u to the left (relative to the home-row position), whereas alternative layouts change the location (or finger used) of most of the alpha keys.

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I would love to try ortho as well someday, but it’ll make everything kinda unusable because:

A: School Work: Need to use a Chromebook. Keyboards are big.

B: Small layout: I think most orthos are 40%. Who said ortho can only be small?

C: Look: I know some love ortho, but I just like staggered for some reason. Fight me, Planck.

I might just try it for experience, but really can’t see myself using it.

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I understand, it’s a bit of money to spend on something you might hate. I get that. I think if anyone had asked me ~4 months ago if I could use a 40%/planck my answer woulda been a big Nope. I was quite happy on a TKL, and refuse to give up my arrow keys (I still don’t own any 60% boards and at this rate probably never will). That being said, I have spent a bit more than 2 months now using a 4x12 ortholinear layout and haven’t felt inclined to go back to staggered at all. My speed is not quite there yet with touch typing but from the first hour that I used the ortho layout, I’ve been more accurate than I ever was on a staggered layout. Mind you, this is all just my experience and is anecdotal, YMMV, etc. I’m getting pretty comfortable not moving my hands at this point. It has caused me to fundamentally reevaluate my understanding of what is a ‘keyboard’ and changed (for the better) how I interact with a computer, that as a process can be time consuming which may be a deterrent if you actually need to be productive with a keyboard (school/work) on the daily.

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