deskthority

Hello friends,

It has been a while since I've posted something new. Finally I have had the time to bring my trusty little keyboard back to glory. It is a HHKB Pro1 from 2005, It developed a lot of yellowing and a few month ago I dropped it at work and broke out parts of the case. It still worked perfectly after I dropped it but it was time to do something.

I have put quite lot of work into the HHKB, few month ago I dyed the caps with Dylon Elephant grey but it turned out quite bluish. I think it fits quite well with the new case color. I left the mods longer in the bath, that's why they turned out darker. The spacebar is a black PBT spacebar form matt3o.

I filled the gaps for the rubber feet and sanded down the plastic bimples to have an even surface, after that I cut out some feet out of an old mousepad. I also replaced the stock feet of my wooden wrist rest with the same material to get an even height. I never had such a rock solid keyboard on my desk. It feels like glued to the surface and it slightly changes the typing, it makes it a bit softer.

Additional to that I also stamped out some dampering rings from very nice material (soft quality foam). Some of you may know my effords on dampering Topre boards, the technique never changed but the material did.

The biggest part were the filling and remodeling process of all missing parts (I lost some material after the drop). Sanding and covering was also quite tedious but good preperation is key for a great result
After that I have applied some primer and painted it in a nice and golwy mint.

Enough talking, here are pictures of the finished board.
I hope you will like it.




















If you are still interested in how I made it, here are some more picture.
But be warned, there are a LOT of pictures and the quality is bad, maybe not worth if you are using mobile internet.
I hope the spoiler tag prevents an initial load of all the crappy pics. If not, I am sorry for wasting your bandwidth

Nice, great job on the restoration. It looks perfect with that wooden wrist-rest.

pls this boards is too good

All I need is a matching cable

Cool, that is a very unique color. Looks greenish in the daylight pics but on your desk it's more of a ghostly off-white.

It's good that you included those additional pics, they show how much work was involved!

How did your results with the dampening turn out? You mentioned it but I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like to hear more

The dampering is just plain awesome... nothing more to say

Cool, and I believe you... but... how? What did you use?

I am interested because I'm not sure if I am happy enough with the dental bands on my Novatouch and think about getting something else. Maybe something else than Hyper's rings because dropping 60€ on a 90€ keyboard with 30€ keycaps seems a bit too much.

Since some of us are now restoring them, can we now say that HHKB are vintage keyboards?

I think its great to hear that 1) a HHKB has lasted this long; and 2) the user can be restored in some ways.

By the way, how does the key feel after all these years?

Interesting point, as I sometimes feel I could never go full Topre as long as the durability isn't proven. Rubber in theory could never hold up as long as metal springs...

where did you find those anti slipping matts that you put under the keyboards?

He mentioned in the third paragraph that he cut apart an old mousepad

Really nice! I really like the rubber feet especially; I think I might try getting some anti-slip adhesive rubber feet for my own boards now.

Really beautiful!

amagic, nice color!

Thank you guys

@tentator: I've made them myself out of an old mousepad, it was late and I haven't made any pictures of it.

@shreebles: Once you go topre, you won't go back. I am not the fisrt nor the last one who thinks that way
If you are interested in how I've silinced my board, you can have a good read here: workshop-f7/happy-hacking-silencing-aka ... lit=ghetto But remember, I do not use silicon anymore.

@vivalarevolución: It feels slightly different, a bit heavyer and crispier. Hard to describe... there are 7 years of use between them and they both feel amazing

Thanks cookie, very interesting method. I do agree about the dental bands affecting the travel.
So you don't use silicone anymore, which means you did end up finding 0,5mm foam sheets?


I really disagree about Topre being the only way once you have tried it. I use MX switches with Zealio stems in my daily driver for typing and gaming. SSKs are thrown in the mix for fun, and typing longer passages. The one Topre board I have I use almost exclusively at work because it is so quiet. I talked about this on Reddit just the other day and think that it is still 100% down to personal preference, and that some people (including me) will not prefer Topre to everything else once they have tried it.

Exactly, that's why I find it silly to suggest we all pack up and go Topre.
I own a Novatouch and had a Realforce for a week and I must say, I'm glad it's not a one-way street.

Topre's weakness is gaming. Not to say it can't be used for gaming, any keyboard can, but MX style mechs are easier to spam.

I feel the same way.

But I also prefer the snappier return of MX or the sharper tactility of BS over Topre, despite having a soft spot for the smooth and quiet cuprubber sometimes.

It's not really tactility that matters, it's that MX can actuate without fully depressing. Super hard to do reliably with Topre, missing a ton of actuations trying.

True, I sometimes try to only feather over Topre keys after typing on Zealios for a while. This also makes me miss a lot of actuations.

I totally agree with you and I wasn't 100% serious

I have typed on a Novatouch and a Type Heaven and wasn't very fond of them despite the fact that they had Topre switches. I should have said "Once you go HHKB you can't go back" but even this isn't true for everyone

For me personally a good feeling switch is not everything, there are other important parts of a keyboard which will affect the typing experience. The caps for example, they are very important to me. I like them grainy but not too sharp. I had all kinds of caps but for me personally nothing matched the Caps on my HHKB or the RF I've once tried in the european tour.

The case is not to underestimate. I once typed on a Filco and owned a Quickfire Rapid, compared to my g80 I've upgraded from, the difference were huge.

What I am trying to say is, that the HHKB and RF are by far the best "Out of the Box" keyboards, money can buy.
After I got my first HHKB I never looked back, from time to time I type on my unfinished 60% custom keyboard with cherry reds and I found them very wobbly and scratchy.

btw I game with Topre too, I see no difference between MX because I bottom out anyway if I am under stress

I see. I have yet to try a HHKB, but I am getting accustomed to 60% now thanks to rddm who sold me his FaceW.
It seems I can work with 60%, but something I couldn't get used to on the HHKB is the diamond-shaped arrow key pattern. This is such a well thought out keyboard, but this arrow key cluster is kind of odd, I am too used to inverted T. If this whole 60% thing is going to stick with me I might consider selling the Nova and saving up for a Type-S... But then I'd add Hasu's alternative controller just to be sure I can program it however I want

Also caps=fn is cool, so the CTRL position would be odd for me.
I need a keyboard that is customized for my needs, but not too far from the standard layout because I have to be able to work well on standard keyboards (I work in IT).

The only thing I found odd about the HHKB was the home/end position but I've got used to it and it's not a problem.
I'd love to change that but now it's too late

Hasu is a king, very talented guy with an amazing collection and deep knowledge about Capacitive PCB functionality.

I must say that I am very fond of the diamond arrow cluster, I can blindly work with that without a problem
The Ctrl position and the backspace were the parts I've loved straight after typing for the fist time. They have a very close position to the home row what makes an HHKB or HHKB type layout so comfy.

I'd recommend to you to try it at least and then decide if you wan't to keep it that way.

I have a FaceU PCB with MX reds I'd like to finish some day and I think I will keep the HHKB layout on it.

Very nice to see a local HHKB Pro1 project. Great job!

Great job, cookie!
The board turned out really nice and I like that cable too! Just put on a black or white heatshrink instead
Did you lube the board too? switch slider rails and stabs?
I've really liked the feeling of the older domes on my ex Pro1, even more snappy because of the aging -> hardening process.
Keep 'em coming!

Jeah it feels snappyer, indeed. I quite like how it feels right now and it turned out quite nice
I haven't lubed it yet and stabilizers are still the stock once, I didn't know that you can switch those?

Stabs can be easily removed, add some thick lube and enjoy the whisper quiet space, enter and shift keys

Ahh, I've already done that!
I've also added some dampering material on the sides with double sided tape, even better with that

Great work! I see HHKB as an unbrushed diamond and when you put those finishing touches in it really is the perfect keyboard. Lube the slider rails with krytox, thin layer on both rails of the switch and it gets even smoother...end game board

I highly believe that,

Krytox is on the way.
I've already ordered some fresh caps from a friends cousin in japan (Proxy is always good),
I think white caps will fit even better on this board

Proxies are mandatory!
Mint board with white keyset and red mini usb cable -> pr0n right there!

I am glad you like it

I've considered a red, green or pink cable... Need some sleeving material, I have made the cable on the picture out of an old G80-1500 HAD and I'd like to keep it!

Everything on this board is kind of vintage and I like it that way.

Absolutely! These vintage old cables are quality material, thich insulation and proper diameters of wires inside...

Be careful to order the proper sleeving. Usually the ones you can buy easily won't fit over that thick cables...sleeving over the coiled part should be great fun hehe

I make some sleeved cables for myself and for friends in my spare time and I wouldn't try sleeveing those thick cherry coilers