Peripherals Noisy keycaps or switches on mechanical keyboard?

I have a Royal Kludge RK61 with brown\\\ and the keys are really noisy, even when not bottoming out. I can put the rubber bands on but I don't think it will help. When I took all the keys off to lean them I noticed they are incredibly light. Not a surprise as I picked it up for £22 in China so I don't have any complaints. Otherwise, the build quality is good and I've been using it for over two years. I might even upgrade to the Cherry version for a whopping £35 the next time I visit, or pay a bit more and give up backlighting for an AKKO 3084. The keys are very loose to the touch and have a bit of wobble. Would this be improved with heavier caps or is it stems that is the source of the noise? Would Cheery switches be quieter?

To be clear, it isn't the click sound of the key being depressed or bottoming out. Even tapping the keys (without depressing will make a lot of noise).

 

Hmm, I was afraid of that. I'm not going to replace all the switches because of the time and cost of the switches and tools, none of which I have. Do you think that the noise is down to the switches alone or are there other factors to consider in a future upgrade?

 

They are not cherry browns, which is why it was £22. This is my third £20ish Chinese mech. I wanted to see if I like a 60% keyboard and the build quality before spending more for Cherry switches. The RK61 offers Cherry switches as well for £35 if you buy it in China.

 

3rd £20ish keyboard, why not just buy a known good one in the first place?

Nobody can really say what's causing the noise as people's opinions on what's loud varies massively, if I tap my keys without depressing them they may a noise, just like if I tap my desk, or anything else, what noise is yours making?

 

Take off the keycaps and tap on the switches to see how they sound? If you have another Cherry MX type keyboard (or you know someone who owns one and may not be paying attention) pilfer some alternative keycaps and pop those on, see if its quieter.

 

Get some donuts for the keycaps, or dampeners as they're called.

 

I never tried a mechanical keyboard before and didn't know if I would like it or what switches and what size. Each one I tried was different. The first two lasted over a year each. I wasn't sure if I would miss the Numpad or which layout I would prefer. Even added up all together it is cheaper than any of the big brands. There is no way I was going to drop £100+ without knowing which switches or layout I would prefer.

They were still better quality than the Microsoft natural ergonomic keyboard 4000 I was using before. I went through three of them over the years as well (one was rabbit related).

 

I do a lot of mechanical keyboard stuff (here's an outdated photo of my switch collection).

The noise is likely from noisy, cheap stabilizers, which will rattle on your enter, space, backspace and shift keys. Also, for how cheap the board is, you're probably going to expect some noise in general. The lack of mass in the case and keycaps is going to allow for high frequency noise to echo around inside and be generally noisy. You can get a little friction noise from the switches as your fingers rest on the keycaps and wiggle back and forth, which is probably amplified by the cheap keycaps.

There are fixes for this sort of thing, but on a board that cheap I'd probably not bother (unless you want to experiment a lot just for fun). The best thing to do would be to get a kit or keyboard with some more mass to it, a solid plate, etc.

Let me know if you have questions. I've been taking a break from keyboards for the time being, but definitely have some experience from some builds I've done.

 

That is an impressive collection of switches. The keyboard has a lot of weight to it and is very solid but I think you are right about the loose stabilizers. They went very cheap with the keycaps as well. Someone on Reddit suggested the switches are likely produced for RK by Kailh.