Red, Blue & Black O-Rings arrive at Keyboard Co

One of the easiest ways to modify the feel of your keyboard is to add o-rings around the stem of each keycap. These provide a softer landing for each key, reducing the travel distance and muffling the ‘clack’ sound that happens when you bottom out.

There are a couple of key attributes of each o-ring: thickness and hardness. In general:

• A thicker ring will reduce key travel more than a thinner ring.
• A softer ring will make a switch quiet more effectively than a harder ring.

We’ve recently added three o-ring sets to our store. Each set comes with 125 o-rings, allowing you to outfit a full keyboard and have a few spares left over as well. Let’s take a closer look at each:

• Red O-Ring switch dampeners for Filco & MX keyboards
• Blue O-Ring switch dampeners for Filco & MX keyboards
• Black O-Ring switch dampeners for Filco & MX keyboards

Red O-Rings

This set of red o-rings is made from silicone and has a hardness value of 40A on the Shore durometer. Each o-ring is 1.5mm thick and has an internal diameter of 5mm. These o-rings provide a standard amount of noise and travel reduction, and therefore are a good choice if you’re not sure which variety to choose from.

Blue O-Rings

These blue o-rings are made from EP (ethylene propylene), which is more durable than silicone. These o-rings are also thicker than the red or black varieties, at 1.78mm, with a slightly smaller internal diameter. This means that key travel is reduced more than on the thinner red or black o-rings. The hardness value remains the same at 40A on the Shore durometer, so the amount of noise reduction should be about the same. If reducing key travel is your goal, then these blue o-rings are a good option.

Black O-Rings

Our final set of o-rings are black. They’re similar to the red o-rings, being made of silicone and with a 1.5mm thickness, but they have a hardness rating of 50A on the Shore durometer. That means they’re made of harder rubber, which should make for a more crisp landing and less noise reduction. If you’re looking to reduce key travel distance and not affect the sound of the switch as much, these are a good choice.

For more details or to order your o-rings, visit the relevant link below:

• View all O-Rings for Filco & MX keyboards
• Red O-Ring switch dampeners for Filco & MX keyboards
• Blue O-Ring switch dampeners for Filco & MX keyboards
• Black O-Ring switch dampeners for Filco & MX keyboards

Thanks for checking out the article, and be sure to let us know what you think of these o-rings on Twitter @keyboardco, on Facebook or in the comments below. Thanks again and have a great week!