I'm not sure if they changed the thickness of the plate foam but I will say that with that and PE foam that was 1/16 in thick the keys do not make contact with the PCB. Maybe I need to find thinner pe foam tho
Be CAUTIOUS when using Kilmat! Its top layer is made of aluminum so it will conduct electricity when touches the bottom of PCB which it will! So, put paper or tape on the bottom of PCB (and hope it won't tear) or put something non-conductive on top of Kilmat, like the original case foam it came with.
Great advice! I usually turn the kilmat upside down with alu side facing into the case. But in this case, the kilmat was thin enough and the PCB has tape :)
@@apmartini70 Noico is a great option. Basically the same kind of thing but just a bit thicker than Kilmat at 80mil instead of 50mil. Should be a bit cheaper too.
This is next level! was doubting the Q1 when i watched the sound test from other reviews but you really managed to find the perfect balance between flex and sound!!
The legend is back at it again with the quality content. I love how you go out of your way to find different dampeners instead of following along with what the community is doing.
Again just like in the rattling stab video tutorial, when it comes to mod education or mod tutorial, your channel is the best. I always appreciate those who take the time to analyze the what and the why then come up with the how to make things reach their full potential. Rock on man. Cheers.
@@Keybored Scott, I have a quick question cuz I remember you've been talking about this in one of your video. The sound damping mats available in my country are all 1.5 mm or above. I remember you mentioned about "flattening it" to which I tried but failed miserably. How do you flatten the sound damping mat effectively...??? I would like to try this at least 1 last time before I decide to order the Kilmat from Amazon because the shipping price to my country is very expensive.
The force-break mod is actually insane. I just got mine in the mail and I applied the force-break mod while initially adding some extra foam because I was scared of any sort of ping. Gladly, there was no pinging, but I hardly felt any flex or bounciness. I decided to take a shot and use the single stock paper-thin foam and there was STILL no ping or resonance. You're a genius, Keybored!
Hey there! It's great to hear that you're enjoying the Keychron Q1 Ultimate Modding Tutorial. If you're looking to keep your desk spotless and maintain your keyboard's cleanliness, I highly recommend checking out the HOTO Compressed Air Capsule. It offers powerful vacuuming and blowing capabilities to keep your setup clean and dust-free. Plus, its versatile accessories make it handy for other tasks as well. Happy cleaning!
@@Keybored I don't know if 80 mil would be to thick, but you could instead get the noico 80 mil in 5 sqft packs from amazon for 13 bucks, its the same butyl with foil dampening material. Ps it is to thick
@@ryansouza613 Hey, So you did determine that the 80mil is too thick. I just got my Q1 in and am trying to determine how I should treat it. (Also what did you end up using as a dampener, I have found a silicone sheet that I can get for 8 bucks that is thin and was trying to see if that is what I should get.)
@@roopert8533 80 Mill is to thick for the Q1 according to keybored who actually tested it... But I haven't built a Q1 myself so I can't really be of help! I would probably see if there is a keycron discord that has a q/a channel about the board. Personally Im waiting on a freebird60 which comes with a silicone dampener but I was think of swapping it with the noico for better performance so that's why I brought it up here.
Thank you so much for this video! It helped a lot. I did all the mods mentioned here and love the result! The board went from pingy to thoccy. Spacebar sound improved dramatically. One mistake I made was that I used the thin foam from the bottom of the case for PE foam mod. It's stretchy so it was very hard to for the plastic feet of switches to pierce through. It's probably not even thick enough to modify the sound much. Yet it's too thick / incompressible to be used as an uncut sheet -- middle keys weren't making contact with the PCB even with all 6 PCB screws in.
Yeah, the PE foam selection is pretty important for the hotswap pin issue. I would recommend that the PE foam be under .5mm! But thank you for watching and I'm glad it was helpful! :)
Thanks for the awesome modding tips, my Q1 just arrived and I modded it right away following your videos. I ended up leaving the bottom case empty without dampener whatsoever (I removed all of stock foam that came with it), then I used leftover stabilizer foam pad for the force break mod. IMHO it gave me a "poppier" sound..
Glad it worked out! I think there were a few revisions from my version to what is out there right now. I hope the revisions were for the better and the Q1 is even better than it was before!
It really does! It has that deep smooth thock that everyone enjoys. The board is a fairly lively one with the mods, and balances out well with the mellow ink blacks!
@@Keybored im deffo going to grab this board even if its not for myself but more as a hey you see this, welcome to custom keyboards you cant go back now and give it to a friend
Just finished my Q1 knob version by following the mods you have on this guide and the final product is insane! I used brass plate, and lubed prevail epsilon switches (I wiped off the factory lube) and also band aided durock v2 stabs. Thank you again so much for this tutorial I am so happy with my board.
Hey there! As a fellow tech enthusiast, I highly recommend checking out the HOTO Compressed Air Capsule. It's a game-changer for maintaining a spotless environment on your desktop and even in your car. With its powerful vacuuming and blowing capabilities, it's perfect for keyboard cleaning and reaching tight spaces. Plus, the multiple tubes and high-quality filters ensure long-lasting performance. Definitely worth considering! 😄👍
Hi, I wanted to ask: When applying the sound dampener on the bottom (the kilmat in the video), did you actually stick it to the bottom or did you place it as a loose piece?
@@thereallocksmith5170 I placed it as a loose piece as it allows easier configuration in the future if you are remodding. Acoustic wise no different as a loose piece or glued if the fit is tight.
This is impressively good. A friend just sent me this and I used the fabric bandaids I had on hand for force break + a little PE foam in the void in the mean time and wow what a difference.
Awesome man, I just ordered a Q1 as my entry to the 'build your own mechanical keyboard and mod the hell out of it'-world :D The barebones version arives in about two weeks and then I'll get some nice keycaps, foam etc for modding and my first switches - which of course I'll lube myself - will be the Kaihl Purple. I am really excited what I'll be able to get out of this board. Again thanks for this video!
@@Keybored Thanks to you too :) And btw, I didn't make that clear, I bought this board a week ago after watching hundreds of videos and finally making a decision which one to buy. And in perfect timing you released this modding guide for my board :) very nice!
I just picked up a Q1, and this board still benefits from the Kilmat Dampener. It looks like Keychron did add more case foam since this modding tutorial, but the foam they added is kinda thick and kills most of the flex in the board. It also does not sound as good as just using the Kilmat (to my ears anyway). I also added the tape mod to the back of the pcb. This sounds really good now, especially for a board at this price. Thanks for sharing your findings, helped me a lot here.
The L&F Phantom Reds actually sound really nice. I'm thinking about getting the original Q1 and soldering in a rotary encoder then following your mods here, though I'm torn between blue and grey. I followed your mods for my KBD 67 Lite and it sounds wonderful. Thank you for the inspiration.
hi Scott, just wanted to let you know that when i saw Shang Chi, i was like wow this Tony Leung guy really looks like Scott K from keybored. Besides that, great quality as usual, keep it up!
Quick note on the noise dampener on the bottom piece, the silver aluminum foil layer of that dampener might be conductive causing the pcb to freak out if the pcb is contact with the dampener back when I used it on one of my board, so either use it with the tape mod or flip the dampener around if this issue happens to you
Hi ZL_ Great point! For the thicker Noico stuff, I do flip it around so the aluminum is below. For this application, the kilmat was so thin that I wasn't experiencing contact between the PCB and the dampener :) a layer of tape also helps as well. Great point!
You're great at modding! I do have a challenge though, I wonder how you'd mod the Gamakay K series (especially the K66 and K61) to sound good, I figured it would be a good choice since a LOT of people own those boards!
Thank you Octavia! I haven't checked out the K series yet, but I'll look up how they're constructed! I bought an insanely cheap board off amazon for a segment in the near future... that would be the biggest challenge for me so far!
@@Keybored they're actually not mounted at all! It's just a stacked acrylic case and the PCB is just... In there..... I'm curious as to how you'd improve it and hey, maybe I'll do the same to my K66 in the end!
After modding my board, I've found that if you use the force break mod with 3 layers of tape and at as many points as you can put on the bottom frame, it completely eliminates any sort of ping whatsoever WITHOUT ANY NEED FOR A NOISE DAMPENER! It's a little more tedious to do, but I think it makes that big of a difference. Thanks so much for the tutorial!
@@saab251 Instead of using small squares of tape, you can apply tape on the entire frame leaving only the screw holes. In theory it should isolate the upper case from the lower case even more.
@@kevin-sj3wt depends on how sticky the tape is. Technically (?) if it was super sticky, and you ripped it off with force, it could tear off some sockets or diodes along with it. To be honest, it’s not an issue if you’re just careful.
Thanks for your video! I used a silicone mod instead of the kilmat which took care of most of the ping. Instead of using painter's tape for the edge mod, I used the 1mm PE foam and stuck it to the edges at each screw hole. These two did the trick for removing all ping.
To get rid of the pinging, pleas try with a sheet of sound damping mat like the ones that dynamat has for sound damping in cars. Here in sweden we have a product called "bitumen" or "bitumex" which is a superheavy sheet of some flexible black stuff with a self adhesive side. It´s best described as a "lead rubber mat". Attach it to any surface that sounds hollow or rattles and it instantly makes it dead by removing vibrations. I have spot-covered most of the insides of my keebs with this stuff and they sound really great in my ears. Pair it up with something that diffuses sound and i think you have a winner solution!
So orginally I did the forcebreak mod with just painter's tape. It works, but I thought I could do better. I went back and did one layer of painter's tape and then a dab of UV resin on this piece of tape. Worked a charm and it give a little more clearence for more bounce.
@@Keybored Yes. The only worrying thing is the person in these comments saying the aluminum on the sound dampener sheet could screw up the PCB, but I guess with the tape protecting the entire PCB it should be OK. Not noticing any issues so far.
Did the Kilmat and Tape modes on the Q1 with the stock phantom reds and stock stabs and it made it sound soooo much better. Would 10/10 recommend these mods to anyone trying to make the stock full-built version of the Q1 better.
All of those sound tests are so pleasing to listen to! Just beautiful work here. I am surprised at how similar the Coffee Chips and the U4Ts sound - were 62g longs used in the CCs?
I would like everyone to know I did the tape mod on my minivan like 4 years ago. Not a new mod 😁 also used foam tape on the underside of the plate between the plate and PCB for my KBD65 and it helped alot.
If your going to do this i reccomend puting the sound deadener paper side up metal side down. The metal side will short the hotswap sockets. Keybored put masking tape here so it was ok to put metal side up.
:) Good advice! When I use the thicker Noico 80mil, I usually flip it upside down or add a layer of tape on top of it, or add another layer of foam in between if it's an especially tall case like the GK series :)
glad someone did u4ts with the keychron because I was planning to get that exact build Edit: So I got the exact build but with pbt instead of abs keycaps, and I can say that it's a lot deeper and creamy in person than with the mic
I'm glad you made a video clearing this up, because a lot of reviews came to bad conclusions on this board based on its hollowness. No board is going to be great straight out of the box, and most of them need mods to meet the high standards that people want for a custom. I would definitely recommend the poly fill mod, it doesn't affect the flex that much and makes a big difference, but with all your mods you probably wouldn't notice too much. Keep up the great work and you earned a sub from me ;)
:) Thank you for the sub TysonEdits! I really appreciate the support! The board is mediocre just out of the box, but really transforms with mods. One of these diamonds in the rough boards :)
I have been using the Q1 for about a month now. Mine has brown switches. The sound is great. Very pleasant. I do not see the need for mods. Also, I have never pinged the case while typing. Some reviewers are just hyper-critical. I am vey happy with my keyboard!
I think it's because after the review boards went out, Keychron actually upped the foam thickness. The original ones essentially had paper thin foam in it, and it was sooo pingy!
I'm planning on building a Q1 and this is one of the references I am using for modding it. It sucks that I am getting around to it during lunar new year so there will be delayed shipping, but I think it'll be a fun project.
I've been waiting for this! Just one thing, I didn't see how thick the PE foam should have been or where to get it in the description -- you had mentioned thinner than what the jelly epoch uses, but not any specific thickness
I have been using the thinnest PE foam I could find out of electronics boxes lol. I realized that stuff like monitors and TVs and such come wrapped in PE foam, and it's actually very thin. It goes right on top of the PCB, between the plate foam and PCB!
Followed and did the exact same mod on my Q1, surprisingly, mine is now sounded very similar to yours and its amazing though gasket is not that good after noise dampener
@Keybored The only part during the video where I got confused: where did you add the layer of 1mm PE foam? I can see where everything else goes but in that part of the video all I see is the foam cutout they included over the PCB. Is the PE foam under the PCB, between taped PCB and kilmat? Also, where is the silicone base in relation to all of this? I have the keychron K8 pro on the way and already ordered pe foam, kilmat, lube, and some durock stabs. The k8 pro comes with a silicone base in the case and this will be my first time taking a mech apart to mod it. If you can list what the layers are in order that'd be really helpful, that sound you got during the sound test is immaculate
holy crap. This is board really sings with these mods. I bought a stock with gat reds and did all of these mods and added a little to it. What annoyed me was even the micro-gap between the top and bottom the top still had a lot of ping and certain keys would do bring it out while others were perfect. So I ended up adding a layer of blue masking tape to the inside face of the portions around the case edge as well as the breaks between the direction pad and pgup/down keys. I was hoping to add some dampening to the thin long portions that a lot of the top has wherever there is a break between keys. I also had some small eva foam with adhesive backing that I added to the voids where the plate could have extra gaskets but doesnt (middle of the board top and bottom as well as left and right). I also removed the thin foam stuck to the case and put the thicker piece they included along with a sheet of the same thin type that you suggested adding on the pcb ontop of it. With lubed creams, durocks, and stock ABS caps it sounds really really good. Not muted at all but no ping and a nice deep and punchy sound for the 1u keys. Great video man
Great video as always! Do you thinking changing the gaskets for D65 Gaskets from KDB Fans would imrpove the flex? I'm waiting on a few parts, but even with a PolyCarbonate plate (no switches or keycaps yet) it doesn't feel as flexible as I thought. Thanks!
@@Keybored at the end i was lucky enough to find a kbd67 lite and i instabuyed it, unfortunately in that awkward tiffany color. Will update the case as soon they come back in stock.
wasn't rocking with the aluminum plate so i got a pom plate off etsy im happy with the sound now deep with now harsh bottom out 😇 i also like a stiff boards "no flex zone" 🤣
I've worked with kilmat before tbh the best way to use it is peel and permanently apply it. It works so much better. There is a roller designed to press this onto car panels. The roller thins the kilmat and "pops" the bubble wrap surface. I know people don't like to permanently mod their keeps but this stuff works better that way.
Yup! You are very correct about that. Sticking it on does improve the overall performance. That's what I ended up doing to mine... I doubt I'll ever take it off
I really like the clacky sound of this keyboard, just like what I like. I was worried that this keyboard won't sound clacky like this because of the gasket mount (I thought it only sounds clacky on tofu sandwich mount), thanks for proving it otherwise! Now I can just continue saving money until this keyboard officially being sold in my country~
I opened up my q1 pro and noticed it's factory force-break-modded. I have the optional acoustic pack. Since I had it open, I tapemodded it and now the thocc is real! before with the pack made it more marble (all ping was gone btw)
Thank you for the great video! How much would you say the lubing and filming of the phantom red switches helped in improving the sound (assuming I do all of the other mods)? I'm kind of new to this, so I'm not too comfortable spending the time to lube and film each switch (though I hope to do it once I have enough time). Also, do you think cheaper sets of keycaps (such as the pbt sets from keychron) can achieve a similar sound profile to what you have?
The phantom reds were pretty good stock, but lubing and filming them really made them great! The lube makes the phantom red sound smoother and deeper. The filming is a bit less important for this switch because the housing is so tight!
Just got my Q1 love it. if you want to get rid of the Ping completely i used Masking tape and Cotton rounds like the stuff that girls use to take off make up. I dont have ping at all any more. i used one layer of tape and 2 rows of the the cotton rounds and a few to cover the spaces. boom no Ping
love this vid keep it up!! so i’m tryna decide on purchasing either the q1 or the gmmk pro. but idk which to get. but in your opinion, what would you purchase? from your own words lol.
Another thing I'll add that THIN PE foam is a requirement not an option for PC plate. I have tried using a generic PE foam which was a millimeter or 1.5mm thick and it needed reduced the noise but also, combined with the built-in PCB foam increased the height between switches and the board preventing the keys in-between plate screws reaching the hot swap sockets. Also, I think @Keyboard you have an early unit, in the latest shipment I received I had two pieces of case foam and thicker PCB foam. The pinging was not that annoying as is shown in the video.
Thin thin thin on the PE is an absolute! I managed to find some paper thin stuff by scavenging some electronics, and that's the only stuff I use now if PE foam is absolutely necessary
i bought the board a couple days ago from candykeys Germany and also bought a pack of kilmat (diffrent brand same product).. will also try to put sum small pieces between the top and bottom case where you put the tape..see if it will close with tiny pieces could isolate better then tape..
Great video! Did you roll out/flatten the Kilmat? Remove the adhesive? Or just install as is, cut, adhesive. Not sure if the sound matters or not with the paper still over the adhesive backing.
Nice guide! Do you think a 2 mm sound dampening mat would be too thick for the keyboard? I wouldn¨t mind if it would eliminate both ping and some flex at the same time
I actually used a 2mm sound dampener very similar to Kilmat but it completely killed the flex. It also completely eliminated any hollowness, though. I would still just try the force break mod and see if that gives you a result you'd like first, then try the dampener if it still is not as you'd like.
Excellent guide, can't wait to try this on my Q1! When using Kilmat, do you just place it in the case as shown in the video or do you peel the paper off the back and stick it in? Placing it in the case seems like the better option so you can easily remove it if needed but I wonder if it's as effective if it's not adhered to the case.
2 года назад
I was debating the same. He stuck it in place with the sticky stuff. I think I'm going to do the same... It's not like i'm going to be opening it up all the time or swapping it out. Hope I get it right the first time lmao
Yup! I actually stuck it on there for max ping control. However, the stuff is pretty sticky, so it'll be a pain to remove it later if you want. But I thought... when would I, and why would I ever remove this? haha
You used the 50 mil kilmat in this video, it seems that it's more difficult and more expensive to pick up that thickness where I'm from. Would an 80 mil (2mm) killmat also work? or would it remove too much flex from the board? And amazing video! I just got my Q1 Pro and I will be installing all these mods on it.
