The Topre switch in their own words
And from the patent we have this:
NOTE: What the quote is refering to there at the begging when refering to the "above situation" is RSI related issues.

But what does all of that mean in practice? Lets see if we can figure it out from various drawings and from some keyboards we have taken apart here.

First lets take a look at Topre's drawing of the switch:


Ok that picture does kinda show how the actual switch looks but how about the actual switch and how that actually works.

Part one of the switch the PCB:

This forms the first part of the switch as described "an insulating substrate, a first electrode laid on the insulating substrate".

Part two of the switch the spring:

Cool now we have this part "said second electrode being formed of a conical coil spring, and being positioned on the dielectric so that one end portion of the spring may be in contact with the surface of the dielectric". As you can see the spring is fits perfectly on top of the first electrode formed in the PCB.

Part three how the capacitance changes:

"a capacitance between the first and second electrodes being mainly defined by the contact area between the dielectric and second electrode"
See how the spring collapses. The bottom coils flatten and come into contact with the dielectric on the PCB. Cool stuff..

Part four that Good feeling of oneness with cup rubber.


There are many aspects of this particular rubber dome that are very interesting. A big part of the patent for the Topre switch is spent on the design of this dome. It is shaped the way it is to provide what they describe as a snap feeling. Here is the relevant quote
The patent itself covers all kinds of dome shapes but the one they settled on is the one we have. Another thing mentioned in the paten is that they very the thickness of the dome walls to tune the feel and so the snap happens at precisely the right point. Also note those channels in the bottom of the dome they are their so that air can go in and out of the dome.

And now the spring in the dome:


So what we have so far is a spring sitting in a specially designed rubber dome and as the dome is pressed down the spring collapses from the bottom until it is completely flat when bottomed out. On bottom out the plunger presses that nice big and thick bump at the top giving a nice soft landing.


Next up we have the switch housing that fits around the dome/spring:



Then we have the plunger that is used to press down on the dome with a key cap attached to the top:

Nice and round so that is can smoothly ride in the housing.

Plunger and key housing combined from the bottom:

Do you see those channels the plunger rides in? That is what keeps the key from twisting.
and from the top:


And now the dome and spring sitting in the housing:

Those two guides on either side of the housing align the dome and sit on the PCB so that the dome and spring are completely contained in the housing. Here is an illustration that shows the point of switch activation as you can see the dome has just buckled to give that snap feeling:

As you continue to press down on the key the dome will collapse on itself and on bottom out the plunger is stoped by the top cap of the dome giving the switch a nice soft landing.

So that is how the Topre switch is put together. A very well put together switch with allot of attention and thought put into every little detail of it.

I recently ran across these switch force graphs and thought that this is a good place for them. I found them here if you want to go and brows around yourself. That site has force graphs for a bunch of keyboards so even if you are not interested in Topre's you will find graphs for most of the available switches.

They were tested using this device.



Enough of that lest take a look at the graphs:

The top two lines are the down stroke and the bottom line the recover. The bottom two lines are for a different key on the same keyboard.


The activation point distances were measured using a table saw dial indicator.


This is the force graph for a typical rubber dome. Although it shares the rather rounded tactile bump the activation point is at the end of the stroke.




This is for the short throw HE0100 keyboard. What is interesting here is that the specification that I have seen for this board and the MD01B0 indicate that these boards should have 40g keys. I can at least verify that the MD01B0 does indeed have 55g keys using the RipOmeter test.


This is a comparison chart. What I find the most interesting here is that the Topre switch has the smoothest force gradient of all the switches.


And more switches. And again the Topre has the smoothest force gradient of all of them.

Topre/Realforce did not spend all that time and effort on the key switch just to put it in a junky or low quality keyboard. They put just as much thought into the keyboards as well. From the quality of the materials used to the way they are constructed you just know that you are typing on a very high quality keyboard. I'm really not going to spend too much time on the keyboard construction itself and instead point out some of the more distinctive features of most if not all of the Topre/Realforce line of keyboards.

All Topre based boards come with either variable or uniform force key weights. On the uniform force or weight keyboards all the keys require the same amount of force to activate a key. On the variable force keyboards depending on the key location the amount of force required to activate a key will be different. The key weightings that have been produced up till now are 30/45/55 and 35/45/55 for the variable force keyboards and 30, 45 and 55 grams for the uniform force keyboards. In the patent for the switch Topre somewhat covers why they decided to offer a variable force keyboard. Their research showed that if you reduce the weight of the pinky keys that the user of the keyboard suffered less fatigue when typing all day. So the original research was really aimed at office workers that must reliably type all day long as part of there job. And they have been very successful in Japan of selling this concept to businesses where they sale the majority of their keyboards.

Here is the official key weighting of the 87U as you can see they have reduced the weighting of the keys that are pressed by the pinky.



With the number of inquisitive members we have and the invention of the low cost RipOmeter by one of our members we feel that the official force layout is not correct. What we think it should really look like is this:



We are not completely sure why some of those keys are measuring 40g but they do. On the 87U and the other variable force keyboards the domes in the alpha area are a single sheet. This makes us wonder if when Topre is changing the wall thickness of the domes if there is some limitation on how much they can change it from row to row. It should also be noted that Topre specifies the dome tolerance at +- 15g so technically they are with in specification. But still if there is some process limitation that does not allow them to do 10g steps they should really update their official weighting chart to reflect that.

Topre uses PBT (Polybutylene Terephthalate) for their keys. As quoted from here PBT Market research
The dying part of the above quote is important because the majority of Topre/Realforce keyboards keys are dye sublimation printed. The keyboards that are not dye sublimation printed are laser printed.

On the majority of the Topre boards the keys have a different shape depending on the row the key is at so you can't just move the keys around on these keyboards because they will not fit properly. On the Topre/Realforce and HHKB Pro the keys are labeled as to which row they go on the underside of the key:


Another unique characteristic of a Topre keyboard is a key that is printed with India(black) ink on black keys. As a result you get a dark almost black key with black printing.


One other thing everyone that types on a Topre board notices is the feel of the surface of the keys. The below picture shows the texture of the key but you really have to put you fingers on it to understand how it really feels. All I can really say is that they feel great.

The Realforce 101 is a copy of the IBM Model M layout but with Topre switches instead of Buckling spring switches. It also is a variable force board where the pinky keys are 30g and the main keys are 45g with the escape key coming in at 55g.



Currently this keyboard is getting hard to find but you can find it if you want it. Also the only place to get them is from Japan. For Japanese sellers see the Merchants in Japan section.

This is the current production full size keyboard it comes in both black and white. The variable weighting is the same as the 87U. (although one member reported the pinkies being lighter, 30g)

White:


And the black one:


Various threads about this keyboard:
Realforce 103 White - One of our members just ordered this board and this is a long thread discussing what was just purchased.
Realforce Topre 87U Vs. 103UB - Another thread about which of the Realforce boards to get either the full size keybaord or the tenkeyless version.

The Realforce 86U is an older model of the 87U. The differences are:

• One less Windows key (hence, the 86U)
• LEDs are not in the keys
• No embedded numpad
• Instead of 35g it uses 30g for the pinkies
• Does not include keypuller or lavendar WASD keys or Red Esc key
  

So you have decided to purchase a Realforce keyboard or one of the OEM keyboards like the HHKB Pro. Until recently if you wanted a Realforce keyboard you had to get them out of Japan which will drive up the price considerably but some of these keyboards are now available in the US.

So read on in the following sections about where to find these wonderful keyboards.

Currently there are a few merchants that carry the HHKB Pro but only one merchant that is importing Realforce keyboards.

Realforce keyboards can be found at elitekeyboards here. elitekeyboards currently only stocks the 103U/103UB and the 86U.

Realforce keyboards tend to be expensive, no matter where you get them from. Elitekeyboards often has specials throughout the year though, so be on the lookout for them. It's also worth joining their mailing list so you can be notified of these specials early. Another way to get discounts is you can contact them or majestouch to see if they have any "b-stock" (scratch/dent or refurbished) keyboards. They often do, and they are discounted.

If you're interested in ordering a different Realforce keyboard (such as those available on benippon.com or geekstuff4u.com) Brian from EK can do one-off purchases in multiples of 10 keyboards (The 87U is not available). So if you can get a group of at least 10 people together who want the same keyboard that's currently not stocked, contact majestouch on Geekhack or email EK.

HHKB Pro's can be found at multiple vendors if you search for them but in the last search I did elitekeyboards had the lowest price on them. They can be found here

elitekeyboards also carries some of the HHKB Pro options as well. Like blank key caps and red ESC keys and blue WSAD keys. You can find them down the page here. It should also be noted that the key caps for the HHKB Pro also fit the 87U but you only get enough keys for a HHKB Pro.

In Finland, verkkokauppa.com, a general IT online shop sells a couple of Topre keyboards.

This reference is a translation of the one on Moonlight Cafe and is a work in progress as I decipher the meaning of some of the notes.

NOTE: In the below tables I have included links to other content where the link leads depends on the column. For instance in the Availability column the links lead to where you can purchase that particular model. Other columns will lead to other places.

NOTE 2: The links to where you can get the keyboards are random and are what I happened to find quickly when putting these tables together. Topre has many resellers in Japan so please take a look at the where to buy section when trying to find one of these keyboards.

Topre Model Number	Model Name	Connector	Number of Keys	Win keys	Key weight	key labeling type	Enclosure	LED's	DIP Switch	Date Released	Availability
ML0100	101	PS/2	101	No	Variable Force	Sublimation	White	Yellow green	Yes	04/03	Available ? Japan
ML01K0	101W	PS/2	101	No	Variable Force	Hangul sublimation	White	Yellow green	No	01/07	Discontinued
ML11K0	101B	PS/2	101	No	Variable Force	Hangul laser	Black	Yellow green	No	01/07	Discontinued
SE0100	103	?	103	Yes	?	Traditional sublimation	White	?	No	09/07	Prototype
SE1100	103-UW	PS/2	103	Yes	Variable Force	Traditional sublimation	White	Yellow green	No	12/07	Not Avalible Prototype? Only 10?
SE11B0	103-UB	PS/2	103	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation (2) Traditional Han	Black	Yellow green	No	12/07	Not available Prototype? Only 10?
SE0200	103U	USB	103	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation	White	Blue	No	06/09	Available US Japan
SE02B0	103UB	USB	103	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation (2)	Black	Blue	No	06/09	Available US Japan
SE1200	103U-UW	USB	103	Yes	Variable Force	Traditional sublimation	White	Blue	No	05/08	Available US
SE12B0	103U-UB	USB	103	Yes	Variable Force	Traditional laser	Black	Blue	No	05/08	Not Available
SE3200	103UKW	USB	103	Yes	Variable Force	Hangul sublimation	White	Blue	No	07/08	Not Available
SE32B0	103UKB	USB	103	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation (2) Hangul	Black	Blue	No	07/08	Not Available
WE1100	105UFW	USB	105	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation	White	Blue	No	12/09	Available N. Europe
WE11B0	105UFB	USB	105	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation	Black	Blue	No	12/09	Available N. Europe
LA0100	106	PS/2	106	No	Variable Force	Sublimation	White	Yellow-green	No	07/01	Available Japan
LA0200	106S	PS/2	106	No	Uniform 30g	Sublimation	White	Yellow-green	No	01/03	Available Japan
FD0100	OEM	PS/2	106	No	Uniform 45g	Sublimation	White	Yellow-green	No	12/04	Limited Availability ?
FD01D0	No stamp	PS/2	106	No	Uniform 45g	Blank keys	Black	Yellow-green	No	12/04	Not Available
PJ0800	106UB	USB	106	No	Variable Force	Laser	Black	Blue	No	12/04	Not Available
PJ08J0	JUST Limited 106UB	USB	106	No	Variable Force	Laser	Black	Orange	No	12/05	Not Available Only 500 built
QK01X0	106U OEM	USB	106	No	Variable Force	Sublimation	White	Yellow-green	No	04/08	Limited Availability Japan
SA0100	108UH	USB	108	Yes	Uniform 45g	Sublimation	White	Blue	No	04/07	Available Japan
SJ08B0	108UBK	USB	108	Yes	Variable Force	Kana laser	Black	Blue	No	01/08	Available Japan
SJ38C0	108UDK	USB	108	Yes	Uniform 30g	Sublimation	Black	Blue	No	Before 11/09	Available at Cleverly (Akihabara)
SJ08J0	JUST Limited 108UB	USB	108	Yes	Uniform 45g	Laser	Black	Orange	No	12/07	Not Available 700 Units
EDKEY2	EDIUS Keyboard II	USB	108	Yes	?	?	Black	?	No	08/06	Not Readily Available (1)
NS - KEYBOARD	NS - KEYBOARD	USB	108	Yes	?	?	White	?	No	11/07	Not Readily Available (1)
Original NS KEYBOARD	Original NS KEYBOARD	?	106	No	?	?	Ash	?	No	01/07	Not Readily Available (1)

(1) These keyboards are included with a full system. In both cases these are Video editing workstations that are multi million Yen systems. NS Keyboard I think this is the EDKEY 2 It is in the picture with the system.

(2) These keyboards have the black on black key lettering. See the keys section for what this looks like.

Topre Model Number	Model Name	Connector	Number of Keys	Win keys	Key weight	key labeling type	Enclosure	LED's	DIP Switch	Date Released	Availability
SE0500	86U	USB	86	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation	White	None	Yes	08/08	Available Japan
SE15K0	86UKW	USB	86	Yes	Variable Force	Hangul sublimation	White	No LED's	Yes	04/08	Not Available
SE05K0	86UKB	USB	86	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation (2) Hangul	Black	No LED's	Yes	04/08	Not Available
SE05T0	86UTW	USB	86	Yes	Variable Force	Traditional sublimation	White	No LED's	Yes	03/09 ?	Not Available
SE0700	87UW	USB	87	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation	White	Blue	Yes	03/09	Not Available
SE1700	87UB	USB	87	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation (2)	Black	Blue	Yes	03/09	Limited Availability US Japan
SE1800	87UB	USB	87	Yes	Uniform 55g	Sublimation (2)	Black	Blue	Yes	03/09	Limited Availability US Japan
?	87UKW	USB	87	Yes	Variable Force	Hangul sublimation	White	Blue	Yes	03/09	Limited Availability
?	87UKB	USB	87	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation (2) Hangul	Black	Blue	Yes	03/09	Limited Availability
?	87UW	USB	87	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation	White	Blue	Yes	03/09	Limited Availability
?	87UB	USB	87	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation (2)	Black	Blue	Yes	03/09	Limited Availability
SE08K0	87UKW55	USB	87	Yes	Uniform 55g	Hangul sublimation	White	Blue	Yes	03/09	Limited Availability
SE18K0	87UKB55	USB	87	Yes	Uniform 55g	Sublimation (2) Hangul	Black	Blue	Yes	03/09	Limited Availability
?	87UW No stamp	USB	87	Yes	Uniform 55g	Blank Keys	White	Blue	Yes	03/09	Limited Availability Only 7
?	87UB No Stamp	USB	87	Yes	Uniform 55g	Blank Keys	Black	Blue	Yes	03/09	Limited Availability Only 7
ND0100	89	PS/2	89	No	Variable Force	Sublimation	White	NO LED's	No	10/03	Not Available
NF0100	89U	USB	89	No	Variable Force	Sublimation	White	No LED's	Yes	12/03	Not Available
NF01B0	89UB	USB	89	No	Variable Force	Laser	Black	No LED's	Yes	02/07	Not Available
ND01N0	CSNEO OEM	PS/2	89	No	?	?	Black	No LED's	?	Fall/05	Not Available
NE0100	91	PS/2	91	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation	White	No LED's	No	08/04	Available ?
NG0100	91U	USB	91	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation	White	No LED's	No	08/04	Available Japan
NG01B0	91UBK	USB	91	Yes	Variable Force	No Kana laser	Black	No LED's	No	12/05	Available Japan
NG02B0	91UDK-G	USB	91	Yes	Uniform 45g	Sublimation (2) No Kana	Black	No LED's	Yes	11/08	Available ?
Ng01Bs	91Ubk-S Low Noise	USB	91	Yes	?	Laser	Black	No LEDs	?	?	Available Japan
NG01J0	JUST Limited 91UW	USB	91	Yes	Variable Force	Sublimation	White	No LED's	No	12/06	Not Available Limited to 550
NG11J0	JUST Limited 91UB	USB	91	Yes	Variable Force	Laser	Black	No LED's	Yes	12/06	Not Available Limited to 750
NG02J0	JUST Limited 91UW2	USB	91	Yes	Uniform 45g	Sublimation	White	No LED's	Yes	12/08	Not Available Limited to 300
NG22J0	JUST Limited 91UB2	USB	91	Yes	Uniform 45g	Laser	Black	No LED's	Yes	12/08	Not Available Limited to 300
DRTCKB 91UBK	DHARMA TACTICAL KEYBOARD (91SUBK)	USB	91	Yes	Uniform 30g	No Kana Bold Laser	Black	No LED's	Yes	05/08	Available Japan
?	92	Prototype 92	92	Yes	Variable Force	Laser	White	No LED's	?	11/02	Not Available Prototype

(2) These keyboards have black keys with black lettering. See the keys section for a example.

Ne
ed info on on the Topre Realforce and Happy Hacking Keyboards? What about accessories? And what about that nifty Red Esc Key!

-this link provide details information of all Topre version - http://cafemoonlight.blog55.fc2.com/blog-entry-20.html

-purchasing information (sellers, cost/fees/shipping), for keyboards and for replacement key(s) or keysets.

-differences between the boards, layout differences, key weighting differences, by model

-other metrics and mods

Where to Purchase

an online currency converter:
http://www.xe.com/ucc/

possible ebay or geekhack sellers:
repoman on gh is trying to get a bunch of red escape keys and etc for selling stateside. Tell him to "go for it, dude".
stlensbar on ebay (who chose the most impossible to spell or remember username he could come up with) used to sell topre stuff but apparently no longer does.


topre/realforce in US:
http://www.elitekeyboards.com/
keyboards, keysets for hhkb only (both black and white, both lettered and blank, each keyset is about 60 bucks plus shipping). No keysets for other topre boards. NO single red escape key available to be bought seprately.



topre/realforce from japanese sites:

Geekstuff4u Select currency and language options, upper right of page. I think they're located in japan but apparently ship to US. An HHKB Pro2 replacement keyset is about $70 plus shipping here.

BeNippon (need deets and urls)

PFU may have something (spare keys or key pullers anyway) if you can read whatever the hell language this is in:
http://www.pfu.fujitsu.com/direct/hh...op_change.html
Here's the pfu site in english:
http://www.pfusystems.com/hhkeyboard/hhkeyboard.html
Here's their online store (where they seem to only sell the HHKB Lite (which I think is the non-topre version) for 70 bucks.
http://pfuca-store.stores.yahoo.net/haphackeyser.html

This page at pfu seems to sell replacement keytops but good luck if you only know english:
http://www.pfu.fujitsu.com/direct/hh...il_keytop.html


in korea:
http://www.leopold.co.kr/
keyboards and key(s)
Here's the red escape key page at leopold. Good luck if you only know english:
http://www.leopold.co.kr/?doc=cart/i..._id=1210063541
The cost is about $4. Dont get excited. It'll be like $40 to ship it. Yes, thats for one escape key.

topre keysets from leopold (with korean/english lettering):
http://www.leopold.co.kr/?doc=cart/i..._id=1215396631
price is 45,000 won plus shipping. (about $35 plus shipping)
good luck if you only know english.

more leopold notes:

Communication from leopold webmaster:

Q. Do you have an English language website?
A. I am sorry but we don't have English website yet.
All of the products in our Korean website (www.leopold.co.kr) can be delivered any place in the world.

Q. How to pay for a purchase?
A. Payment is allowed Korean Currency only now.
I'd like to recommend you to order when we can introduce "Paypal" payment method.

Q. "Do you have replacement keyset for Realforce keyboards? Is the red escape key included?"
A. Key set in website is for Realforce103 / Realforce 86, not for Realforce87. And it is not all of Key cab but 28pcs of Key cab including alphabet character line and Ctrl key and Alt of left side (red ESC Key is not included).

Q. "Do you have replacement keyset for HHKB pro2?"
A. Key cab for replacement of HHKB Pro2 is not selling in Korea, it is selling at http://www.pfu.fujitsu.com/direct/hhkb/option.html by on-line only of HHKB Pro2 manufacturer in Japan.
Sincerely Yours."


sites that help you buy from korea:

crescent (link?) 2000 Yen broker fee.
J-Goods (link?) (japanese site)

http://www.buyfromkorea.kr/
"It was going to be $80 for 2 sets of wasd keys and 2 red escape keys."




REVIEWS

55g Realforce Vs Variable Weighted 35/45/55 Version
RealForce 87U - US Version 35/45/55g
HHKB Pro 2
RealForce Versus HHKB

RealForce 87U - US/Korean 55g Version
Professional Gamer Likes His Topre 55g
Korean Version Review #2
RealForce 86U - Previous Version
Realforce 91UBK Japanese Version

Accessories

HHKB Lite
Lite2


TECHNOLOGY AND MODS

Realforce 87U Opened Up
Secrets of Topre Part 2 - Key Weighting Mod
Turn Any Board Into a HHKB2
Rit Dye Your Keys
Realforce 87U Specs and Dip Switches (back of box)
HHKB Dip Switches
The Famous Red Esc Key!