Keychron V1 Max modding - Silent keyboard for the office!

CORRECTION (05:28): Bobagums are linears! I had a brain fart there, my bad.
Out of all the 9 keyboards I've built and modded so far, 5 of them were for work, and 2 out of those 5 were Keychrons. The Keychron V1 Max is my "Keychron work board #2", the latest addition to that lineage of devices designed to raise a ruckus and turn heads in the office. This is not a Keychron V1 Max review; this is just a demonstration of what a modded V1 Max sounds like if you're modding it for an office setting. On paper, Keychron makes good work-friendly keyboards--a lot of their original models were dual-mode (Bluetooth and wired), came in pretty much every form factor imaginable, and had Mac+Windows support. Later on, newer models added QMK/VIA support for even more flexibility in personalization and programmability. However, the stock switches aren't really what you'd call "good for taking notes at 120WPM while you're in a room with the executives".
My coworkers are completely fine with loud keyboards. Yours may not be. To solve that problem, you gotta make some compromises: swap in some silent switches, pad your case, tune your stabilizers, and voila, you are no longer a termination hazard. Check out the mod choices that saved my career.
Specs:
Keychron V1 Max
* TTC Frozen Silent V2 (factory-lubed)
* Polycarbonate plate
* NuPhy GhostBar spacebar
* Keychron stabilizers, relubed with Krytox 205g0
* TMT Taho Dark keycaps (PBT)
* Plate foam
* Silicone padding for the case
The stars of the show are the TTC Frozen Silent V2's. I've lubed over half a thousand switches, but I've heard a lot of people say that TTC Frozen Silent V2's were already smooth out of the box, and I can now attest to that. They're no Gateron Oil Kings, but they were certainly smoother than stock Durock Dolphins (which I lubed for the Keychron K8 Pro, my Keychron work board #1), and an order of magnitude smoother than the scratchy Outemu Silent Whites, which I used prior to Durock Dolphins. They can probably benefit from another lubing run on the stem rails since they aren't as covered as I'd like them to be, but I didn't think it was worth the time and effort just to get marginal improvements. The rubber silencer being placed under the stem pole instead of in the stem rails makes the switch less mushy than other traditional silent switches. I still prefer the stiff downstroke of the Haimu Heartbeats/WS Silent Linears which do not use rubber dampeners, but this design strikes a great balance between mushy and firm. The upstroke is still a little too loud for my liking if you use it for the bigger keys (like the spacebar and backspace), but it seems to be a common issue with silent linears since silent tactiles don't have this much of an upstroke problem (Boba U4 for spacebar = really quiet). The 39g actuation force is, in my opinion, a bonus for an office setting, because lighter springs = less force needed to register a keypress = less fatigue over time. If you're banging away on a mechanical keyboard for all 8 hours of your shift, might as well be banging on 39g buttons instead of 67g to save yourself from muscle strain and injury.
I've tried a fair bit of silent switches from several brands already (Outemu, Akko, Haimu, Wuque Studios, Skyloong, Durock, and Gazzew), and honestly, this is my new favorite silent switch. The stock feel is great, it's whisper-quiet, and it's even got amazing RGB diffusion, all for a price that's just slightly more expensive than Akko and Outemu silents, and that's a great spot to be in. I still want something that has the downstroke feel of a Haimu Heartbeat + the upstroke silence of a Boba U4, but while I'm waiting for something like that to exist, TTC Silent Frozen V2's, you are my current champion.

[@chrislandeza3709]

This video is incredibly satisfying to watch! I love the attention to detail in your keyboard mods. I can't wait to see what you do next!

[@LoudSideofSilence]

Thanks a lot! Looking forward to making more. 😌

[@VicharB]

Nice. I recently got V1 Max and installed my preferred Gateron G Pro 3.0 Yellow switches from my older K2 V2. Originally I ordered with Gateron Jupiter Banana switches which I didn't like, think I am more in to linear. Now I have ordered TTC Frozen Silent V2 switches, which should arrive in a weeks time, and am hoping it will make my keyboard much more silent and enjoyable, not just for typing but also for gaming. As per mods I did the following: 1. Removed the original foam from the board and instead used 4mm Practik Base for vibration/sound dampening (orange) and 5mm STP Biplast sound insulator (black). Both are used in automotive and sound industries. 2. Added Poron switch pads 0.5mm on top of PET sheet 3. Tape mod with 2 layers 4. Added Poron 0.5mm pads under stabs and the stems, and re-lubricated the stabs as well (was thinking of changing them to Durock V2, like I did on my K2 V2, but these stocks look good) 5. Added O-rings between the bottom and the top case where screws go in. 6. Changed to Cherry PBT Double-Shot Dark Blue/Black keycaps set (usually comed with Xinmeng A66 keyboards) I'll have a Reddit post later on the mod, but for now you can see what I did with my K2 v2 here (www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/1com73o/comment/l3gz8f2/?context=3). I am very much satisfied.

[@LoudSideofSilence]

I haven't tried car soundproofing mats yet, I should look into that for a new build. Do you have a sound test for the before/after installing the Practik Base/STP Biplast? I actually used Poron switch pads too, but only for the spacebar. The rest of the board is already quiet enough that Poron pads probably wouldn't make that big of a difference (but honestly, the main reason why I didn't bother installing them was because it took me so long to install them the last time I used switch pads, which I did for an old Akko 5075B build 😂). When it comes to gaming, the TTC Frozen Silent V2 are honestly great too. Whenever I get switches, I stress test them out in Tekken and DJMax to see if they're gonna be fine with a lot of double-tapping, and they're honestly good enough. The 39g actuation force means I don't get fatigued at all even after long sessions. I still prefer using Akko CS Silver on my home board because I use it for Tekken, but for anyone else who isn't mainly playing fighting or rhythm games, the TTC Frozen Silents are a good quiet option for gaming because of their lightness, unlike some of the ones I used before like the Boba U4 and Durock Dolphin, which are pretty heavy (62g).

[@CellzRKewl]

You'll be able to get the stab keys much more quiet if you do some more mods on them. My Q1 Pro had the same problem with silent switches, they were making sound after the switch was released.

[@LoudSideofSilence]

The Holee mod could work... Most I've done with these stabs is just removed the stock lube and relubed them myself with 205g0. The only reason why I didn't Holee mod in the first place was because I screwed up several Holee mods before and was hesitant to fiddle with it anymore. 😅