Modding the Atlas Keyboard

Not too long ago, I got my hands on a Cannon Keys Atlas ortholinear keyboard, from a fellow on r/mechmarket. Although it’s a beautiful keyboard, I found that the Atlas actually didn’t sound that great. In this post, I talk about the mods I tried and deployed to improve the feel and acoustics of the already very handsome keyboard. Some of them I stuck with, and others I decided to ditch.

A render from the Cannon Keys website.

Silicone Pour

I’m a big fan of silicone pours, because they’re fairly easy, they do a flawless job of stopping case ping, and they fill every gap in the case to completion. For the Atlas, 2 cups total of 1:1 clear silicone mix perfectly covered the bottom of the keyboard, without overflow.

Note how the daughterboard standoffs are not covered by the silicone. Silicone can be kind of slow going, especially when it comes to filling the corners and edges of the case. To get a complete fill, I used a Q-tip to push the silicone mold into the corners and edges of the case.

I use a pair of tweezers to tear off any thin films that arose from the silicone seeping at the bottom of the keyboard case.

Silicone O-Rings

The brass switch plate is held up by four screws that mount from the bottom, into the top half of the case. In other words, the screws are the main point of contact between the switch plate and the actual case. I wanted a softer and more flexible typing and acoustic experience, so I replaced the metal screws (which are M2.5 x 5 mm), with softer nylon screws (M2.5 x 6 mm). I also mounted two soft silicone o-rings (4 mm OD, 1 mm ID, 1.5 mm width) onto each screw, so they’d sandwich the switchplate, and effectively provide a burger mount (as popularized by the Keybored channel). In doing so, we eliminate hard points of contact.

Two soft silicone o-rings on each nylon screw provides a burger mount, and a softer and more flexible typing experience.

EVA Foam

I purchased some overpriced precision-cut case and plate EVA foam from StupidFish that is originally meant for the Preonic. No problem though, the layout of the Preonic is identical to the Atlas, but upside-down. I just had to carefully cut the spacebar plate foam area though, so it wouldn’t interfere with the daughterboard.

An Exacto and a straight-edge for some careful foam cutting!

Tada! The modified Preonic case foam fits the layout of the Atlas perfectly.

The switch plate foam. I didn’t use an adhesive to secure the swithcplate foam. The pressure from the switches, PCB, and swtichplate are sufficient.

PE Foam, Shelf Liner, and Car Muffler

I thought let’s stuff this sucker with everything possible. So I traced a shape with a pen and cut out some PE (polyurethane) foam with scissors:

I cut a little indent for the daughterboard.

I did the same thing with some shelf liner (I didn’t have to trace the shape with a pen though, because the material is already gridded):

I again cut a little indent for the daughterboard.

I again cut a little indent for the daughterboard. I also made this pad a lot smaller, because the Atlas PCB has RGB lights around its edge, and I didn’t want the dark colour of the car muffler to block those lights.

In the end though, all these pads resulted in the case being unable to close. The keyboard was overstuffed.

Final Mod Composition

In the end I discarded a lot of the work I put in the keyboard. Rather than overstuffing the keyboard for a muted sound, I decided to use only the EVA foam (in large part because the specialized foam was pretty expensive for what it is). I also loosened the burger mount screws that secure the switchplate, to ensure a softer and more flexible typing experience. I think I’m happy with it!

In the end, I only wound up using only the PE foam cutouts and the nylon screws + silicone o-rings for my mods.

Build Details

I added some stock Zaku linears from Bolsa Supply (they sold out in 15 minutes …) and Drop’s new black-on-white DCX keycaps. I think the final result is pretty good! I’m not 100 on the Zakus for this build though … maybe I should replace them for some lubed + filmed Gateron Ink Black V2s, just because there’s some empty space in this board, which helps create a lower pitch, and the Ink Blacks are inherently lower-pitched.

My QMK-powered firmware is here.