Hey all — quick update to my earlier Ace 68 mod post!

I decided to go all-in and ordered a pile of parts from our friends in China. Since the Ace 68 comes with an aluminum positioning plate, a silicone layer in the stack, and silicone on the bottom, I wanted to experiment with swapping materials to improve sound and feel.

**Plate + Switch Area Mods**  
I replaced the aluminum positioning plate with a polycarbonate one meant for the Tofu65. It needed a few new holes drilled (did them on a drill press and still botched a couple…), but it fits perfectly otherwise. On top of the plate, I added Poron switch-surround pads at each switch cutout.

**Stabsss**  
The PC plate was designed for PCB-mount stabs, so the plate-mount stab slots on the Ace didn’t line up. The PCB *did* have a cutout for a PCB-mount spacebar stab, so I dropped in a lubed Durock V3 screw-in there. For the other stab locations, there were no PCB-mount cutouts, so I improvised: cut the legs off Durock stabs, put Poron pads under each stab footprint, and used a tiny amount of RTV to tack the stab housings to the Poron. They hold well but still pull off easily.

**Foam / Poron Stack Mods**  
Below the plate, I swapped the stock silicone layer for \~4mm Poron LE-32 (originally for a 96-key board, but the 65% core matched so I trimmed the excess and cut holes for the screw points). I removed the stock PET sheet and kept my 0.5mm Poron switch pads on top of the PCB.

Under the PCB, the board originally had a super thin low-density foam. I had removed it earlier to add Kapton + fiberglass tape, but that left air gaps and didn’t feel necessary. So I ditched the Kapton, put the thin foam back, and then laid a sheet of PTFE fiberglass tape over it to tie everything together without leaving voids.

Below that: two layers of 2mm Poron LE-20 (I prefer two layers vs. a single 4mm because it adds a bit of acoustic decoupling). At the bottom, I kept the polycarbonate lower plate — tested both ways, didn’t notice any real difference.

**Mounting Method**  
Since I can’t screw the PCB to the plate anymore, the whole stack is held in place using the case screws (8 of the original 10). I tightened them finger-tight and backed off \~⅛ turn. It basically turns into a soft pseudo-gasket mount, and the improvement in sound/feel is huge.

Swapped my Gravastar UFO keys off for another build and went back to the stock TTC Dragon Lords.

**Final Layer Stack (top to bottom):**

* Keycaps
* TTC Dragon Lord switches
* Poron switch surrounds
* Polycarbonate positioning plate
* \~4mm Poron LE-32
* 0.5mm Poron switch pads
* PCB
* Thin open-cell foam
* PTFE fiberglass tape
* 2× 2mm Poron LE-20
* Polycarbonate lower plate
* Holy aluminum case

All the parts (including the Holy case) cost around **C$150** — almost 4× the price of the board itself, ironically — but the end result is way better than I expected and still under my personal C$200 ceiling.

Also, I treated myself to the MCHOSE A7X Ultra… absolute dream mouse! and it pairs perfectly with the Holy case aesthetic.

Happy to answer Qs if anyone’s considering similar mods!

Update: Now Super-Modded Ace 68