Lack of innovation for MX style tactiles (Gateron Melodic Tactile mod?)

[Lanes]

This came to mind when I was trying out some Gateron Melodics for the first time. I was curious about the force curve because I knew something about these switches felt familiar, and when I looked it up I was right, they're extremely close in feel to Alps SKCM Orange. This made me wonder, why has nobody (or Gateron themselves) created a tactile switch using a tactile leaf rather than a click leaf to make an MX tactile. I know linears are all the rage right now so maybe that isn't gonna be everyone's cup of tea, but I still think it would be really cool for something like that to exist for those of us who love tactiles. I know that Zeal Clickiez can be tactile modded, but lets be honest, the tactile mode for those switches is nearly unusable for extended periods of time since they are so incredibly tactile and really fatiguing to type on even with a 40 gram spring.  I would love to know if anyone has successfully modded a Gateron Melodic to be tactile, because I haven't found any leads thus far on that.

Edit: I've attempted something similar to an Alps paper mod on the click leaf, slotted in behind the click leaf and then in between the top and bottom housing to secure it like a film. It works surprisingly well. Will experiment more and report back.

[zegonix]

i'm intrigued, tactiles for the win! looking forward to your follow up posts.

[Rob27shred]

Don't think there is a good way to mod Melodics to be tactile TBH. The feel may be similar to SKCM Orange ALPS, but the click mechanism is a mantis foot one similar to what was used in a lot of clicky ALPS clones. Which cannot be modded to be clicky or tactile like a click/tactile leaf from genuine ALPS AFAIK. The paper mod, while not meant to convert clicky to tactile may work here as you'd be cushioning the click leaf from slamming back off the housing to create the click noise. However I think you would need something thicker & denser than paper to truly isolate the leaf from the housing. Maybe try left over pieces of poron switch films or gaskets (seems to be enough space in melodics to get something thick behind the click leaf)? They might be just enough to kill the click while allowing the switch to still operate properly & would be my first shot if I was trying to make them tactile like you are.

[Lanes]

Don't think there is a good way to mod Melodics to be tactile TBH. The feel may be similar to SKCM Orange ALPS, but the click mechanism is a mantis foot one similar to what was used in a lot of clicky ALPS clones. Which cannot be modded to be clicky or tactile like a click/tactile leaf from genuine ALPS AFAIK. The paper mod, while not meant to convert clicky to tactile may work here as you'd be cushioning the click leaf from slamming back off the housing to create the click noise. However I think you would need something thicker & denser than paper to truly isolate the leaf from the housing. Maybe try left over pieces of poron switch films or gaskets (seems to be enough space in melodics to get something thick behind the click leaf)? They might be just enough to kill the click while allowing the switch to still operate properly & would be my first shot if I was trying to make them tactile like you are.

Yeah I'm gonna try some thin poron from some leftover switch pads. So far, a folded piece of wax paper seems to work pretty good, but there is still a small amount of click that is only noticeable when pushing down on the switch slowly. For consistency and a bit more dampening, I think some cut sticky poron from switch pads would work way better for dampening. I'm out of town until Friday but should have updates this weekend on how this goes.

[Lanes]

So the holidays and travel kind of had me super busy. Didn't get around to this until last weekend. They turned out AMAZING. Doing up a second batch for a friend now. Highly recommend doing this mod if you like SKCM Orange, they feel really similar like I suspected. I cut poron switch pads down to the right size to fit in, then stuck them to the wall away from the click leaf with some tweezers. It is time consuming work but worth it for the feel. Here are some pictures of the process.

[zegonix]

thanks a bunch for the follow up. i am tempted to give it a try. if i ever do, i hope i remember to write a comment here.

[zegonix]

got myself a batch of melodics this week. i will most certainly try this mod sometime soon.
though i am a little confused as to why the pad behind the click spring would suffice. i would have assumed, that one would need to cushion the hit of the spring on the stem. but i will be sure to examine the mechanism thoroughly.

[Lanes]

got myself a batch of melodics this week. i will most certainly try this mod sometime soon.
though i am a little confused as to why the pad behind the click spring would suffice. i would have assumed, that one would need to cushion the hit of the spring on the stem. but i will be sure to examine the mechanism thoroughly.

Very nice, I actually took it upon myself to make the idea behind this switch into a reality. The switches are called Gateron Lanes and feature an extended plastic shim to prevent the leaf from moving much at all. This keeps the leaf generated tactility while removing the click. We just got our production samples in from Gateron last night and they look good, hoping to start production here in the coming weeks and have the switch out with vendors in June or July. It will run with CTRL vendors (see list below)

Currently, vendors are confirmed for the following regions:

US: Bowl Keyboards
EU: Delta Key Co.
Asia: Swagkeys

Other regions to come.

[zegonix]

awesome. will it be a groupbuy or instock sale?
also didn't know delta key, good to know there is a store in europe, that sells boba u4 switches

[HungerMechanic]

This is really cool.

How do they compare with SKCM Orange and the Zeal Clickiez?

On the tactility / weight scale, are there comparisons you could provide with the BOX click-bar switches?

Can you get it down to a 10 g click-bar equivalent, like on BOX Whites?

[zegonix]

i am currently trying out the unmodded melodics and really like them.
a few moments ago i realised that this method of generating tactility would also enable you to choose your own adventure, if it was established enough. if you can just switch out the leafsprings you get a different tactile response, without having to buy new switches.

[zegonix]

well i tried out the mod, but i did not like the result. with the mod, the tactility is much softer, which is somewhat expected, but also not to my liking.
still quite excited to test out the lanes switches, maybe you found a solution to get the best of both worlds? and if not, it is still an interesting project