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ALPS spring surgery

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andb:
I decided to try the Alps Spring Surgery Mod too, and am happy with the the results. I used a Zenith ZB-2 with Alps yellows. I've posted comparison pics of a normal spring and the cut spring in the upper housing.

I found the easiest way to get them back in is upside down. As I don't have a special stand for this, my technique involved resting the 'board on my head and snapping the housing in from below. As comical as it must look, I can report excellent results when re-assembling the board.

My impressions? Its great. I really like the light feel. I do find myself sometimes pressing keys while I'm thinking or concentrating on something else. Also, I cut some of the springs a bit too short I think, sometimes while typing fast I hear a bit of a rattling noise under the keycap, which is I think the spring shaking around or sliding. There is no tactile change related to this noise, so I can easily live with it.

I found it tough to cut all the springs the same length. So I used the shortest ones on the pinky fingers. Fortunately they were all usable after the mod.

In the future, I think I may look for a spring company and buy a batch of a spring that exactly fits my needs. I like the light pressure, but I think the ideal situation is to replace the spring with a same length spring, not cutting it down.

That said, I'm happy I did the mod, but would recommend that you do it with an extra set of springs on hand as replacements in case it doesn't work out.

sandy55:

--- Quote from: andb;20238 ---I found the easiest way to get them back in is upside down. As I don't have a special stand for this, my technique involved resting the 'board on my head and snapping the housing in from below. As comical as it must look, I can report excellent results when re-assembling the board.
--- End quote ---


An ideal tip for reassembling alps linears;
"holding a stem/housing combo with a magnet".  I learned it through BBS from Qwerters aurthor.  
You may have 2 or 3 of dead 2.5" hard drive in your junk box. you can harvest a magnet from a dead drive. The method is handy. but I do not know if there is any issue of magnetization on springs.

wellington1869:

--- Quote from: sandy55;20242 ---An ideal tip for reassembling alps linears;
"holding a stem/housing combo with a magnet".  I learned it through BBS from Qwerters aurthor.  
You may have 2 or 3 of dead 2.5" hard drive in your junk box. you can harvest a magnet from a dead drive. The method is handy. but I do not know if there is any issue of magnetization on springs.
Show Image
--- End quote ---


thats an interesting tip for sure. I'll have to try it next time. I have some magnets lying around.

The pegcil should come with a little magnet on the other end, lol.

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