[GB] Cherry MX Silent Black Switches - Shipping Update

[wholypantalones]

Until someone posts irrefutable proof by actually putting nickels on the two different switches proving that these springs are definitely lighter, I would hold off on getting your panties in a bunch about this. You can't tell a spring weight by looking at them side by side with another spring.

I don't have enough coins, is this good enough? (compared to a normal black, silent black is bottomed out while normal black is a bit over 50% depressed)

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Edit: I could have swapped the spring to make it lighter so everyone freaks the **** out, if you don't believe what I'm saying providing pics with coins on top of a switch proves nothing

Is holding two switches together enough? Maybe I'm just dim, but what does that accomplish?

It's a pretty decent test.  I tried this with several switches that had the same springs in them.  They all depressed fairly evenly (both stems approximately the same distance into their housings).  However, if you take springs with different force curves, you'll see some back and forth pushing in this test.  Maybe the actuation is the same, but the force curve is different/lighter after actuation.

interesting, I have some silent blacks / silent reds I bought months ago. I guess I'll have to try this and see what the difference is between vintage blacks and reds / silent reds. I'm using the silent blacks in my Filco and I didn't notice a difference in spring weight.

[KaosJ]

Many people get their switches already and still no coin test. 

I just installed them on a board and they definitely feel much lighter than sennin32's plate mounted silent blacks. I don't mind it at all anyway.

 

Please, since you have 2 different silent black, can you just do the coin test for us? 

[TalkingTree]

VicareyG's on the right, sennin32's on the left.

Excuse the poor pictures' quality. Anyway you should notice that VicareyG's blacks bottom out with seven coins while sennin32's don't.

For reference, those are three fifty eurocent pieces and four two euro coins.

[Vadurr]

VicareyG's on the right, sennin32's on the left.

Excuse the poor pictures' quality. Anyway you should notice that VicareyG's blacks bottom out with seven coins while sennin32's don't.

For reference, those are three fifty eurocent pieces and four two euro coins.

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Hmmm :\

[kawasaki161]

inb4 someone is still not convinced because it weren't 'murican nickels

[KaosJ]

VicareyG's on the right, sennin32's on the left.

Excuse the poor pictures' quality. Anyway you should notice that VicareyG's blacks bottom out with seven coins while sennin32's don't.

For reference, those are three fifty eurocent pieces and four two euro coins.

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First of all, thanks a lot for the pics.   

To resume you put a total of 57.4g weight and VicaryG silent black bottomout while sennin silent black doesn't (and in fact it shouldn't). 
A Cherry MX Black should actuate at 55-60g and should bottomout at 75-80g, so the sennin silent black has the right behaviour of a black. 

Also, these springs, i counted 9 COILS on the left, 12 COILS on the right, the spring is clearly different.

Also 2, Cherry MX Red has a ~54g bottomout, so the theory of cherry mx red spring might be true, don't have any cherry red on my hands now so i can't check out the mx red spring (maybe someone here can tho). 


Not sure what happened on this but i will definetely follow it because i didn't wanted such a light spring and i would be disappointed receiving them.
For now, just sad  :(

[xondat]

Well this sucks. Got 480 for Christmas hoping they were normal...

[TalkingTree]

Alright, who's organizing the springs GB then?

[KaosJ]

Well this sucks. Got 480 for Christmas hoping they were normal...

360 here, same  
Anyway that's totally on Cherry, they wrote everywhere that the silent black has 60g actuation and 80g bottomout.   
Also Novelkeys said that his other pcb mounted silent has the same spring, so probably their whole batch of PCB mounted silent black are ****ed up.


Not really sure how they put the wrong spring inside, but this will be a huge problem to solve honestly, not sure how they want to fix this. 

[KaosJ]

Alright, who's organizing the springs GB then?

Pretty sure we shouldn't, Cherry highly ****ed up here.

Please VicaryG contact them and tell them about the problem (showing some of our weight methods), seems like an unnoticed error on their side  for all the Silent Black PCB mounted.

[DreLLin]

Ok did a full test series with Retooled Blacks, Vintage Blacks, Silent Blacks from GB, Silent Reds and Silent Blacks from Reichelt.


Got the weight of the € Coins from https://www.mdm.de/muenzwelt/euro-muenzen-uebersicht/gewicht-euromuenzen


From left to right: Retooled Blacks, Vintage Blacks, Silent Blacks from GB, Silent Reds, Silen Blacks from Reichelt


Retooled Black ~84g


Vintage Black ~78g


Silent Black from GB ~55g


Silent Red ~52g


Silent Black from Reichelt ~67g


Springs from left to right: Retooled Blacks, Vintage Blacks, Silent Blacks from GB, Silent Reds, Silen Blacks from Reichelt


Left Silent Black from GB vs Silent Black from Reichelt on the right


Full Album: https://imgur.com/a/7E2qV

[KaosJ]

Ok did a full test series with Retooled Blacks, Vintage Blacks, Silent Blacks from GB, Silent Reds and Silent Blacks from Reichelt.

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Got the weight of the € Coins from https://www.mdm.de/muenzwelt/euro-muenzen-uebersicht/gewicht-euromuenzen

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From left to right: Retooled Blacks, Vintage Blacks, Silent Blacks from GB, Silent Reds, Silen Blacks from Reichelt

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Retooled Black ~84g

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Vintage Black ~78g

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Silent Black from GB ~55g

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Silent Red ~52g

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Silent Black from Reichelt ~67g

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Springs from left to right: Retooled Blacks, Vintage Blacks, Silent Blacks from GB, Silent Reds, Silen Blacks from Reichelt

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Left Silent Black from GB vs Silent Black from Reichelt on the right


Full Album: https://imgur.com/a/7E2qV

 

Thanks. 

So the Reichelt (plate mounted) is the same spring of all the other MX black (and they probably have a lower bottomout because of the reduced travel), while the GB silent black (pcb mounted) is confimed to have a spring much similar (if not the same) to MX red/MX silent red. 

Thanks Cherry :confused:

[duynguyenle]

Interesting findings, thanks all for documenting spring behaviour. Seems someone at Cherry ****ed up the spring spec. I was gonna spring swap all the ones I got anyway, so all in all this probably doesn't actually impact me all that much, but I would be interested to know what remedy/renumeration the distributor/manufacturer can offer us in this case, and before it comes to that, where the responsibility lies, seeing as they are two separate entities (right? I am assuming George didn't order them direct from Cherry)

[metalliqaz]

Very nice write-up, DreLLin.  Odd as it sounds it does seem like Cherry produced a bunch of silent reds with black stems.

[hansichen]

I would have changed the springs for lighter ones so it saves me some work, but that should definetly not happen.

[Giorgio]

I would have changed the springs for lighter ones so it saves me some work, but that should definetly not happen.

Me too :-)

[Vadurr]

I hope cherry is able to remedy this somehow 

[ojrask]

Aw man, I wanted blacks for the weight they're known for. Any idea if replacements are in order or if we have to resort to spring swapping? I've never spring swapped so it would not hurt to learn though.

[joey]

I also bought these blacks to replace my reds which were too light

[TalkingTree]

I hope cherry is able to remedy this somehow 

Even if Cherry provided free black springs, we would still have to pay for the shipment as VicareyG is the actual only customer to Cherry.
I have some standard reds on a keyboard and it actually feels the same of these ones.

[KaosJ]

I hope cherry is able to remedy this somehow 

Even if Cherry provided free black springs, we would still have to pay for the shipment as VicareyG is the actual only customer to Cherry.
I have some standard reds on a keyboard and it actually feels the same of these ones.

 

I doubt Cherry should provide only the springs, on 96k switches i'm pretty sure many didn't wanted to open the switch at all.
This is a weird situation, not sure which could be the fair solution.

[TalkingTree]

I doubt Cherry should provide only the springs, on 96k switches i'm pretty sure many didn't wanted to open the switch at all.
This is a weird situation, not sure which could be the fair solution.

Tell me about it. I have 600 pieces.

[KaosJ]

I doubt Cherry should provide only the springs, on 96k switches i'm pretty sure many didn't wanted to open the switch at all.
This is a weird situation, not sure which could be the fair solution.

Tell me about it. I have 600 pieces.

I hope you didn't planned to open them ALL now  
Since we are both in Italy, we should pay a slavery service to open 1000 switches for us

[TalkingTree]

I hope you didn't planned to open them ALL now  

I have two full size boards to give as gift and, lucky, silent reds in disguise will do. That trim the numbers down to like 400.

Since we are both in Italy, we should pay a slavery service to open 1000 switches for us

Good idea but let's discuss that in private.

[Prelim]

Cherry should provide the original Silent Black springs at least! (67g as shown above)

[KaosJ]

Cherry should provide the original Silent Black springs at least! (67g as shown above)

 

I believe that the real silent black spring is the same of blacks (so not 67g) but it will result in 67g because of the reduced travel, make sense?

[mgsickler]

I received the our batch of switches last night, all 48,000 of them.

They definitely do have springs that are lighter than MX Blacks, and just a hair heavier than MX Silent Reds. The crazy part about all of this is that they match the silent blacks in my Cherry G80 Keyboard. This is not an isolated issue with our batch, but it would seem an issue with a lot of Cherry PCB Mount Silent Blacks. I dont have Plate Mounted Silent Blacks to test these against, but the previous write up is pretty damning.

If anyone would like to cancel their order with me, I will allow it because of this issue. Please notify me (via email with your order number) before the end of Sunday, as I am going to try to get these all in the mail on Monday.

[KaosJ]

I received the our batch of switches last night, all 48,000 of them.

They definitely do have springs that are lighter than MX Blacks, and just a hair heavier than MX Silent Reds. The crazy part about all of this is that they match the silent blacks in my Cherry G80 Keyboard. This is not an isolated issue with our batch, but it would seem an issue with a lot of Cherry PCB Mount Silent Blacks. I dont have Plate Mounted Silent Blacks to test these against, but the previous write up is pretty damning.

If anyone would like to cancel their order with me, I will allow it because of this issue. Please notify me (via email with your order number) before the end of Sunday, as I am going to try to get these all in the mail on Monday.

It is crazy that their whole batch of pcb mounted silent black is ****ed up and no one ever noticed it. 

[VicareyG]

I have contacted the distributor about this. I don't expect a reply until Monday since it is a weekend however.

I will keep you all updated with any news I receive.

[mgsickler]

It is crazy that their whole batch of pcb mounted silent black is ****ed up and no one ever noticed it.

No doubt. It is truly insane.

[funderburker]

Oh man, this **** up by Cherry is just  !

I jumped on this GB because of the spring weight as Red would've been too light for me. Sad to see this coming up given previous mishaps already. I'd be fine with opening up switches and changing the springs BUT I think that shouldn't be necessary for those of us who would've been fine with MX Black springs.

There's probably a super low percentage that Cherry would send us 96k of springs.

Oh well... 

[KaosJ]

Oh man, this **** up by Cherry is just  !

I jumped on this GB because of the spring weight as Red would've been too light for me. Sad to see this coming up given previous mishaps already. I'd be fine with opening up switches and changing the springs BUT I think that shouldn't be necessary for those of us who would've been fine with MX Black springs.

There's probably a super low percentage that Cherry would send us 96k of springs.

Oh well... 

Sending springs is probably the wrong solution to this, since this was a GB :/   

[TalkingTree]

Sending springs is probably the wrong solution to this, since this was a GB :/

I'm afraid there's no other solution.

[KaosJ]

Sending springs is probably the wrong solution to this, since this was a GB :/

I'm afraid there's no other solution.

 

No i mean even a refund or partial refund is the way to go (depending on how good Cherry will handle this). 

Sending springs is the wrong way because this was a GB, so VicaryG will have to sort, pack and ship springs too, without even considering shipping cost.
Also many didn't planned to open their switches so sending spring will not change anything to them because they clearly wanted a silent black working out of the box without modifications, remember that we actually bought Cherry MX Silent Black, not DIY parts to assemble a Silent Black, so cherry had to provide a fully working silent black, not something that we have to "modify" and put effort into it. 

[xondat]

The springs are out of specification, so something definitely will happen.

It'll probably be something along these lines:

We figure out how many are affected, probably all of them; George reports to the vendor; vendor figure out how many of their switches are affected; vendor reports to Cherry; Cherry figure out number affected and find the best solution (which will probably be partial refunds); vendor gets partial refund; then George; then us.

I have contacted the distributor about this. I don't expect a reply until Monday since it is a weekend however.

I will keep you all updated with any news I receive.

Thanks.

[LightningXI]

I received the our batch of switches last night, all 48,000 of them.

They definitely do have springs that are lighter than MX Blacks, and just a hair heavier than MX Silent Reds. The crazy part about all of this is that they match the silent blacks in my Cherry G80 Keyboard. This is not an isolated issue with our batch, but it would seem an issue with a lot of Cherry PCB Mount Silent Blacks. I dont have Plate Mounted Silent Blacks to test these against, but the previous write up is pretty damning.

If anyone would like to cancel their order with me, I will allow it because of this issue. Please notify me (via email with your order number) before the end of Sunday, as I am going to try to get these all in the mail on Monday.

Can we wait until we receive contact from Cherry? I hate that it'll put shipping to hold, but I'd like to hear what Cherry has to say regarding the issue. Would they recall the switches? I got 5 packs, and given they are not all for my personal use, I would argue it'd be best if I had switches that matched the correct specifications. I'm torn as to whether I should request a refund, as I personally still prefer to type on lighter switches, although my ideal range is actually between reds and blacks.

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

[mgsickler]

I received the our batch of switches last night, all 48,000 of them.

They definitely do have springs that are lighter than MX Blacks, and just a hair heavier than MX Silent Reds. The crazy part about all of this is that they match the silent blacks in my Cherry G80 Keyboard. This is not an isolated issue with our batch, but it would seem an issue with a lot of Cherry PCB Mount Silent Blacks. I dont have Plate Mounted Silent Blacks to test these against, but the previous write up is pretty damning.

If anyone would like to cancel their order with me, I will allow it because of this issue. Please notify me (via email with your order number) before the end of Sunday, as I am going to try to get these all in the mail on Monday.

Can we wait until we receive contact from Cherry? I hate that it'll put shipping to hold, but I'd like to hear what Cherry has to say regarding the issue. Would they recall the switches? I got 5 packs, and given they are not all for my personal use, I would argue it'd be best if I had switches that matched the correct specifications. I'm torn as to whether I should request a refund, as I personally still prefer to type on lighter switches, although my ideal range is actually between reds and blacks.

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

The big problem with waiting to hear back is having no idea when or  if we will even hear back from Cherry. If people would like me to hold off on shipping their orders, I can do that as well. If I don’t hear anything, I would still really like to get these shipped out.

[wholypantalones]

I received the our batch of switches last night, all 48,000 of them.

They definitely do have springs that are lighter than MX Blacks, and just a hair heavier than MX Silent Reds. The crazy part about all of this is that they match the silent blacks in my Cherry G80 Keyboard. This is not an isolated issue with our batch, but it would seem an issue with a lot of Cherry PCB Mount Silent Blacks. I dont have Plate Mounted Silent Blacks to test these against, but the previous write up is pretty damning.

If anyone would like to cancel their order with me, I will allow it because of this issue. Please notify me (via email with your order number) before the end of Sunday, as I am going to try to get these all in the mail on Monday.

Can we wait until we receive contact from Cherry? I hate that it'll put shipping to hold, but I'd like to hear what Cherry has to say regarding the issue. Would they recall the switches? I got 5 packs, and given they are not all for my personal use, I would argue it'd be best if I had switches that matched the correct specifications. I'm torn as to whether I should request a refund, as I personally still prefer to type on lighter switches, although my ideal range is actually between reds and blacks.

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

The big problem with waiting to hear back is having no idea when or  if we will even hear back from Cherry. If people would like me to hold off on shipping their orders, I can do that as well. If I don’t hear anything, I would still really like to get these shipped out.

I'd rather not wait for these to ship because of springs, I know this is an issue for most people but it's not that big of a deal for me.

[xondat]

I received the our batch of switches last night, all 48,000 of them.

They definitely do have springs that are lighter than MX Blacks, and just a hair heavier than MX Silent Reds. The crazy part about all of this is that they match the silent blacks in my Cherry G80 Keyboard. This is not an isolated issue with our batch, but it would seem an issue with a lot of Cherry PCB Mount Silent Blacks. I dont have Plate Mounted Silent Blacks to test these against, but the previous write up is pretty damning.

If anyone would like to cancel their order with me, I will allow it because of this issue. Please notify me (via email with your order number) before the end of Sunday, as I am going to try to get these all in the mail on Monday.

Can we wait until we receive contact from Cherry? I hate that it'll put shipping to hold, but I'd like to hear what Cherry has to say regarding the issue. Would they recall the switches? I got 5 packs, and given they are not all for my personal use, I would argue it'd be best if I had switches that matched the correct specifications. I'm torn as to whether I should request a refund, as I personally still prefer to type on lighter switches, although my ideal range is actually between reds and blacks.

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

The big problem with waiting to hear back is having no idea when or  if we will even hear back from Cherry. If people would like me to hold off on shipping their orders, I can do that as well. If I don’t hear anything, I would still really like to get these shipped out.

Not ordered from you, but if I had the option with George, I think it should be an opt-in for shipping, not an opt-out. Not everyone follows the threads, or may not have access to internet (say on vacation or something). Unfortunate all around.

[xantiema]

I jumped on this GB because of the spring weight as Red would've been too light for me.

Pretty much the same here - these practically bottom out if I sneeze on them the wrong way

[mgsickler]

I tried to send out a mass email to everyone from my site. It says it went through, but I have no real way of knowing.

People who joined with me, could you let me know if you got my email? If not, I will go through and try to email everyone individually.

I'll be offering 3 choices

1) Cancel and refund
2) Ship out right away
3) Wait until we hear back from distributor and/or cherry

[zacheadams]

I tried to send out a mass email to everyone from my site. It says it went through, but I have no real way of knowing.

People who joined with me, could you let me know if you got my email? If not, I will go through and try to email everyone individually.

I'll be offering 3 choices

1) Cancel and refund
2) Ship out right away
3) Wait until we hear back from distributor and/or cherry

Didn't get the email you just sent (yet?) - but I'd prefer to get them ASAP since I've got springs on deck to swap in.

Thanks for handling this plausible nightmare and thanks to VicareyG too, this is definitely not his fault either, just very very weird and very very unfortunate.

[xantiema]

I tried to send out a mass email to everyone from my site. It says it went through, but I have no real way of knowing.

People who joined with me, could you let me know if you got my email? If not, I will go through and try to email everyone individually.

I'll be offering 3 choices

1) Cancel and refund
2) Ship out right away
3) Wait until we hear back from distributor and/or cherry

Didn't get the email you just sent (yet?) - but I'd prefer to get them ASAP since I've got springs on deck to swap in.

Thanks for handling this plausible nightmare and thanks to VicareyG too, this is definitely not his fault either, just very very weird and very very unfortunate.

This is obviously on Cherry and no one else, also quite well handled by GB organizers considering the messy situation.

Cherry however needs to somehow make this right. For someone only using Blacks, it isn't fun having to compromise with Reds.. the feeling is worlds apart.

[mgsickler]

Didn't get the email you just sent (yet?) - but I'd prefer to get them ASAP since I've got springs on deck to swap in.

Thanks for handling this plausible nightmare and thanks to VicareyG too, this is definitely not his fault either, just very very weird and very very unfortunate.

Thanks for letting me know. I went ahead and just sent everything out manually.

Thanks for being cool about this too!

[wholypantalones]

I tried to send out a mass email to everyone from my site. It says it went through, but I have no real way of knowing.

People who joined with me, could you let me know if you got my email? If not, I will go through and try to email everyone individually.

I'll be offering 3 choices

1) Cancel and refund
2) Ship out right away
3) Wait until we hear back from distributor and/or cherry

I got it, I'm going with #2 and not replying.

[zacheadams]

Didn't get the email you just sent (yet?) - but I'd prefer to get them ASAP since I've got springs on deck to swap in.

Thanks for handling this plausible nightmare and thanks to VicareyG too, this is definitely not his fault either, just very very weird and very very unfortunate.

Thanks for letting me know. I went ahead and just sent everything out manually.

Thanks for being cool about this too!

I tried to send out a mass email to everyone from my site. It says it went through, but I have no real way of knowing.

People who joined with me, could you let me know if you got my email? If not, I will go through and try to email everyone individually.

I'll be offering 3 choices

1) Cancel and refund
2) Ship out right away
3) Wait until we hear back from distributor and/or cherry

I got it, I'm going with #2 and not replying.

Whether it was manual or automatic, I just got an email from ya.

[roostrc0gburn]

I tried to send out a mass email to everyone from my site. It says it went through, but I have no real way of knowing.

People who joined with me, could you let me know if you got my email? If not, I will go through and try to email everyone individually.

I'll be offering 3 choices

1) Cancel and refund
2) Ship out right away
3) Wait until we hear back from distributor and/or cherry

so.. you need a response from the email? just ship mine, please

[mgsickler]

so.. you need a response from the email? just ship mine, please

No response needed if you are wanting them shipped.

[Atredl]

I tried to send out a mass email to everyone from my site. It says it went through, but I have no real way of knowing.

People who joined with me, could you let me know if you got my email? If not, I will go through and try to email everyone individually.

I'll be offering 3 choices

1) Cancel and refund
2) Ship out right away
3) Wait until we hear back from distributor and/or cherry

I got your email. Went with option 2 since I was going to swap in lighter springs anyway.

[Kavik]

I tried to send out a mass email to everyone from my site. It says it went through, but I have no real way of knowing.

People who joined with me, could you let me know if you got my email? If not, I will go through and try to email everyone individually.

I'll be offering 3 choices

1) Cancel and refund
2) Ship out right away
3) Wait until we hear back from distributor and/or cherry

I'm rather conflicted on this because I do not want them at all if they have red springs, even with a partial refund (if that is the ultimate solution). I don't mind swapping springs if those springs are provided as the solution. But, if I get a full refund on this, I'll be paranoid that any other source of silent blacks will have this same problem since the bad batch may be larger than just our order. I also don't want to screw over NovelKeys by leaving it with bad inventory that will be paid out of pocket if I get my money back. Crappy situation. I'm leaning towards option 3, but I'll send my email later today confirming that.