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.