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Buckling Spring Model – Understanding the IBM Patent

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talis:
I'm actually starting to think that a good portion of the key sound comes from the spring buckling against the little angled ridge in the key cap itself.  That would also give it the most tactility when it buckles.



I pulled a spring out of one of my boards last night, and could actually get a reasonably loud click just buckling the spring against that alone.  The spring being bound in the barrel probably contributes as well, as does the hammer.

keyb_gr:
Speaking of buckling spring mechanisms, today I found this Alps patent describing one that apparently is supposed to improve upon IBM's. Now I'm no ALPSpert but I had absolutely no clue that they also looked into these. I wonder whether this ever made it into a real keyboard?

lowpoly:
Excellent work, ripster.

As for the sound source, I got the A01 from lam. It came with some spare switches. The spare switches, even with keycap, are a lot quieter than those in the keyboard. So, at least with the A01 much of the noise is generated by the hammer hitting the rubber sheet below. Might not be 100% transferable to regular Ms.

And that animated gif reminds me of a musician tapping with his foot. :smile:

talis:
Its not the barrel, its the wedge in the key cap, the spring hits it fairly hard when it buckles over and makes contact along a fairly large area.



Watch how the spring whacks against the cap as it tips over (the top of the spring no longer makes contact with the key cap, it ends up at about 75deg angle.

lowpoly:

--- Quote from: talis;101905 ---Its not the barrel, its the wedge in the key cap, the spring hits it fairly hard when it buckles over and makes contact along a fairly large area.

Watch how the spring whacks against the cap as it tips over (the top of the spring no longer makes contact with the key cap, it ends up at about 75deg angle.
--- End quote ---
That's the A01 removable switch. If the hammer doesn't hit anything the switch is fairly quiet. This perfectly fits with ripster's discovery about the hurting foot.

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