[IC] Kailh Box PCB Mount Bottom Housings

[donutcat]

Form link https://goo.gl/forms/YTLPDC74Vt0fmYJG2

Quick and dirty IC to figure out if this is even worth the effort of doing the math on. I've talked a little with Mike from Novelkeys about it and Kailh would do it if the mold was paid for, but it just costs a lot.

PCB mount bottoms would give benefits like

 - Less twisting when soldering
 - More secure fit to the PCB
 - Able to be used plateless or with half-plates

The option in the form for full switches or bottoms only is for the hypothetical funding period only. If this were fully funded then the usual Box switches would just be available with PCB mount bottoms.

[Jacob4341]

Yes please! I would only need bottom housing, but offering box switches with PCB mount seems like a great idea!

[finalarcadia]

Do want, this is exactly what we need with all the Swiss cheese plates out there. Also try not to make the legs too thick like gateron, as it's way too tight with most PCBs.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[OracleKev]

Does bottom here refer to everything but top, slider, spring?
What might be rough price differential between bottom vs switch?  If it is small, it might not to worth to render plate mount bottoms useless.

[.]

Does bottom here refer to everything but top, slider, spring?
What might be rough price differential between bottom vs switch?  If it is small, it might not to worth to render plate mount bottoms useless.

Yes, the bottom is just the bottom part of the switch. I'd really like to see this happen so I can use other switches besides Gateron and Cherry in my PCB-mounted boards. Thanks, donutcat!

[Puddsy]

vaguely interested for a dumb project idea i have

[Kevadu]

Which bottom housings though?  For the clicky switches the clickbar is attached to the bottom housing.  And Box Royals have a very different bottom housing than standard tactile box switches.  I don't think you can treat the bottom housing as interchangeable, they're part of the switch design.

[donutcat]

Which bottom housings though?  For the clicky switches the clickbar is attached to the bottom housing.  And Box Royals have a very different bottom housing than standard tactile box switches.  I don't think you can treat the bottom housing as interchangeable, they're part of the switch design.

All the Box bottom housings are the same, the only difference is the presence of the click bar, which can be moved over if the bottoms are swapped. There is also another version of the contact leaf that is used for some of the tactiles, but this can also be transferred over.

[pixelpusher]

Interested as long as the pins aren't super thick like zealios and some gateron 5pin.  I like to use box switches on my hot swap boards, but those thiccc pins make it a PITA

[ideus]

Thick me interested.

[darthzero]

No pcb mount option is the only thing holding me back buying boxed switches so thank you for trying. <3   
+1 for eu proxy
+1 for pcb mount Novelias xD

[R4WBIT]

Really great initiative.
Would buy lots of box switches if they were PCB-mounted.

[OracleKev]

Looking at the responses, Kalih should have offered PCB mount switches from the get go.
Better reception with the enthusiast community and no plate loose fit issue.
It's bit strange Kalih isn't aggressive on funding the mold.

[romevi]

Interested in bottoms only.

[tex_live_utility]

Looking at the responses, Kalih should have offered PCB mount switches from the get go.
Better reception with the enthusiast community and no plate loose fit issue.
It's bit strange Kalih isn't aggressive on funding the mold.

To be fair, Kailh switches always seemed to have the tightest grip on plates.

[garbo]

All the Box bottom housings are the same, the only difference is the presence of the click bar, which can be moved over if the bottoms are swapped. There is also another version of the contact leaf that is used for some of the tactiles, but this can also be transferred over.

There's also the different types of nub that protrude from the box, which do make a difference to feel (green round ones on linears and hakos and brown pointy ones on the rest, AFAIK). Switching those or the contact leaves would be kind of a pain for a whole keyboard's worth of switches, so I think it would make sense to offer different kinds.

[hineybush]

I'd certainly be more inclined to using these if they were PCB mount.

[donutcat]

All the Box bottom housings are the same, the only difference is the presence of the click bar, which can be moved over if the bottoms are swapped. There is also another version of the contact leaf that is used for some of the tactiles, but this can also be transferred over.

There's also the different types of nub that protrude from the box, which do make a difference to feel (green round ones on linears and hakos and brown pointy ones on the rest, AFAIK). Switching those or the contact leaves would be kind of a pain for a whole keyboard's worth of switches, so I think it would make sense to offer different kinds.

Those still have no bearing on the bottom housing itself, the design is still the same whether it has one set of leaves/nubs or the other. Whichever one of those it contains would be decided at production depending on how that is done.

[Kavik]

This needs to happen. BOX switches are usually very tight in the plate, but they are hard to get straight in areas where plate coverage is sparse for compatibility reasons.

[garbo]

All the Box bottom housings are the same, the only difference is the presence of the click bar, which can be moved over if the bottoms are swapped. There is also another version of the contact leaf that is used for some of the tactiles, but this can also be transferred over.

There's also the different types of nub that protrude from the box, which do make a difference to feel (green round ones on linears and hakos and brown pointy ones on the rest, AFAIK). Switching those or the contact leaves would be kind of a pain for a whole keyboard's worth of switches, so I think it would make sense to offer different kinds.

Those still have no bearing on the bottom housing itself, the design is still the same whether it has one set of leaves/nubs or the other. Whichever one of those it contains would be decided at production depending on how that is done.

The point is, the bottoms don't really seem like such desirable product if using them involves swapping out those parts. Maybe I just lack tweezer dexterity but I've found the nubs and leaves pretty annoying to swap - the extra labour involved would more or less cancel out the convenience of not having to worry about getting them in straight, as far as I'm concerned.

The idea of financing the tooling through the community is good, given Kailh's reluctance. But it's not as if the implementation of the actual group buy isn't important. Don't you need to decide what you'd actually be selling?

[OracleKev]

Looking at the responses, Kalih should have offered PCB mount switches from the get go.
Better reception with the enthusiast community and no plate loose fit issue.
It's bit strange Kalih isn't aggressive on funding the mold.

To be fair, Kailh switches always seemed to have the tightest grip on plates.

Actually you might be confusing strong tactile sensation when Box switches are inserted as "tight grip"
That is due to Box switches having more pronounced little bumps North and South sides (red boxed in photo).
The fit issue people complain about shows up as alignment issue.  This happens when switches are in place.
The fit issue is due to two problems.
1) South side of the Box switch is really thin (note huge LED clearing emptiness) and it bends easily
2) Middle leg on the bottom of the Box switches is considerably smaller
Due to these, Box switches wobble when inserted into plate position that holds it from North and South sides.
Even in a plate position that surrounds the switch from all sides, Box switches seems more sensitive when hole size vary.

Anyway, PCB mount should really help Box switches.

[wangledorf]

Very interested!

[spacewolf]

Thanks for this. I replied to the form. Looking forward to seeing these one day.

[.]

Any update on this?

[ideus]

KBS have no future until their cross size has been fixed and evidence that it does not break key cap stems is published.