How many switches to purchase?

[rsrogers4]

I'm just starting in this hobby, and have a noob question. I plan to buy some switches, and I would like to know how many to buy. If the FCFS gods look kindly on me, I plan to get a Frog TKL keyboard that needs 88 switches. How many more should I buy to cover for switch failures? Should I bump the amount up to 110+ just in case (edit: I add a numpad)?

[yui]

personally i'd buy 90 in your situation, well depending on the pricing, sometimes it is cheaper by 100 or 110 so then take the cheaper option (kaihl bronze from CandyKeys where cheaper buying 1*100 than 9*10 when i bought mine for example)
switches rarely die without some help, like a spilled drink or a way too long soldering time, so you should be fine there.
although that only apply if you do not plan to disasemble the switches to mod them, then yeah take a few more, so that you have some lee way for lost parts and failures (then the number depend on how confident you are on your learning speed and organizational skills , for me, being lazy and disorganized, i would get maybe 30 to 50 more, because i know spring will go pinging everywhere )

[rsrogers4]

personally i'd buy 90 in your situation

Thanks!

[jcoffin1981]

I would get 100.  The difference between 90 and 100 is probably very little.  You could get a bad or even just pingy switch. Legs can be broken/bent/missing.  Also, say you spill a drink on it and need to replace a few sometime in the future.
To go back and buy an additional 10 is going to be more than getting the difference between 90 and 100 (most likely depending on vendor).  Just my two cents. I just hate to cut it so close.

[tp4tissue]

If you already have the switch picked out for sure, get 90.  But if you're not SURE, I don't know bout getting a full set right away.

It's important that you get vaccinated, so you can go to the meetups when we get over covid.

We have a crossover crowd w/ comicon types (hygiene issue).

[Hamptonn]

I normally order 110 for anything under a full sized board, then I'll order 120. I agree with tp4tissue, if you don't know what you want order a handful of a couple switch types and assess from there. That said, I also order switches just to have around/in case I might want them in the future so ymmv