I bought my (quiet click) switches from The Keyboard Company. Unsure if they're retooled or not, and even what difference this makes.
I'll try to get some measurements of everything this weekend, but in the meantime if somebody knows the ins and outs of Matias switches, let me know.

The Nexus sliders I measure at a maximum width of 11 mm. The Matias quiet click sliders are about 10.6 mm, and the width of the track in the upper housing is 10.9 mm.
If anybody could check the numbers they get for confirmed retooled Matias switches, I'd appreciate it.

Hmm, my matias housings measure 11mm to 11.1mm(measured both sides of 5 random switches that weren't from the group I tested prototypes with), and I know they are retooled because they are from the first batch that was overlubed from factory after the tooling change.

Maybe they did change or there are some "under-sized"(within matias' spec) cavities in their mold and I got a batch of the larger cavities? Hard to imagine the latter as they most likely don't organize switches based on cavity for assembly unless they have a fairly large tolerance that would necessitate such a task. The top housings I measured are cavities A, C, F, I, and O (marked on the top of the housing), all of which easily fit the slider and have no issue.

I just tried with various top housing letters. Same story as previous with A, H, B, P, S, J. No difference. I guess these markings don't mean a whole lot, and that my batch is from a different production. Just to make sure, you're measuring the thinnest part of the inside of the track right? If that's indeed 11-11.1 then I can see that working smoothly.

May I ask where you got yours, and what sort of Matias switches they were? I think I'll just have to get another batch, since there's no way I'm getting these working.

Yes I am measuring the thinnest part(at least what I assume you call the thinnest part), the part that actually touches the slider not the groove between those. The slider is also drafted(only 1 degree) on the sides so the center is a tad higher(which rides in the groove) and tapers off towards the outside.

I don't know where I got them, but they are from the first batches after the last known(to me and many others) retooling either in 2018 or late 2017(can't remember when it happened exactly) as it was still in the batch that was overlubed from factory(which they later fixed).

Here are some more cavities I have: All Quiet Clicks(tactile)

Cavity	Samples	Contact side	Leaf side
A	9	11.04mm	11.11mm
B	2	11.04mm	11.08mm
J	4	11.04mm	11.08mm
S	3	11.02mm	11.08mm
K	7	11.07mm	11.10mm
M	6	11.06mm	11.11mm

I'm also selling mine in the Geekhack classifieds section if anyone's interested.

Is there any chance of a further revision of these? I'm interested in them, but it seems some minor issues are still unresolved.

Probably not for quite a while, from what I understand. BlindAssassin111 is currently pretty busy with some other projects (CandyBar, M011Y, and GMK Night Runner). Also, considering MOQs were tough to hit in R1, and that since the needed revisions would require new molds, the prices and MOQs would be the same for R2 as they were for R1.

The majority of the issues seem to have been the unfortunate cruciform issue (due to being modeled after the Kailh BOX switches, prior to knowing about the issue with them), the double click with clicky Alps variants, and some issues with conflicting reports of Matias housings not fitting properly.

Has anyone here used them with SKCM oranges?

Here is my review of Nexus with Orange Alps:
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=94500.msg2690113#msg2690113

I still haven’t built a full board with them (mostly, because of the stem issue and not wanting to damage my GMK sets, but I have a stem shaving tool on hand now, so that’s no longer going to be an issue), but hopefully that will be changing as soon as the new Alps compatible CA66 Bluetooth PCBs and plates ship...

Is there any chance of a further revision of these? I'm interested in them, but it seems some minor issues are still unresolved.

Has anyone here used them with SKCM oranges?

I want to do a V2 at some point but not sure how viable that is given the struggle of R1 to meet MOQ. If I do a V2 it will be either late this year or next year as I am in no rush to start the whole process over again...

I got a set and was initially worried when I tried some filco keycaps, as they suffered binding issues quite badly, but today I put some SA chalk winmax caps on, and they're flawless! No binding at all, and conveniently as they're caps known for being a bit loose on stems, they're snug and not stretched on the nexus sliders.

I'm totally satisfied with the keyfeel too, the tactility is what I want.

So I finally started to do a build with my Nexus sliders.  I had been sitting on them for a while not sure what to do with them so probably none of this is really new...

Due to the issues with clicky Alps I decided to use these with some orange Alps I harvested from an AEK.  And when I was building the loose switches you know what, they actually felt really good.  In some ways they actually felt better with the new top housing and slider than they did before, but then they weren't exactly new switches starting out.  But I was feeling pretty about the whole thing and proceeded to make a board's worth of loose switches...

Then I put keycaps on them.  Yikes.

The binding is horrible.  This is with GMK caps so maybe other kinds are better, but I consider these completely unusable at this point.  Whole build is on hold now as I try to figure out what the heck to do with these things because I sure as heck don't want to type on these switches as they are...

Edit:

So I tried some SP SA caps in them instead of the GMK caps and the difference is night and day.  They feel fine with the SA caps.  But I really don't understand why because when I compare the actual stems of the two sets of caps I can't hardly see any differences.  I guess the GMK stems might be a tiny bit wider, maybe that's all it takes.

Bottom line: Do not plan on using GMK caps with Nexus sliders, at least not without some top housing modifications.

Just thought I'd offer my opinion:

The Nexus top housings are a failure - they change the feel of the switch too much, and for clicky switches they neuter the click. On top of that they bind horribly.

However, Nexus sliders in original Alps housings are excellent. I'd recommend using original Alps housings and filing the opening wider as required. It takes a while to do though, I definitely underestimated the time I'd need to file down 68 Alps tops. And make sure to blow out the plastic dust when you're done since you don't want to make your switches scratchy.

I have a full 68 board with Nexus orange Alps (and modded Alps tops) on Cherry profile caps and they feel good. They still do change the feel a bit though, the tactility is a bit more rounded than on original orange Alps, which is a slight downgrade to me, but on the other hand the big stabilised keys feel like Topre now.

I also tried putting blue Alps click leaves in some of the switches for testing, and they are even better. Despite the issues some people seem to be having with clicky Alps, if you use original (but modded) Alps tops, clicky Nexus Alps are amazing - they feel just like original (probably because the click leaf keeps the tactility feeling 'sharp').

If you plan on using these with Cherry stabilisers, do note that the keycap actually doesn't sit all the way down on the stabiliser stems, so if the keycap's fit on the stabiliser is a bit loose, and you push the key on one side all the way down, the other side might pop up. Might be better to use Costar (or Alps stabilisers with the Nexus inserts).

So after playing around with SA caps some more (with the Nexus top housings) I can say that while the binding isn't as bad as it was with GMK caps, there are still issues.  And it's enough to make me want to ditch that plan too.  Honestly I think the problem is simply that the opening is a bit too small so the stem of the keycap is getting caught on the housing on off-center key presses.

Filing down the original housings sounds quite tedious.  Has anyone tried using a dremel or something for that?  Would that work?

What about Matias switches?  I might be more willing to experiment with those than with real Alps.

Quote from: Kevadu on Sat, 20 July 2019, 11:46:54

So after playing around with SA caps some more (with the Nexus top housings) I can say that while the binding isn't as bad as it was with GMK caps, there are still issues.  And it's enough to make me want to ditch that plan too.  Honestly I think the problem is simply that the opening is a bit too small so the stem of the keycap is getting caught on the housing on off-center key presses.

Filing down the original housings sounds quite tedious.  Has anyone tried using a dremel or something for that?  Would that work?

What about Matias switches?  I might be more willing to experiment with those than with real Alps.

The opening was smaller than it needed to be, but the odd part I still can't figure out is that all samples were free of this problem yet the production parts had this issue. I tested with GMK without issue time and time again...

To fix the issue all you need is to get a 6mm round file (or a 6mm rod with sand paper glued to the outside) and pass through the top housing and file the opening a smidge. I know it is tedious but that is the only real way to do it.

Sorry y'all are having issues, wish it hadn't gone like this but **** happens...I have modified files done to a degree so maybe one day I will do a v2 that fixes all of the problems, but that day me quite a ways out or never come as I don't want to jump back into the stress any time soon.

I'll try this

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If anyone's interested in selling a set (70x + stabs), please PM me. Getting tired of my ABS Matias keycaps. :-)

Hi mate, any chance you're getting around to doing a V2 of your sliders sometime soon? I think this is a bang on idea, and I'm just waiting for something like this to show up again. It had some troubles in the first version but don't be deterred, nobody gets it right the first time!

Anyways thanks for what you did in this project already. It's amazing to see people do cool stuff like that

The plan was to run a v2 this year but that plan fell through unfortunately. Not sure if i will be able to do a v2 anytime soon as I have other projects I want to get out that I didn't get a chance to do this year either.

The plan was to run a v2 this year but that plan fell through unfortunately. Not sure if i will be able to do a v2 anytime soon as I have other projects I want to get out that I didn't get a chance to do this year either.

V2? How does the v2 compare to the v1?

Would join a GB immediately

Me too!


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Just registered, here to say I'd gladly pay double or even more what the V1 went for if you did another GB

I have a full board with v1 nexus sliders which I consider a moderate success, though I used modified 1st gen tops, not the nexus housings. I found pom on pom to be bindy and modified original top housings much better.

If this re-ran, I'd focus on just pine alps. It's honestly not worth bothering building a custom with bamboo alps, I've never understood the appeal of matias when they're just simplified clones. Focus on making it work amazingly with pine alps.

Not too fussed about inserts, it's really not hard to get a replacement plate made with costar or platemount cherry stabs. What'd make me buy again would be a better choice of material for the top housing, ideally as close to original alps as possible, but practically poly or nylon would be fine. Just some plastic which doesn't get bindy or squeaky when you rub the slider on it.

I completely understand you don't wanna make a loss again, or deal with fallout of there are issues. I got what I wanted from the first run, to use SA Dasher with SKCM orange.

Likewise, I've a bunch of these from R1 just lying around.

Quick question to those of you who are familiar with the end product: I'm trying to find a way to get make the 2U space on an MIT-layout Planck stabilized. Unfortunately, 2U Alps keycaps of any kind are very hard to find. The Planck has plate cutouts for Cherry stabs, and finding a 2U with an Alps stem but Cherry stabs is kinda a unicorn. I have some from Alpine Winter, but the profile and colourway are not idea.

I'd rather just use an MX cap for the space. I could even get a convex one, and in OEM profile.

Is this slider/housing a good fit to make this happen? I'm using SKCM oranges atm, but could conceivably build another with SKCM creams.

If this is a good idea, does anyone have a few I they'd be willing to part with (maybe 4 or 5 for future spacebars). I'm generally not doing bad with Alps caps—lots of NeXT and SGI sets which are good quality.

TIA.

Honestly this might be a good solution for you. Orange wouldn't be an issue given it is tactile.

As for extras I will have to pass that to someone else as I have sold all of my extra parts minus a bag of 1200 housings 

Are there any updates on V2 sliders or round 2 of these?

me toooo

I'm not going to speak for BlindAssassin (just relay what I have been told), but I've talked to him about a V2 many times.

I've always gotten the same answer, which is essentially "I doubt it".

The reasons he's always given me for why not are primarily that:

1- the first version had a really difficult time reaching moq, and the V2 would most likely have just as difficult a time, if not more so
2- a V2 wouldn't lower the cost or price because all new molds would need to be made
3- the V1 was so frustrating and aggravating (in regards to making moq, mold errors, coordinating with the manu, etc), that he doesn't really want to go through all of that again
4- he would like to focus more on making all the board and keyset ideas he has (of which there are many)

From what I gather from talking to him about it, is that it could happen one day, but there would have to be a great deal more interest in a V2 for it to ever happen (like enough interest that it would easily make moq without question). But it sounds to me like outside of vintage boards that use them, he's moved on from Alps switches.

Any update on v2 ?

Look at the post directly above yours.

I would also be interested in a future v2 if that ever happens. Would be more than willing to pay more for them too

Very interested in V2 if that ever happens. Or in purchasing v1 if anyone is offloading theirs.

Very interested in V2 if that ever happens. Or in purchasing v1 if anyone is offloading theirs.

I have a set of 70 sliders, 70 tops, and a matching set of stabs, never used.  I'd like to let them go for what I paid ($120, including shipping in the US).

If you or someone else are still looking, message me.

sale pending