[GB] Cherry MX Silent Black Switches - Shipping Update

[Puddsy]

Man I'm jealous of this.

Tons of extras were ordered, don't worry

[ojrask]

Where exactly do the switches come from? Just wondering if I have to pay Finnish import fees for these.

[funderburker]

Where exactly do the switches come from? Just wondering if I have to pay Finnish import fees for these.

If you order from Optic Boards (VicareyG) then it's shipped from UK so you should be fine.

[Darknight00z]

Received my switches 

Can confirm they are pcb mount in case people were still wondering.

Thanks George for organising the GB, and the fast turnaround!

[Giorgio]

Received my switches 

Can confirm they are pcb mount in case people were still wondering.

Thanks George for organising the GB, and the fast turnaround!

Are they smooth?

[eddible]

Got mine too! Feels weird being in the UK and receiving a GB item first... Thanks for a smooth GB George!

[ojrask]

Where exactly do the switches come from? Just wondering if I have to pay Finnish import fees for these.

If you order from Optic Boards (VicareyG) then it's shipped from UK so you should be fine.

Ah awesome, thanks for clarifying. Whew, too much import fees have been sunk into my keyboard stuff already.

[donsun]

Is there any update on the shipment from Vicarey to NovelKeys for US shipments? Haven't seen any update on their end yet. My 96KEE is waiting for switches ;(

[VicareyG]

Another 56 packages ready for the post office tomorrow.

That will make the GB 99% complete. 3 packages left and those are for people who ordered other things alongside the Silent Blacks.

[KaosJ]

Another 56 packages ready for the post office tomorrow.

That will make the GB 99% complete. 3 packages left and those are for people who ordered other things alongside the Silent Blacks.

I think that's me ordering 2-4 holtite sockets?  If that's the case, please remove them from my order   

edit: nevermind you answered me in pm 

[joey]

Got my switches! Thanks for the GB!

[TalkingTree]

Got mine today and I'm very impressed, they do feel much smoother, I'd be have them on a board soon.
Thanks VicareyG. 

[Prelim]

I've received shipping confirmation but no tracking number, isn't it available?

[kokokoy]

That was fast! Got mine today (Singapore). Thanks for the GB VicareyG.

[Chromatrope]

Got mine yesterday, and to my pleasant surprise, the springs appear to be a lot lighter than the old MX Blacks, very very similar to Gateron Yellow, so it looks like I won't be springswapping anything.

[funderburker]

Mmm, still waiting on my package. So jealous of others!  But soon they'll be here. And then - it's silent clacking sounds for me. 

[metalliqaz]

silent clacking

wat

[Vadurr]

silent clacking

wat

uwotm8

[Kafka]

Any updates for US shipments?

[wholypantalones]

Any updates for US shipments?

From mgsickler on r/mechmarket:

https://www.reddit.com/r/mechmarket/comments/7i1m3p/vendor_cherry_plate_mount_and_pcb_snap_in_stabs/

Cherry Silent Black GB Update

• Switches are still in transit to me. They got help up in customs, but I have an estimated delivery date of Friday. If they come to me on Friday, I will have all orders shipped out by Tuesday.
• Once group buy orders are shipped out, the remaining stock (which is a ton) will be put up for sale on the site. They will most likely be around .50/switch.

[Fnzzy]

My switches arrived today. Thank you very much

[funderburker]

silent clacking

wat

switches click click - silent ones does it silently. duh.

[Choppersuey]

My switches arrived today, thanks for organizing the group buy!

Edit:

the springs appear to be a lot lighter than the old MX Blacks, very very similar to Gateron Yellow

I also noticed this, they really seem to be lighter. I bought a couple Silent Blacks from reichelt.de just to play around with and they actually have different springs than the Silent Blacks from this group buy.

Left is from a Silent Black from reichelt.de and right is from this group buy.

[kawasaki161]

I guess my mailman doesn't like me

Edit: complaining on the internet does indeed help, just got them 

[Chromatrope]

My switches arrived today, thanks for organizing the group buy!

Edit:

the springs appear to be a lot lighter than the old MX Blacks, very very similar to Gateron Yellow

I also noticed this, they really seem to be lighter. I bought a couple Silent Blacks from reichelt.de just to play around with and they actually have different springs than the Silent Blacks from this group buy.

Show Image

Left is from a Silent Black from reichelt.de and right is from this group buy.

Interesting. Since I haven't had any experience with retooled/silent blacks before and I have only a single non-retooled black in a tester here, I assumed it was something that changed with the retool, not with this batch. Is it a slight or significant difference between the two? To me the silent vs the old black feels like as big a difference as red to silent black.

[Kavik]

My switches arrived today, thanks for organizing the group buy!

Edit:

the springs appear to be a lot lighter than the old MX Blacks, very very similar to Gateron Yellow

I also noticed this, they really seem to be lighter. I bought a couple Silent Blacks from reichelt.de just to play around with and they actually have different springs than the Silent Blacks from this group buy.

Show Image

Left is from a Silent Black from reichelt.de and right is from this group buy.

Interesting. Since I haven't had any experience with retooled/silent blacks before and I have only a single non-retooled black in a tester here, I assumed it was something that changed with the retool, not with this batch. Is it a slight or significant difference between the two? To me the silent vs the old black feels like as big a difference as red to silent black.

This is concerning to me. I really wanted heavy switches. I'm not a huge fan of MX Reds outside of playing video games, and I was disappointed with how light Gateron Blacks were.

[Choppersuey]

Interesting. Since I haven't had any experience with retooled/silent blacks before and I have only a single non-retooled black in a tester here, I assumed it was something that changed with the retool, not with this batch. Is it a slight or significant difference between the two? To me the silent vs the old black feels like as big a difference as red to silent black.

I tried to estimate the bottom out forces with a kitchen scale and the difference is about 10-15g.
Also, have you opened your single MX Black? Does the spring look like the left one? I'd reckon they should be the same. Btw, the MX Black spring from the geekhack wiki looks more like the spring on the left in my pic.

I don't want to spread panic or misinformation or anything like that, so if someone else could provide some input, that would be great 

[kawasaki161]

I agree that the spring weight is really weird, we might have gotten some silent reds with a black stem lol

[KaosJ]

My switches arrived today, thanks for organizing the group buy!

Edit:

the springs appear to be a lot lighter than the old MX Blacks, very very similar to Gateron Yellow

I also noticed this, they really seem to be lighter. I bought a couple Silent Blacks from reichelt.de just to play around with and they actually have different springs than the Silent Blacks from this group buy.

Show Image

Left is from a Silent Black from reichelt.de and right is from this group buy.

Can't you just do the coin test? 

[xantiema]

They are much lighter than one would expect from MX blacks O.O

[Vadurr]

This is alarming...

[Chromatrope]

I'm starting to wonder if they maybe gave us reds instead. I'll crack mine open once my switch openers turn up.

[Kafka]

somebody just do the nickel test jeez

[Giorgio]

Those seem MX reds springs, and BTW they are the same springs that you can find in blues and browns. Probably also in clears?

I'm happy if these are Mx reds springs, that I really like more than blanks. Surely those aren't Mx black springs: the higher the number of coils in a spring (don't know the exact word), the softer the spring.

[Giorgio]

somebody just do the nickel test jeez

Yes, but remember that silent switches are heavier than their counterparts because the spring is precompressed more than their non silent version.

[Giorgio]

I'm starting to wonder if they maybe gave us reds instead. I'll crack mine open once my switch openers turn up.

You don't need no switch opener to open a switch without damaging it.

[Chromatrope]

Those seem MX reds springs, and BTW they are the same springs that you can find in blues and browns. Probably also in clears?

Definitely not clears, clears have very very heavy springs.

You don't need no switch opener to open a switch without damaging it.

I don't have any binder clips or the balls to do something I haven't done before the ghetto way, so I'd prefer to wait a bit.

I'm happy if these are Mx reds springs, that I really like more than blanks. Surely those aren't Mx black springs: the higher the number of coils in a spring (don't know the exact word), the softer the spring.

I feel a bit conflicted, on one hand I did go in for heavier springs but on the other hand I already have a sensitive wrist so realistically I shouldn't be using heavier switches. I did have a QFR TK with Reds a long while ago that I found too light but that was a really light batch of reds, so light they made Browns feel like a humongous step up in weight. These feel a lot closer so I think they might be what I need. No telling until I get my screw-in stabs in and build.

[kawasaki161]

Opening loose switches is very easy, if you have a pair of tweezers or a small pair of scissors (like the ones used for fingernails) you can just use that to push up the tabs from the bottom. It's also far less destructive than opening them from the top because you only need to bend the plastic tabs compared to the whole top when using a common switch opener.

[mgsickler]

Before people start freaking out, I just opened my silent black switch from a cherry board. It looks to be identical to the one in our group buy.

https://imgur.com/a/RNl7B

I haven’t received our order yet, DHL is being painfully slow. But I don’t think there is anything to be concerned about.

[xantiema]

Except the spring, which is exactly all the worry here. It feels much lighter than my current MX black, and I haven't even broken them in yet

[mgsickler]

Except the spring, which is exactly all the worry here. It feels much lighter than my current MX black, and I haven't even broken them in yet

The spring from my Cherry board looks exactly like the spring the user posted from our group buy.

[wholypantalones]

Until someone posts irrefutable proof by actually putting nickels on the two different switches proving that these springs are definitely lighter, I would hold off on getting your panties in a bunch about this. You can't tell a spring weight by looking at them side by side with another spring.

[kawasaki161]

Until someone posts irrefutable proof by actually putting nickels on the two different switches proving that these springs are definitely lighter, I would hold off on getting your panties in a bunch about this. You can't tell a spring weight by looking at them side by side with another spring.

I don't have enough coins, is this good enough? (compared to a normal black, silent black is bottomed out while normal black is a bit over 50% depressed)


Edit: I could have swapped the spring to make it lighter so everyone freaks the **** out, if you don't believe what I'm saying providing pics with coins on top of a switch proves nothing

[xantiema]

Pretty much same thing with my own switches

[TalkingTree]

I just installed them on a board and they definitely feel much lighter than sennin32's plate mounted silent blacks. I don't mind it at all anyway.

[Chromatrope]

Pitting it head to head against the one regular black I have nets the same results as in the pic above.

[pixelpusher]

Could be a mixup, or could be their design.  My silent reds always felt much heavier than regular reds.  Maybe the added silencing bumpers on the slider make the switch feel a slightly heavier, and they decided to change the springs to compensate?  Pulling this out of my ass but it seems possible.

If these feel somewhere between reds and blacks, they'll probably be perfect in my book 

[wholypantalones]

Until someone posts irrefutable proof by actually putting nickels on the two different switches proving that these springs are definitely lighter, I would hold off on getting your panties in a bunch about this. You can't tell a spring weight by looking at them side by side with another spring.

I don't have enough coins, is this good enough? (compared to a normal black, silent black is bottomed out while normal black is a bit over 50% depressed)

Show Image

Edit: I could have swapped the spring to make it lighter so everyone freaks the **** out, if you don't believe what I'm saying providing pics with coins on top of a switch proves nothing

Is holding two switches together enough? Maybe I'm just dim, but what does that accomplish?

[pixelpusher]

Until someone posts irrefutable proof by actually putting nickels on the two different switches proving that these springs are definitely lighter, I would hold off on getting your panties in a bunch about this. You can't tell a spring weight by looking at them side by side with another spring.

I don't have enough coins, is this good enough? (compared to a normal black, silent black is bottomed out while normal black is a bit over 50% depressed)

Show Image

Edit: I could have swapped the spring to make it lighter so everyone freaks the **** out, if you don't believe what I'm saying providing pics with coins on top of a switch proves nothing

Is holding two switches together enough? Maybe I'm just dim, but what does that accomplish?

It's a pretty decent test.  I tried this with several switches that had the same springs in them.  They all depressed fairly evenly (both stems approximately the same distance into their housings).  However, if you take springs with different force curves, you'll see some back and forth pushing in this test.  Maybe the actuation is the same, but the force curve is different/lighter after actuation. 

[Chromatrope]

Is holding two switches together enough? Maybe I'm just dim, but what does that accomplish?

From this you can determine that the force needed to bottom out the Silent 'Black' gets the regular black about midway through the stroke, so the regular one is evidentally notably heavier.

Could be a mixup, or could be their design.  My silent reds always felt much heavier than regular reds.  Maybe the added silencing bumpers on the slider make the switch feel a slightly heavier, and they decided to change the springs to compensate?  Pulling this out of my ass but it seems possible.

If these feel somewhere between reds and blacks, they'll probably be perfect in my book 

I mentioned earlier that I've owned a board with really really light reds. Reds are supposed to have the same springs as browns but those I got in 2015 most certainly did not, seeing as browns were a large step up in weight, and the red in my tester here is much closer to the brown, and the silent black, to where I'd be able to chalk up the difference between the red and SB to the extra spring preload. The TPE dampeners add fractions of a 10th of a gram at most so there's no way they changed the spring because of that. I'm fairly certain that somewhere along the line, red springs changed to where they are now, so if your nonsilent reds are older they might just be the lighter ones I had on that QFR TK.