geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Rika on Thu, 24 December 2020, 02:53:46
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So have never built a keyboard before and *think* I want linears, after looking around for a while I decided to put together a macropad sorta as a start to renew soldering skills along with being able to use it as a more active switch tester as pushing a key a couple times isn't that great of a feel for how use would actually be
So my question to you all, if I can get just 10 of a handful of a switches and try them on the board to see what I prefer is that a better idea, or in your opinion is a full switch tester to start with just a necessity
Sent from my SM-N976B using Tapatalk
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if you already have an idea switch testers are not great, they never really are as they only give you the feeling with no correlation to any actions and a switch may feel good all by itself but while typing be actually rather really bad (my experience with MX browns) so if i were you, depending on the price of the switch you plan to use i'd buy a few and try out, it is what i ended up doing for silent red and speed bronze, although i bought them from kdbfans when they still offered free shipping.
i'd also recommend watching chyros's videos on the subject (chyrosran22 on youtube) he is rather good at describing switch feel :)
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if you already have an idea switch testers are not great, they never really are as they only give you the feeling with no correlation to any actions and a switch may feel good all by itself but while typing be actually rather really bad (my experience with MX browns) so if i were you, depending on the price of the switch you plan to use i'd buy a few and try out, it is what i ended up doing for silent red and speed bronze, although i bought them from kdbfans when they still offered free shipping.
i'd also recommend watching chyros's videos on the subject (chyrosran22 on youtube) he is rather good at describing switch feel :)
Partially my reason, I tried a switch tester for cherry switches ages ago and the one I liked the most was black, but I know if I had a board of that it probably would end badly, currently, my "idea" of what I want I think I had down to around about 6 switches with probably 1 or 2 tactiles out of curiosity, think either way, with how much of a mess I am I'll probably have to get a bit of everything
And then after that I end up with silent switches as when I get a case the switches end up loud enough to get me in trouble lol
Sent from my SM-N976B using Tapatalk
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One option, though not the cheapest, but would help better give you a feeling of which switches you'd like would be to grab a cheaper hotswap keyboard, maybe something like this GK61x RGB Hot Swap Independent Driver Tyce-C ANSI Replacable Space Cherry MX Switches Mechanical Keyboard DIY Kit Case Plate PCB (https://www.amazon.com/Independent-Mechanical-Keyboard-Plastic-Aluminum/dp/B07JVMBMNK/ref=pd_ybh_a_27?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4YH9E60HVN5TG4KGMH58)
And then pick up some switches to insert and test out. Granted you'll need caps also. But it's not a whole lot more than what you'd spend on a decent sized switch tester.
I am fairly new to mechanical keyboards and when I just got into them I first bought a 3x3 Cherry switch tester and while it gave me an idea of what they feel like, they don't really let you feel when they activate either. So I soldered some LED's to them to let me see/feel when they activate. This helped a bit more. But overall the best test is having the switches installed on a working keyboard.
https://youtu.be/Y1Nwm5_xa8E (https://youtu.be/Y1Nwm5_xa8E)
(https://i.imgur.com/o8SkSX0.jpg)
(wires run to a 9V battery connector)