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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Lucien on Fri, 21 October 2011, 10:27:57

Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: Lucien on Fri, 21 October 2011, 10:27:57
So I know there are spring swap mods for Cherry clears, but I'm a little confused over stiffness of each.  My understanding is that from most stiffest to lightest, it goes:

Cherry clear (unmodded)
Panda clear (black spring)
Ergo clear (brown/blue/red spring)

Do I have that right?

Except I think I remember ripster did measurements and came to the conclusion that the black and clear springs are the same.  And are brown/blue/red springs the same or all just "close enough"?
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: spolia optima on Fri, 21 October 2011, 10:30:12
WTF is a panda clear??

there are only two springs. Not three.
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: spolia optima on Fri, 21 October 2011, 10:31:45
there's the black/clear spring
and the blue/brown/red spring

supposedly the cherry yellow uses a middle-of-the-road spring, but those haven't been released iirc
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: keyboardlover on Fri, 21 October 2011, 10:50:12
Quote from: spolia optima;436077
there's the black/clear spring
and the blue/brown/red spring

supposedly the cherry yellow uses a middle-of-the-road spring, but those haven't been released iirc

Incorrect. The OP is right, black springs are different from clear springs.

OP, I would agree with your assessment of the springs. I believe ripster said that the springs "felt similar" not that they were the same.

IMO, they feel MUCH different. HTH.
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: noodles256 on Fri, 21 October 2011, 10:52:38
get dem clears on out of hur
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: spolia optima on Fri, 21 October 2011, 11:02:06
Quote from: keyboardlover;436098
Incorrect. The OP is right, black springs are different from clear springs.

OP, I would agree with your assessment of the springs. I believe ripster said that the springs "felt similar" not that they were the same.

IMO, they feel MUCH different. HTH.

Thx KL, I stand corrected!
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: noodles256 on Fri, 21 October 2011, 11:03:57
Quote from: harrison;436101
vote2ban

clear stems ftw!

voted
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: spolia optima on Fri, 21 October 2011, 11:08:42
Doesn't the clear stem change the actuation point from 2mm to 2.5mm?
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: Lucien on Fri, 21 October 2011, 11:22:40
Quote from: keyboardlover;436098
Incorrect. The OP is right, black springs are different from clear springs.

OP, I would agree with your assessment of the springs. I believe ripster said that the springs "felt similar" not that they were the same.

IMO, they feel MUCH different. HTH.


Thanks.  I'm especially curious about the black vs clear spring though, might want to do a mod.  Any idea how ripster tested them?  I was thinking in order to compare the springs directly I'd want to put both types of springs into a linear switch and measure them there.  The bump in the clear stem would make a head to head comparison hard otherwise.
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: spolia optima on Fri, 21 October 2011, 11:36:42
In my experience, forums with post voting tend to be forums filled with belligerent 12-15 year olds.
Then again, correlation != causation, so who knows?
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: noodles256 on Fri, 21 October 2011, 12:42:06
im 12 1/2
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: spolia optima on Fri, 21 October 2011, 14:17:28
:peace:
I'm this many!
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: flyball on Fri, 21 October 2011, 14:34:25
Quote from: Lucien;436120
Thanks.  I'm especially curious about the black vs clear spring though, might want to do a mod.  Any idea how ripster tested them?  I was thinking in order to compare the springs directly I'd want to put both types of springs into a linear switch and measure them there.  The bump in the clear stem would make a head to head comparison hard otherwise.

nickels

Quote from: spolia optima;436110
Doesn't the clear stem change the actuation point from 2mm to 2.5mm?

no, it goes from 2.5 to 2 when swapping from blue to clear (or to anything else...) http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Cherry+switches+and+boards

it might be more interesting to look at the key force numbers. cherry's site says black switches need 2.1oz force to actuate, more than the clear's 2.0oz,  but less than the tactile force of 2.3oz. so swapping a black spring into a clear stem, does that 0.1oz increase get applied to the tactile force?
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: spolia optima on Fri, 21 October 2011, 14:52:15
where was that "unknown black mx variant" pulled from?
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: flyball on Fri, 21 October 2011, 14:54:56
Quote from: spolia optima;436293
where was that "unknown black mx variant" pulled from?
(http://i.imgur.com/R6XUL.jpg)
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: N8N on Fri, 21 October 2011, 15:08:33
A thought; since the ergos are a "custom" switch, were the sliders lubed when the switches were assembled?  That can make a difference in feel.  I can definitely tell that the browns on one of my POS board - which I've had apart several times, and have lubed - feel smoother than the browns in my Noppoo which is nearly new.

Likewise the clears on my Filco, since I harvested the stems and springs from a POS board, were lubed before assembly, and they feel smooth as butter.

I'd be curious to know if the straight clears you tried were lubed or not.
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: alaricljs on Fri, 21 October 2011, 15:25:50
My straight from the distributor (Mouser) clear switches (all 2 of them) are completely lube free.  Dry as a bone.  Chances are that any current plate mount clears will also be dry.  No idea on prior years production tho.
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: F u r u y á on Fri, 21 October 2011, 15:26:16
Quote from: dante;436297
Take this with a grain of salt because everyones hands and minds work different:

My family had an opportunity to sample a board with clears, ergo clears, and tacto clears.  The ergos were the clear (pun) favorite and everybody wanted a keyboard with them; the others seemed "meh" and for a better lack of word "grainy."

The only concern is someone else commented in another thread that there are individuals (GH?) that have had issues with ergos likely because the switch wasn't designed with the spring used in mind.  I have no idea what the "issues" were or who was having them.

Perhaps some long time ergo users here can interject


Here (http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?22711-Browns-vs.-Clears) there are some interjections about Clears and ErgoClears.
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: noodles256 on Fri, 21 October 2011, 15:35:05
Quote from: F u r u y á;436313
Here (http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?22711-Browns-vs.-Clears) there are some interjections about Clears and ErgoClears.

preference
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: Clickey on Fri, 21 October 2011, 15:51:55
Pretty sure clears and blacks use the same spring, the force difference is from the tactility, but the only way to test this is to use a digital meter on the springs alone.
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: hashbaz on Fri, 21 October 2011, 16:19:12
Quote from: N8N;436305
A thought; since the ergos are a "custom" switch, were the sliders lubed when the switches were assembled?  That can make a difference in feel.  I can definitely tell that the browns on one of my POS board - which I've had apart several times, and have lubed - feel smoother than the browns in my Noppoo which is nearly new.

Likewise the clears on my Filco, since I harvested the stems and springs from a POS board, were lubed before assembly, and they feel smooth as butter.

I'd be curious to know if the straight clears you tried were lubed or not.


They were not.  (I assembled the board in question.)  All the stems and springs came out of POS boards from ebay.
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: keyboardlover on Fri, 21 October 2011, 16:26:36
Quote from: Clickey;436329
Pretty sure clears and blacks use the same spring, the force difference is from the tactility, but the only way to test this is to use a digital meter on the springs alone.

I've swapped the springs myself...they are different. Try it!
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: alaricljs on Fri, 21 October 2011, 16:47:47
Don't need to look, I touched it all over  :)   no lube
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: hashbaz on Fri, 21 October 2011, 16:53:19
For future reference, any tips on lubing sliders?
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: alaricljs on Fri, 21 October 2011, 16:54:12
Shame I have no photo gear to come anywhere near that picture... and yes I see lube on yours.
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: N8N on Fri, 21 October 2011, 17:10:27
I lubed the whole sliders on mine, theory being that the sliding plastic-plastic contact points on the sides needed some loob as well.  Who's right?  Who knows.

Oh, and Ripster, does that mean that I am supposed to be using porn generously?
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: Lucien on Sat, 22 October 2011, 09:58:15
erm, which is which when it comes to ergos and tactos?  Also, if we swap blue/brown/red springs into a clear, do they provide enough force for the switch to recover reliably?
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: keyboardlover on Sat, 22 October 2011, 10:03:52
Quote from: Lucien;436690
erm, which is which when it comes to ergos and tactos?  Also, if we swap blue/brown/red springs into a clear, do they provide enough force for the switch to recover reliably?


Ergo = blue/brown/red spring
Tacto (aka "Panda") = black spring

More info here:
http://keyboardlover.com/switches.php

I and several others have noticed that after actuation, the switches will sometimes have a very small one second "lag" in coming back up but to my knowledge, no one has experienced a "stuck" switch or anything like that.
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: BiNiaRiS on Sat, 22 October 2011, 10:19:04
Quote from: spolia optima;436077
there's the black/clear spring
and the blue/brown/red spring

supposedly the cherry yellow uses a middle-of-the-road spring, but those haven't been released iirc

Pretty sure "cherry yellows" are what is in the Rappoo...and those are fake cherrys.
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: Clickey on Sat, 22 October 2011, 15:56:29
DO NOT lube the center part of the metal contact (where the metal meets), because most likely your lubricant will interfere with the electrical contact.

New info one cherry clears: They can have 2 different springs (one is silver colored, the other brass colored). I was looking at some springs yesterday and they are all from clears but some were distinctly different metals. Will post pics. Has anyone else reported this before?
Title: Confused about clears...
Post by: Lanx on Sat, 22 October 2011, 16:49:58
Quote from: Clickey;436885
DO NOT lube the center part of the metal contact (where the metal meets), because most likely your lubricant will interfere with the electrical contact.

New info one cherry clears: They can have 2 different springs (one is silver colored, the other brass colored). I was looking at some springs yesterday and they are all from clears but some were distinctly different metals. Will post pics. Has anyone else reported this before?
i've just seen the brass, slightly wider? ones