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geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => Topic started by: TheGrey on Sun, 30 December 2012, 13:11:59

Title: Cherry MX Blue modding?
Post by: TheGrey on Sun, 30 December 2012, 13:11:59
Dear all,

I've been using a Poker with MX blues for a while now. Whilst I love them, I want to have a lighter acutation force, but preferably with the tactile bump. And when I mean light, I mean the lightest possible.  ^-^

So I was thinking...would pulling out the spring of a MX Red and then keeping the stem and body of a Blue give me the lighest tactile bumpage? 

Many thanks,  ;)

Grey
Title: Re: Cherry MX Blue modding?
Post by: kmiller8 on Sun, 30 December 2012, 13:28:42
MX Reds and MX Blues have the same spring :)

Your best bet would be some custom springs.
Title: Re: Cherry MX Blue modding?
Post by: TheGrey on Sun, 30 December 2012, 13:47:26
:D..so would an MX Red stem result in no more tactile or sound? I have very minimal idea of which property of the switch has which effect!
Title: Re: Cherry MX Blue modding?
Post by: kmiller8 on Sun, 30 December 2012, 14:02:27
reds would remove the tactility yes, as for sound, they would remove the click you hear with blues, but if you bottom out you will still hear the "thunk" from the stem hitting the bottm of the housing. So if you can type without bottoming out, the only noise you would hear would be the switch returning to the top of the housing, which would be very very minimal.

E: WASD has a nice video comparing the three major switch types.


reds would sound the same as blacks, just require less force to actuate/bottom out
Title: Re: Cherry MX Blue modding?
Post by: IvanIvanovich on Sun, 30 December 2012, 14:49:47
You will want to find yourself some 52g springs, good luck.
Title: Re: Cherry MX Blue modding?
Post by: TheGrey on Sun, 30 December 2012, 15:03:53
You will want to find yourself some 52g springs, good luck.

and so the journey begins.....
Title: Re: Cherry MX Blue modding?
Post by: rekanise on Sun, 30 December 2012, 15:06:29
I'm too scared to try to mod my switches in case I break it!
Title: Re: Cherry MX Blue modding?
Post by: IvanIvanovich on Sun, 30 December 2012, 15:17:57
It's fairly hard to break switch when open on pcb mount. Occasionally one of the top tabs can break off if you are super rough or they are really old and brittle but that's about it. Just don't jab around inside the switch when it's open as the crosspoint leaf is easier to ruin. If you bend it up you will have to replace the switch most likely.
Title: Re: Cherry MX Blue modding?
Post by: WhiteFireDragon on Mon, 31 December 2012, 19:55:18
So I was thinking...would pulling out the spring of a MX Red and then keeping the stem and body of a Blue give me the lighest tactile bumpage? 

MX red and blue springs are the same. Blue feels heavier because of the tactile bump. A 55g Korean spring or lower will be a lighter spring, but if you put a lighter spring in, the linear motion area of the switch will be lighter, but you'll actually feel more of the tactile part.