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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: DamienG on Wed, 10 April 2013, 18:42:39

Title: Cherry MX clears arrived... wait for Phantom PCB+plate or mod DAS?
Post by: DamienG on Wed, 10 April 2013, 18:42:39

So 100 of these little guys arrived, they're so tactile and yet not clicky. Exactly what I was hoping browns would be.

Do I wait for my Phantom PCB and plate to arrive or do I open up my DAS 2 and stem+spring swap a whole load of them.

How difficult is it to swap stems/springs and are the keys worse off for it? Worried about little bits of plastic breaking...

[)amien

Title: Re: Cherry MX clears arrived... wait for Phantom PCB+plate or mod DAS?
Post by: WhiteFireDragon on Wed, 10 April 2013, 20:32:23

I would wait for your phantom, it's only ~2 more weeks. If you install on your DAS, first of all you'd need to desolder all the switches on there, then solder on the clears. For phantom, you just need to solder. Second, DAS is a full size board so you'll have 4 switches that are not the same.

If you swap to a light spring and turn them into ergo clears, the tactile will be even more noticeable. Here is the process, skip to 33 minutes for swapping spring/stem:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ_2GxeR4Es#t=33m05s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ_2GxeR4Es#t=33m05s)

Title: Cherry MX clears arrived... wait for Phantom PCB+plate or mod DAS?
Post by: jdcarpe on Wed, 10 April 2013, 20:49:19

Don't need to desolder for Das II. It's a rebranded G80-3000. :)

Everything else WFD said is spot on.

Title: Re: Cherry MX clears arrived... wait for Phantom PCB+plate or mod DAS?
Post by: Hyde on Wed, 10 April 2013, 20:58:03

Yeah phantom sounds a better choice, because Das is 104 key.  Though if you end up going that route I'd probably use a different switch for caps lock, num lock, scroll lock and maybe esc.

Title: Re: Cherry MX clears arrived... wait for Phantom PCB+plate or mod DAS?
Post by: DamienG on Thu, 11 April 2013, 01:41:34

Yeah my DAS 2 has PCB mounted blues - my DAS 3 has the plate mount.

Wasn't thinking of a permanent thing just thinking about trialing the clears on a board until all these parts come together. Well, hopefully my Phantom with retro sphericals will be at least partially assembled by the end of the month...

[)amien

Title: Re: Cherry MX clears arrived... wait for Phantom PCB+plate or mod DAS?
Post by: esoomenona on Thu, 11 April 2013, 07:55:20

If you're only wanting to try them out and you have a PCB mounted board they can be easily swapped in and out of like the Das II, then the real question is why wouldn't you put them in the Das and try them out?

Title: Re: Cherry MX clears arrived... wait for Phantom PCB+plate or mod DAS?
Post by: Larken on Thu, 11 April 2013, 08:07:58

If you are willing to take the trouble, why not? I did the same thing when my clears came in. But keep in mind that it is a pretty troublesome process and when your phantom comes in, you would have to open up your DAS again to restore it to its original state.

that's three keyboards worth of modding compared to just doing it one time if you'd wait for your phantom to come.