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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: tbc on Sat, 08 February 2014, 21:01:51

Title: mass-producing modded switches?
Post by: tbc on Sat, 08 February 2014, 21:01:51

There are ALOT of different switch mods.  ergo clears, something about pandas, jailhouse blues, trampoline mod,LED-friendly top-covers, etc

I know we have switch testers going around that DO have these modded switches and we definitely sell all the lube and springs we need to do it ourselves, but is there someone in the community mass producing these for sale?

has this been done and just was never a successful commercial venture?  something like orings is completely easy to do yourself, but something like good jailhouse blues can get pretty picky and seems pretty easy to mess up. 

Title: Re: mass-producing modded switches?
Post by: Photoelectric on Sat, 08 February 2014, 21:03:38

I only know of GON offering lubricated/customized/stickered switches regularly.  Others seem to be a one-time deal from people who've customized some swtiches and then decided to not use them.  It's a tedious time-consuming process that I don't think anyone's interested in doing on a large scale.

Title: Re: mass-producing modded switches?
Post by: Pacifist on Sat, 08 February 2014, 21:04:12

Maybe MK.com with their cherry partnership can work something out where cherry loads different lubes and springs into the switches in the manufacturing process. But jailhouse blues wouldn't be possible with that setup.

Title: Re: mass-producing modded switches?
Post by: CPTBadAss on Sat, 08 February 2014, 21:37:36

Cherry has said they'd build ergo-clears if the community can meet the MOQ of 750,000 switches. (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_MX_Ergo_Clear).

Title: Re: mass-producing modded switches?
Post by: terran5992 on Sat, 08 February 2014, 22:36:41

Shouldnt be that difficult

Assume about 80 switches per person

We need about 9000 people to particpate

Title: Re: mass-producing modded switches?
Post by: quickcrx702 on Sat, 08 February 2014, 22:58:33

Some of these mods are a huge PITA to do.  Even if you ordered a bunch of pre-modded ergo clears, you would still need to break out the sodomy iron to install them on your board if it is plate mounted.  The only way this would work is if you purchased a modded keyboard, or shipped your keyboard to be modded.  Either way it would be very time consuming for the person doing your mod, and to make it worthwhile you would have to pay a lot in labor.  Seems like a good way to make money from the community though if someone wants to take this on, but I can't see it being cost effective.  The mods would cost more than the keyboard unless it's a college kid doing them that doesn't need to charge much.  I guess if you have a nice Hakko desoldering iron you could pull the switches much faster, but modding each switch, then testing, then soldering back on would still take a while.

Title: Re: mass-producing modded switches?
Post by: spuriousgeorge on Sun, 09 February 2014, 03:57:15

Panda clear is the one switch I want to try just for the name.