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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: harlw on Thu, 28 May 2015, 15:05:05

Title: Help me identify this switch - Expo 486 Keyboard
Post by: harlw on Thu, 28 May 2015, 15:05:05: Dug a couple of boards up from a second hand store in town here and I've come up short googling for info on this keyboard specifically nor the switches themselves. It's an "Expo 486" with AT connector.

Edit: some more detail: they are board mounted with no plate. I paid $2 for it :D

Edit 2: Managed to google this - Ad in 1994 PC Magazine for VTech expotech series computers
Google Books link http://j.mp/1J9FC6p
screenshot of that page: [attach=4]

Switches are tactile and clicky, they feel similar to MX blues but I don't have my mine in front of me to compare right now.
The stem is MX compatible though the fit isn't snug - not loose or wobbly but some keys would come off with a modern MX set and some upside down shaking and wacking.

Imgur: http://imgur.com/a/aUKeF

Embedded:
[attachimg=1][attachimg=2][attachimg=3]
Title: Re: Help me identify this switch - Expo 486 Keyboard
Post by: CPTBadAss on Thu, 28 May 2015, 15:06:44: Ugh I was going to say Futaba clicky (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Futaba_clicky_switch) but I don't think so now. These always trip me up.
Title: Re: Help me identify this switch - Expo 486 Keyboard
Post by: harlw on Thu, 28 May 2015, 15:14:52: Quote from: CPTBadAss on Thu, 28 May 2015, 15:06:44
Ugh I was going to say Futaba clicky (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Futaba_clicky_switch) but I don't think so now. These always trip me up.

Hehe - yea, that's real close.
Title: Re: Help me identify this switch - Expo 486 Keyboard
Post by: nubbinator on Thu, 28 May 2015, 15:34:25: Quote from: CPTBadAss on Thu, 28 May 2015, 15:06:44
Ugh I was going to say Futaba clicky (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Futaba_clicky_switch) but I don't think so now. These always trip me up.

Pretty sure they're SMK switches.
Title: Re: Help me identify this switch - Expo 486 Keyboard
Post by: harlw on Thu, 28 May 2015, 15:50:05: Quote from: nubbinator on Thu, 28 May 2015, 15:34:25
Quote from: CPTBadAss on Thu, 28 May 2015, 15:06:44
Ugh I was going to say Futaba clicky (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Futaba_clicky_switch) but I don't think so now. These always trip me up.

Pretty sure they're SMK switches.

I believe you've got it! http://deskthority.net/wiki/SMK_Cherry_MX_mount

Everything checks out from what I see–housing is exactly right.

I will likely tear it down for cleaning and further documentation.

Thanks!
Title: Re: Help me identify this switch - Expo 486 Keyboard
Post by: Blaise170 on Thu, 28 May 2015, 22:22:24: I'm pretty sure they are SMK judging by the bases but there is a tiny possibility it might be a BTC style switch.

http://deskthority.net/wiki/BTC_dome_with_slider
Title: Re: Help me identify this switch - Expo 486 Keyboard
Post by: Findecanor on Fri, 29 May 2015, 02:40:19: The first post says they are clicky, and if they are clicky it must be a mechanical switch, not a dome with slider.
There is a drawing of the switch on the DT wiki page that matches this switch.

Clicky SMK switches with Alps mount feel a lot like Cherry MX Blues but with sharper tactility and with no hysteresis (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Hysteresis). Those blue ones are often much liked, often called "Monterey switch" because they were found mostly in Monterey-branded keyboards before they were identified as SMK switches.