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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: erricrice on Wed, 07 October 2009, 22:40:32
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So I did some searching on the forum and looked in all the wiki pages and couldn't find anything on how to take them apart.
I was thinking maybe I could take the tactile leaf from the blues in my DAS and put them into the blacks on my 11900 and I was going to look in the switch to see if there is even a spot for a click leaf(or if it even uses anything similar to ALPS) and I realized I had no idea how to take apart the switch!
Linkage, pics or vids would be much appreciated!
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So I did some searching on the forum and looked in all the wiki pages and couldn't find anything on how to take them apart.
Linkage, pics or vids would be much appreciated!
huh. i see what you mean...
offhand all i could find was this:
http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:4433
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http://my3c.com/D5/viewthread.php?tid=4625&extra=&page=1
edit: dont mind the moon language, the photos are very descript. I swapped the stiffer green switch on my g80-3000 with a blue switch so they all felt the same. I just used some paperclips and a bobby pin, nothing fancy.
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http://my3c.com/D5/viewthread.php?tid=4625&extra=&page=1
edit: dont mind the moon language, the photos are very descript. I swapped the stiffer green switch on my g80-3000 with a blue switch so they all felt the same. I just used some paperclips and a bobby pin, nothing fancy.
that's great! :D
i was a little disoriented around the 7th step, when the switch opens and dozens of tiny switches pour out. took a second before i realized they "switched" perspectives ;)
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lmao
little did you know one cherry switch is full of 100 tiny switches! and each tiny switch is full of 100 micro switches!
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Yeah, good stuff!
Awesome that you don't have to de-solder the switch with this method. I was afraid I was going to have to do that for a mod of this type.
More on this later, once I have my way with this 'board...
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It depends on the boards too. You will have to desolder the switch IF the pcb is above the area that you can hook under.
This is what I'm talking about
(http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/6691/img1217kr.jpg)
Although I believe the DAS III and MX11900 are both fully above the pcb
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doh, sorry I got your hopes up erric
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I found that one of the "forks" from a fondue set was the perfect size for opening Cherry switches, I just had to bend the tips back:
I swapped the stiffer green switch on my g80-3000 with a blue switch so they all felt the same.
Did you just swap the slider (and spring)? It seems to me the metal leaves are fixed and extend through the bottom of the switch to become the solder tags.
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I found that one of the "forks" from a fondue set was the perfect size for opening Cherry switches, I just had to bend the tips back:
Did you just swap the slider (and spring)? It seems to me the metal leaves are fixed and extend through the bottom of the switch to become the solder tags.
From my experience that seems to be the case. Not all of the leafs are the same, though. There are slight differences between each type of switch that effects the feel somewhat.
The slider and spring still make the most difference, though.
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Das is plate mounted. This method won't work. Gotta desolder.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Love will find a way...
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Did you just swap the slider (and spring)? It seems to me the metal leaves are fixed and extend through the bottom of the switch to become the solder tags.
Just the slider and spring yeah. Do the leaves differ between the greens and blues?
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Just the slider and spring yeah. Do the leaves differ between the greens and blues?
They shouldn't. The only thing that should differ between any two Cherry switches is the slider and the spring.
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They shouldn't. The only thing that should differ between any two Cherry switches is the slider and the spring.
While they probably don't differ between the greens and blues, the leafs are subtly different on each type of switch. A linear leaf with a tactile slider is not the same as a tactile leaf with a tactile slider.
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While they probably don't differ between the greens and blues, the leafs are subtly different on each type of switch. A linear leaf with a tactile slider is not the same as a tactile leaf with a tactile slider.
The tactlity's not in the leaf on a Cherry, it's all in the slider:
http://park16.wakwak.com/~ex4/kb/tech_cherry_mx.htm
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The tactlity's not in the leaf on a Cherry, it's all in the slider:
http://park16.wakwak.com/~ex4/kb/tech_cherry_mx.htm (http://park16.wakwak.com/%7Eex4/kb/tech_cherry_mx.htm)
More clearly, when I have combined parts from different switches, the switches did not feel only like the slider and spring, but also has some influence from the leaf. Subjectively, at least.
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There might be some wear that might be causing that, too. Since the sliders are plastic, depending on which key the parts were pulled from/put into, they wear on the slider might be a little different. The new "T" key might feel a little different than an old one, or it might feel different than the "Q," for example. I have never, personally felt any difference in swapping Cherry guts other than trading a less worn key for a more worn key. The only other thing might be if you swapped between a Cherry-manufactured and a non-Cherry 'board (say, a Filco). Apparently, they make switches for Cherry 'boards in another factory/assembly line than they do for non-Cherry 'boards (there is an early thread here that discusses this). There might be some minor manufacturing difference that could explain the different feel.
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There might be some wear that might be causing that, too. Since the sliders are plastic, depending on which key the parts were pulled from/put into, they wear on the slider might be a little different. The new "T" key might feel a little different than an old one, or it might feel different than the "Q," for example. I have never, personally felt any difference in swapping Cherry guts other than trading a less worn key for a more worn key. The only other thing might be if you swapped between a Cherry-manufactured and a non-Cherry 'board (say, a Filco). Apparently, they make switches for Cherry 'boards in another factory/assembly line than they do for non-Cherry 'boards (there is an early thread here that discusses this). There might be some minor manufacturing difference that could explain the different feel.
Actually, I had individual switches that I got from Digikey, and I've played around with the three I got, a blue, a "clear", and a black.
Having lost a spring inside a keyboard when pulling a key on my Cherry keyboard, I decided to swap out the brown slider for my white one, and comparing it to the one other white switch that came with the keyboard, it felt different.
Probably, it was just less lubricant on the slider, as the one I transplanted doesn't seem as smooth as the original.
I also replaced the gray switch for the spacebar with a black slider and spring, which actually feels a lot nicer, I'm almost thinking about making the rest of the modifier keys linear.
So, maybe there are differences, maybe there aren't, but considering the only thing that matters is how it feels to you, I guess it doesn't matter whether the leafs are identical or not.
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I've always thought that "custom" Cherry rumor to be completely bogus. Xsphat got that from a Manufacturers Rep. Anybody in Sales knows Manuf Reps lie like dogs.
I bet you're right, too. It doesn't seem to make much sense to have more than one prouction line for the same item (unless you sell tons of them, or manufacturing time is slow like cars, for example). It certainly doesn't make sense for Cherry MX switches.