geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: saxophone on Sat, 23 January 2016, 10:19:07
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Okay this is something that's been bothering me for quite a while now.
Look at key switches. Cherry, Kailh, Gateron, Gaote, Greetech etc. They list a weight for their switches. That's the weight needed to press the key down past the point for the switch to actuate.
Now look at loose springs and say, Zealio switches. They list an overall higher weight for their switches but that's the weight needed to push the switch down to the bottom.
I can't find any conversion or reference for these, which means that even if I wanted to buy Zealio switches I have no way to tell what what's supposed to be what until I've obtained the item itself. What's the actual point of even doing something like this? Springs - sure since the actuation weight will vary depending on the mechanical characteristics of the rest of the switch parts, but Zealios why?
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Most of the reason why is because loose springs, also what zeal uses, weight is totally independent of any switch characteristics, but we know what the total compressed length is going to be.
Weights for switches are different because the function, build, and shape of the slider and any other click mechanism will play into the actuation force of the overall switch. To see this, look at actuation force for Cherry reds, blues, and browns, all three use the same springs.
Another thing to consider, is Cherry lists their number in cN (this stands for centinewtons), while pretty much any loose spring I have seen is measured in grams.
How many cN in 1 gram-force? The answer is 0.980665. Source here is www.convertunits.com.
Edit: Forgot to.point out this thread. If you scroll down you will see that the majority of the springs share similar spring rates except for MX clear springs which are much steeper. https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=46449.0
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I agree, we should just have force curves on everything. They're even more useful than just weights, they tell a lot about the keyfeel, too.