geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: spolia optima on Sun, 17 January 2010, 19:41:25
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This is regarding plate-mounted cherry switches in particular. Has anyone manufactured/modded a mounting plate out of anything other than steel and aluminum?
I would think that magnesium is pretty obvious, as well as titanium... but what about non-metals?
I for one, would like to feel some switches mounted on nylon, vinyl, carbon fiber, or different types of polymer/plastic with varying degrees of rigidity.
There are rubbers that would fit the bill and never become brittle over time, while still absorbing impact. There are a multitude of materials out there, and I'm confident that many of them have already been tested. I'd like to know the history behind this. Most quality keyboards use steel because of the cost and weight. weight=quality, a lot of people live by that dictum, especially the keyboard crowd. I've seen a few that look like aluminum, though I haven't heard much about out. Anyone have some aluminum-mounted cherry switches?
It's that metallic "ping" that I wish to avoid. Most of us are annoyed by that ping. I've reduced the ping by switching keycaps, but it's a minor reduction- or just a change in tone. The plate is obviously the source of the noise, so let's fix it!
Otherwise I'm gonna have to go back to the drawing board on my carbon-fiber mounted brown cherry with ivory keys :noidea:
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It's really the opposite for me. I like the ping of IBM keyboards, but can't stand it on ALPS/Cherry boards. I've tried a mousepad, it helps a bit. changing the plate might be a radical approach, but it's something I want to keep in mind for DIY projects in particular.
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cfishy made a keyboard using an acrylic plate:
Frankenstein, prototype (http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:7422)
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Maybe you can try an iron plate.