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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: SpriteMite on Tue, 01 August 2017, 03:51:50

Title: Ghetto Brown Alps
Post by: SpriteMite on Tue, 01 August 2017, 03:51:50
I got my hands on some Salmon Alps and found that I like them quite a bit. It made me question how Brown Alps felt, and while I was thinking of that I got an idea. Since Brown Alps just uses a dummy switchplate as a tactile leaf, why not try to replicate it? I dug out a switchplate with a broken pin and got to work.

I started off by snipping the pins so that it would fit in the place where a tactile leaf would usually go. Since I don't have Brown Alps on hand, I just started blindly bending the contact leaf on my dummy switchplate until it produced tactility fairly similar to my Salmons.

The result is this:
(http://i.imgur.com/jPxZD4O.jpg)

Compared to the standard switchplate:
(http://i.imgur.com/13ehEJ2.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/h5BGvSh.jpg)
Left: Ghetto Brown, Middle: Salmon, Right: Switchplate

The feel is quite comparable to Salmons, except more tactile. Due to there being less empty space in the switch, it also sounds a lot more full. I highly doubt that it feels similar to Browns, though. Maybe someone who has Browns can try this and compare?

I'll warn you though, this mod is a huge pain. I spent almost an hour trying to do this on a second switch and gave up because something kept catching inside. You need a lot of patience to get it right, I got really lucky on my first try.
Title: Re: Ghetto Brown Alps
Post by: tp4tissue on Tue, 01 August 2017, 05:21:23
now we gotta bend 86 of them exactly the same.. hahahaha
Title: Re: Ghetto Brown Alps
Post by: SpriteMite on Tue, 01 August 2017, 05:29:29
now we gotta bend 86 of them exactly the same.. hahahaha
Haha, good luck. If I spent an hour trying to get a second switch to be even remotely similar and failed, imagine how long it would take to do just the alpha block!