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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: phinix on Fri, 10 November 2017, 04:32:14

Title: Stabilisers
Post by: phinix on Fri, 10 November 2017, 04:32:14

So Filco has Costar stabilisers, plate mounted I believe.
Can you swap them with Cherry ones?

Which stabilisers are better - cherry or costar?

Title: Re: Stabilisers
Post by: TalkingTree on Fri, 10 November 2017, 04:55:52

Quote from: phinix on Fri, 10 November 2017, 04:32:14

So Filco has Costar stabilisers, plate mounted I believe.

Correct, Costar stabilizers are plate mounted only.

Quote from: phinix on Fri, 10 November 2017, 04:32:14

Can you swap them with Cherry ones?
Which stabilisers are better - cherry or costar?

Not on the stock plate because the cutout is for Costar stabilizers only.
You can see the difference in the following picture.
The red outline is for Costar while the blue one is for Cherry. As you can see the two overlap quite well so custom plates can actually accomodate both.
(https://geekhack.org/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=65189.0;attach=100344;image)

Quote from: phinix on Fri, 10 November 2017, 04:32:14

Which stabilisers are better - cherry or costar?

That's personal preference. Many prefer Costar over Cherry if adequately lubricated.

Title: Re: Stabilisers
Post by: phinix on Fri, 10 November 2017, 06:26:21

Are those custom plates available to buy?
Or do they come up as GB from time to time?

Is Filco plate mod popular?
Would this custom plate only fix stabilisers holes, or also switches, so switches could be easily opened for spring swaps later on without soldering hassle?

Title: Re: Stabilisers
Post by: TalkingTree on Fri, 10 November 2017, 07:18:17

Quote from: phinix on Fri, 10 November 2017, 06:26:21

Are those custom plates available to buy?
Or do they come up as GB from time to time?

Is Filco plate mod popular?
Would this custom plate only fix stabilisers holes, or also switches, so switches could be easily opened for spring swaps later on without soldering hassle?

I haven't seen many GB for those lately. If you can have a plate cut on your own, I can help you design one.

Title: Re: Stabilisers
Post by: Eszett on Fri, 10 November 2017, 07:18:34

Quote from: phinix on Fri, 10 November 2017, 04:32:14

Which stabilisers are better - cherry or costar?

That's a recurring question. Both have pros and cons. You have to choose your criteria, then you may find that which is best for you.

• Keycap mounting. This is the main argument why people hate Costar. It's really annoying to replace keycaps with Costar stabs, because they fall loose as soon as the keycap is removed.
• Feel. Costar stabs are said to feel more crisp, Cherry stabs more mushy. That is due to the fact, that Costar stabs have less friction points. To reduce friction with Cherry stabs you have to manipulate them (additionally to clipping them). Here is how. Snap the wire in and out of the stabs, 50 to 100 times, the more the better, until the snapping mechanism is seriously worn-out. Thereby, Cherry stabs can be as crisp as Costar.
• Install / uninstall. Costar stabs are easy to install since all parts involved are above the plate. Cherry stabs (speaking of plate mount) are hard to replace. You need to desolder switches to remove the stabs.
• Noise. Costar stabs make a rattling noise, Cherry stabs are more silent.

Title: Re: Stabilisers
Post by: _haru on Fri, 10 November 2017, 19:05:12

To be honest, I prefer Costar. I'm not too fussed about the feel, but Costar is so much easier to fix when you've soldered everything together. After some nasty experiences with malfunctioning Cherry stabs, I exclusively use Costar now.

Title: Re: Stabilisers
Post by: skuko on Sat, 11 November 2017, 19:15:53

Quote from: _haru on Fri, 10 November 2017, 19:05:12

To be honest, I prefer Costar. I'm not too fussed about the feel, but Costar is so much easier to fix when you've soldered everything together. After some nasty experiences with malfunctioning Cherry stabs, I exclusively use Costar now.

And that's why my boards are hot swap modded.

Sent from my G8441 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Stabilisers
Post by: BliTzKiN on Sat, 11 November 2017, 21:17:31

My preference would be genuine Cherry stabs > Costars > fake Cherry stabs, Cherry stabs being my favorite. The fit of the metal wire in the Cherry stabs make such a huge difference to the rattling of the keys, the wire on the fake Cherry stabs I had before were slightly smaller in diameter than the genuine one, which meant that no matter how much I work I put into it, there was still rattling, which really annoyed me. Genuine Cherry stabs fit a lot better and it was quite easy to fix the rattle.

IMO, only real downside with Cherry stabs is that if you mount the switches with a plate, you pretty much won't have access to the stabilizers anymore, with Costars you'll still be able to tweak it here and there and lube when necessary. One way around it is to PCB mount your switches and not use a plate, that way you'll still be able to have the benefits of a Cherry stabilizer with the convenience of Costars, although I'm aware that this affects the typing experience of the board overall and might not be for everyone.

To answer your question, No, you won't be able to swap the Costar stabilizers on the stock Filco plate unless you get a Universal TKL plate and fit it with plate mounted Cherry stabs. I can't recall if the Filco PCB has the cutouts to allow PCB mounted stabs. The mod itself used to be quite popular, but it seems that most people have moved on to smaller form factor keyboards so the demand and supply of TKL plates have decreased recently.

Title: Re: Stabilisers
Post by: OfTheWild on Sun, 12 November 2017, 16:03:16

The biggest issue I see with Costar stabs is that occasionally the cap post binds up on the lip of the frame piece. I do a bit of modification to clean up that area so there is no interference.

(https://i.imgur.com/4GNSuKml.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/QfVwSgLl.jpg)