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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: leehwtsohg on Sun, 11 March 2018, 01:30:35
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I have a self built jd40 with brown Gateron switches, and an Anne Pro with brown Gateron switches. I'm trying to figure out why the self built keyboard feels so much better.
With the Anne Pro, it feels more of an effort to type, relative to my jd40. On the Anne, there is a resistance that has to be overcome as I press the key. On my keyboard, its not so much resistance, and more a slight hump as the key goes down.
One difference I noticed is that on the Anne Pro, the Gateron switches are upside down - the label is towards me instead of away from me. Does that matter?
Actually, playing with an extra brown switch I have, it feels slightly different which way the switch is oriented, or rather whether I push the switch slightly tilted one way or the other. Am I imagining things?
Another difference could be the angle? The Anne is more tilted than my keyboard, which only has ~5mm silicon feet.
The jd40 also is just a single plate, just the PCB, whereas the Anne has a top plate, the PCB, and the plastic housing.
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I also have a RACE keyboard with blue Cherry MX switches. They also seem to be mounted inverted, with the label upside down, towards me. However, on these switches I don't really notice a difference between pressing the button down at an angle down, or at an angle up. (Of course, pressing straight down IS different from these two).
I wonder why you'd plan the PCB so that the switches are mounted rotated? Or maybe because for Cherry switches it doesn't matter, switch orientation isn't taken into account when planning the PCB?
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Honestly it shouldn't matter whether the switches are installed north (logo upside down) or south facing (logo right way up), that is why you see some KBs that have them the one way & others that have them the other way. The only thing I can think of that would cause that is the fact that Gateron browns have a very small tactile bump on their stem, which is causing them to be more tactile when pressed down in north facing install vs a south facing one.
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Mods please remove this post & the one below it, I accidentally quoted myself instead of modifying my original post like a dummy... :thumb:
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For all keys the mounting direction should not matter all that much its the angle that is important. the larger the angle that the key is pressed in the more difficult/added force to activate it.
I could also see a difference if the switches have been broken in vs brand new. After a few thousand activations I tend to notice the switches become ever so slightly smoother
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Cherry profile keycaps might be hitting some switches when bottoming out. I've heard that the R3 Cherry profile keycaps (the shortest row) have some clearance issues if the switches are mounted with LEDs facing north.