Switch tester?

[Rika]

So have never built a keyboard before and *think* I want linears, after looking around for a while I decided to put together a macropad sorta as a start to renew soldering skills along with being able to use it as a more active switch tester as pushing a key a couple times isn't that great of a feel for how use would actually be

So my question to you all, if I can get just 10 of a handful of a switches and try them on the board to see what I prefer is that a better idea, or in your opinion is a full switch tester to start with just a necessity

Sent from my SM-N976B using Tapatalk

[yui]

if you already have an idea switch testers are not great, they never really are as they only give you the feeling with no correlation to any actions and a switch may feel good all by itself but while typing be actually rather really bad (my experience with MX browns) so if i were you, depending on the price of the switch you plan to use i'd buy a few and try out, it is what i ended up doing for silent red and speed bronze, although i bought them from kdbfans when they still offered free shipping.
i'd also recommend watching chyros's videos on the subject (chyrosran22 on youtube) he is rather good at describing switch feel

[Rika]

if you already have an idea switch testers are not great, they never really are as they only give you the feeling with no correlation to any actions and a switch may feel good all by itself but while typing be actually rather really bad (my experience with MX browns) so if i were you, depending on the price of the switch you plan to use i'd buy a few and try out, it is what i ended up doing for silent red and speed bronze, although i bought them from kdbfans when they still offered free shipping.
i'd also recommend watching chyros's videos on the subject (chyrosran22 on youtube) he is rather good at describing switch feel

Partially my reason, I tried a switch tester for cherry switches ages ago and the one I liked the most was black, but I know if I had a board of that it probably would end badly, currently, my "idea" of what I want I think I had down to around about 6 switches with probably 1 or 2 tactiles out of curiosity, think either way, with how much of a mess I am I'll probably have to get a bit of everything
And then after that I end up with silent switches as when I get a case the switches end up loud enough to get me in trouble lol

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[retoid]

One option, though not the cheapest, but would help better give you a feeling of which switches you'd like would be to grab a cheaper hotswap keyboard, maybe something like this GK61x RGB Hot Swap Independent Driver Tyce-C ANSI Replacable Space Cherry MX Switches Mechanical Keyboard DIY Kit Case Plate PCB
And then pick up some switches to insert and test out. Granted you'll need caps also. But it's not a whole lot more than what you'd spend on a decent sized switch tester.

I am fairly new to mechanical keyboards and when I just got into them I first bought a 3x3 Cherry switch tester and while it gave me an idea of what they feel like, they don't really let you feel when they activate either. So I soldered some LED's to them to let me see/feel when they activate. This helped a bit more. But overall the best test is having the switches installed on a working keyboard.
https://youtu.be/Y1Nwm5_xa8E

(wires run to a 9V battery connector)