What is ur fave switch?

[Error213]

Mine is lubed and filmed c3 tangies

[tp4tissue]

[Leslieann]

Most favorite:
Hand wired Cherry Jailhouse Blues, lubed, cut springs (3 coils, equates to 40g@activation and 35g bottom out).
These are short throw and a softer click sound but retain full tactility, while they are a wonderful switch they are an absolute nightmare to make. The shackles are extremely tedious work (o-rings and J-spacers are good but not the same), then an imperfect wrap can snag the housing and cause switches to stick (a big problem if the switch is soldered), the springs need to be clipped or else you end up with super stiff springs (something like 85g activation/110g bottom out), and if cut too short they become so light they take a while to work in. Consistency can be achieved but it takes a lot of work to tune each switch, something not easily done if they are soldered. You really need a universal plate or hot swap for this.

A close second, and much easier to make:
62g Zilents (or Zealios), lubed, low 40g springs, this creates a really quiet short throw hyper tactile switch (obnoxiously tactile!). Just beware going below mid 40s as a slow release can cause a switch to stick. My 39g springs are almost cured of it but it's taken MONTHS so to avoid issues stick to mid 40g (bottom out) rated springs.

[Maledicted]

I don't have a single favorite switch. There are too many great ones out there.

Some favorites, in no particular order because I can't rank them all definitively:

Complicated Alps of all flavors
Capacitive buckling spring
Beam spring
NEC blue ovals
SMK Alps mount
Box thick clicks
Matias switches (even the tactiles are growing on me)

Honorable mentions:

Topre
Hi-Tek "Space Invaders"
Hi-Tek Hi Profile
Fujitsu Peerless
Focus dome with slider
Maxi Switch dome with slider
Futaba MA ... when they work right

I'm sure others remain to be discovered.

Most favorite:
Hand wired Cherry Jailhouse Blues, lubed, cut springs (3 coils, equates to 40g@activation and 35g bottom out).

I thought you mentioned recently that these fell short somehow. Was that meant moreso for the labor involved than their inherent qualities? I would be curious to try them if they're ever present on a board at a meet in Wisconsin when the apocalypse is over.

[yui]

MX form factor:
kailh bronze
kailh royals
gat silent red

all category favourites so far
Membrane buckling spring (never had the chance to try a capacitive one) (PC122)
Alps White clones (FK2001)
Focus dome with slider (strangest dome board ever, it actuate partly through the travel with a very faint click) (FK9200)

what i want to try real bad:
IBM Selectric
proper white alps
BTC domes with slider
ITW magnetic valve

and favourite because they are technically rather interesting:
Fujitsu peerless, although my board was broken on arrival, and i broke it more trying to fix it, so pretty usable

[Leslieann]

Most favorite:
Hand wired Cherry Jailhouse Blues, lubed, cut springs (3 coils, equates to 40g@activation and 35g bottom out).

I thought you mentioned recently that these fell short somehow. Was that meant moreso for the labor involved than their inherent qualities? I would be curious to try them if they're ever present on a board at a meet in Wisconsin when the apocalypse is over.

It's the amount of work.

If I remember right I think it was about 12-16 hours of work to do a TKL start to finish and this was on a board with a universal plate so I didn't need to desolder/desolder or fight to open the switches as they were held in place, so best case scenario. It's not like lube where you just zone out, you can do that with lube and spring clipping to degree but you must pay total attention when doing the shackles because the tolerances are so tight. The Zeals may lack a bit of the sound and feel but they get really, really close. Is that last 5% worth a day and a half of your time? It might be if you know what your getting in the end, but if you haven't actually tried the real thing you probably wouldn't miss it.

As for trying them, I know there are quiet a few o-ringed and probably a few dozen J-Spaced boards but I have no idea the number of wired ones, it's probably a minority among a small minority among a small minority. If there's much more than a dozen I'd be surprised. Then again every time I do some digging about them for something (I get asked about them in PM now and then) I end up finding some new mention of them somewhere else on the internet so there could be quite a lot more we don't know about. Dozens! There might be dozens of us!

When things do get better I may try and get mine to a meet but it won't be midwest, I moved back to the southwest just before things got stupid.

[Bjerrk]

I'd have to go with Capacitive Buckling Springs and Kailh Polia for the moment. But it fluctuates!

[bkrownd]

I like my new Speed Bronze  .  Otherwise I'm fine with various flavors of brown.  I have a light touch. 

[Maledicted]

and favourite because they are technically rather interesting:
Fujitsu peerless, although my board was broken on arrival, and i broke it more trying to fix it, so pretty usable

I see boards with them on Ebay all of the time. Should I keep an eye out for you?

Most favorite:
Hand wired Cherry Jailhouse Blues, lubed, cut springs (3 coils, equates to 40g@activation and 35g bottom out).

I thought you mentioned recently that these fell short somehow. Was that meant moreso for the labor involved than their inherent qualities? I would be curious to try them if they're ever present on a board at a meet in Wisconsin when the apocalypse is over.

It's the amount of work.

If I remember right I think it was about 12-16 hours of work to do a TKL start to finish and this was on a board with a universal plate so I didn't need to desolder/desolder or fight to open the switches as they were held in place, so best case scenario. It's not like lube where you just zone out, you can do that with lube and spring clipping to degree but you must pay total attention when doing the shackles because the tolerances are so tight. The Zeals may lack a bit of the sound and feel but they get really, really close. Is that last 5% worth a day and a half of your time? It might be if you know what your getting in the end, but if you haven't actually tried the real thing you probably wouldn't miss it.

As for trying them, I know there are quiet a few o-ringed and probably a few dozen J-Spaced boards but I have no idea the number of wired ones, it's probably a minority among a small minority among a small minority. If there's much more than a dozen I'd be surprised. Then again every time I do some digging about them for something (I get asked about them in PM now and then) I end up finding some new mention of them somewhere else on the internet so there could be quite a lot more we don't know about. Dozens! There might be dozens of us!

When things do get better I may try and get mine to a meet but it won't be midwest, I moved back to the southwest just before things got stupid.

Even dozens is no slouch for some random off-the-wall mod to MX blues. I imagine it wouldn't happen the same way again, in a world with so many available new production switches.

I'd have to go with Capacitive Buckling Springs and Kailh Polia for the moment. But it fluctuates!

I've only just barely heard of Polia. If you can put it head-to-head with a Model F, that's something. What's their claim to fame?

[jcoffin1981]

So my favorite switches are Kaihl Box Browns and Box Burnt Orange.  I really prefer tactile switches to all other types.  I really love these switches for the short travel distance and the actuation point being just slightly higher. 

My only issue with the browns is they are just a little bit clicky.  I'm not entirely sure if they were like that from the start or if they kind of broke in like that.  The tactility is nice and sharp though.  I also like there is not a huge amount of resistance to get through the tactile bump.

I love the Box Burnt Orange.  The switch just feels nice and solid with zero wobble.  I really like the force curve on this.  My issue with this switch is that it is too heavy.  It is really pleasant to type on, however it is fatiguing to type for too long.  I also miss keystrokes because I don't press hard enough on the keys. 

My next project is to take a Burnt Orange and replace the spring with a light one.  I'm just not so sure with the shorter travel distance if the spring makes a difference??

[Pylon]

MX Clear stem and spring in an MX Blue housing. The MX Blue leaf makes this combo somewhat more tactile than a stock MX Clear,  but I still can avoid bottoming out pretty easily with this combo (whereas MX Clear with Boba housings was difficult to not bottom out). Also keeping it all Cherry is nice, and it does pretty well after lubing and filming.

[Leslieann]

There might be dozens of us!

Even dozens is no slouch for some random off-the-wall mod to MX blues. I imagine it wouldn't happen the same way again, in a world with so many available new production switches.

In total there's quite a lot more than just dozens when you count all of the various methods and I honestly think it's at least partly responsible for some of the switches we have today. I can't speak for others involved (several people contributed to it) but it garnered far more interest than I ever expected and there's still a surprising amount of interest in it today so there may be a whole lot more boards out there with them than I imagine. I think it helps that switch prices have come way down and hot swap makes it easier to try.

It won't happen again with blues but we could see something come out of Box switches, there's room to mod those.


For those curious,
The centralized thread with links to many threads about it, how it came about and such.
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=45992.0

My original thread which has a lot of info pertaining to the wire method and includes clipped spring rates.
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=38091.0

[yui]

and favourite because they are technically rather interesting:
Fujitsu peerless, although my board was broken on arrival, and i broke it more trying to fix it, so pretty usable

thanks, but i am good, i don't really have the budget lately, or the space and although it is in rather bad shape i had one to try on