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Author Topic: G80-3000 with BROWN switches? Transplant?  (Read 2361 times)

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Offline lost eden

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 34
G80-3000 with BROWN switches? Transplant?
« on: Wed, 16 November 2011, 10:37:22 »
I've been using a Cherry G80-3000 with blue MX & dualshot caps at home for the last ~3 years & I love it. Ideally I would use the same keyboard in my office at work, I even have 2x more G80-3000 (one dualshot, one regular) spare, but the noise would drive the 2 other people I share the office with mad... So I had a quick look at what 'quieter' switches there are & came across the brown MX, which from the description I thought would be very similar to the feel of the blue MX but without the click - perfect!

So I bought a Compaq MX11800 with brown MX for £25, primarily to see what the switches are like & not to use on a long term basis because the layout is rather annoying - I use the home/end/pageup/pagedown/delete/insert block quite regularly & having it above the number row is infuriating for me! After a few days I don't like the browns as much as I thought I would, but I definitely prefer them to rubber dome or scissors, so I'm thinking of investing in another keyboard with browns & a 'normal' layout.

Now I really like the layout/size/angle of the G80-3000 but as far as I can tell Cherry never made them with brown switches - can anybody confirm or deny that?

However, as I have 2x spare G80-3000 with blue MX & I now have a MX118800 with brown MX... you can see where I'm going with this... how realistic would it be for me to 'transplant' the switches from the latter into the former? I'm an averagely skilled solderer.

But, when I first got the MX118800 I removed it's keycaps & tried putting the dualshot caps from one of my spare G80-3000 onto it & they were really loose. I was under the impression that the stalks of blue & brown switches are exactly the same, so the dualshot caps from the blue switches should've fitted snuggly onto the brown switches? They're not so lose that they will fall off during normal typing, but lose enough to make me wonder if something isn't as it should be...
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Offline RiGS

  • Posts: 1594
G80-3000 with BROWN switches? Transplant?
« Reply #1 on: Wed, 16 November 2011, 10:46:06 »
On both of your keyboards the switches are mounted directly to the PCB. Which means you can easily pop up those switches without any soldering, and just swap the switch plunger.

[video=youtube;GivKt63dLvA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GivKt63dLvA[/video]
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Last edited by RiGS; Jan 2011

Offline IvanIvanovich

  • Mr. Silk Underwear
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  • Location: USA
G80-3000 with BROWN switches? Transplant?
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 16 November 2011, 11:38:38 »
Swapping stems is pretty easy on Cherry boards ^. I recently did a swap on my g80-11908 to clears and it took me maybe 15-20 minutes. It might take a few minutes to get the first one, but after you get how it opens the rest go quick.
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Offline elbowglue

  • Posts: 583
G80-3000 with BROWN switches? Transplant?
« Reply #3 on: Wed, 16 November 2011, 12:06:51 »
They used to make a G80-3000 with brown switches, I think it was a custom order by the reseller Datacal:  Here is a link to the thread:
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?4662-Cherry-G80-3000-has-just-arrived./page3

But no, I have not seen any other g80-3000 with brown switches outside of the ones sold by datacal.

Switch transplant is easy, just takes some time to do.  I did this for one of my G80-3000LSCRC-2's, turned it into a cherry brown board and gifted it to my brother.

I'm not sure why you found that the keycaps differed; the stems and keycaps *should* all be the same size, especially since they are all cherry boards.

Switching is very easy though. Springs and casings are all the same, it's just the stems that are different.  Good luck with the transplant!
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My keyboards: Filco Cherry Blue Tenkeyless(daily home), Compaq MX11800 (modded to blacks), Compaq "MX 84u",  Wellington\'s Dampened Endurapro, Pinkalicious Filco Blue Cherry, Chicony KB-5191, Chicony KB-5181, Desko MOS 5023 UP "elbowglue" spos (modded to blues), Siig Minitouch (monterey blue), SMK-88 (blue cherries), Ricercar SPOS
Smallest to biggest keyboards in inches (Length X Height) - Length is most important for a midline mouse position
KBC Poker: 11.6 x 3.9 - HHKB: 11.6 x 4.3 - Siig Minitouch (Geekhack Space Saver): 11.6 x 6 - Deck/Tg3 82: 12 x 6 - Noppoo Choc Mini 12.4 x 5.3 - Compaq "MX 84u": 13.1 x 7.5 - Filco Tenkeyless: 14 x 5.3 - Cherry "ricercar spos" G86-62410EUAGSA: 14 x 7.75 - Topre Realforce 86u: 14.4 x 6.65 - Desko "elbowglue spos" MOS 5023 UP: 14.5 x 8.4 - IBM Model M Spacesaver: 15.3 x 7 - G80-1800: 15.9 x 7.1 - Adesso MKB-125B: 16 x 7.3 - Compaq Mx11800, Cherry G80-11900: 16.25 x 7.5 - Filco Standard: 17.3 x 5.4 - Unicomp Endurapro: 17.9 x 7.1 - Adesso MKB-135B: 18.3 x 6.0 - Cherry G80-3000: 18.5 x 7.6 - IBM Model M, Unicomp Customizer: 19.3 x 8.27

Offline squarebox

  • Posts: 608
  • Location: Singapore
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G80-3000 with BROWN switches? Transplant?
« Reply #4 on: Wed, 16 November 2011, 12:38:52 »
Here's a better how-to video
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Filco Yellow Edition  | Filco Brown | Filco 2 Brown TKL | G80-1950 | G80-3494 | G80-11900 | Leopold FC500R | Noppoo Choc Mini

Offline lost eden

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 34
G80-3000 with BROWN switches? Transplant?
« Reply #5 on: Thu, 17 November 2011, 04:41:31 »
Great news that I don't even have to take a soldering iron to it! I'll probably give it a go sometime early next week (girlfriend is coming to visit this weekend, don't think she would appreciate me ignoring her to play with keyboards instead!

Quote
Not sure if you want a 3000? I've been watching the Mr. Interface video on youtube and in not so many words says the 3000 is of poor quality. Something about "clam shell construction." !?
That's probably talking about how there are no screws in the G80-3000. Like a lot of Cherry keyboards (including the Compaq I'm typing on now), the PCB just rests on the bottom case, but with the 3000 the top case isn't even screwed to the bottom case - it's just clipped. But even so, they feel rather solid to type on.
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Offline squarebox

  • Posts: 608
  • Location: Singapore
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G80-3000 with BROWN switches? Transplant?
« Reply #6 on: Thu, 17 November 2011, 04:58:30 »
I agree with lost eden.
I love typing on my G80-3494 more than on my Filco-R. Probably due to it being PCB mounted and POM keycaps.
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Filco Yellow Edition  | Filco Brown | Filco 2 Brown TKL | G80-1950 | G80-3494 | G80-11900 | Leopold FC500R | Noppoo Choc Mini

Offline SBI

  • Posts: 47
G80-3000 with BROWN switches? Transplant?
« Reply #7 on: Thu, 17 November 2011, 05:02:00 »
The cherry boards are solid, I don't really see the problem with them either. Before I got my Das Keyboard, I had a Cherry G80 for about 8 years. It's still alive, looks a bit beaten and 2 switches need to be changed, but apart from that it's still good enough. Of course, if you abuse it, any plate-mounted board will be a lot more stable. But in day-to-day usage, I don't think the G80 is at a loss. Plus, I kinda like the PCB-feel too.

€: And in terms of transplanting the switches, it really isn't something that takes an engineering degree. After 1-2 you'll be fairly quick, even if it's your first time. Just don't be rough, and there's pretty much nothing that can happen.
« Last Edit: Thu, 17 November 2011, 05:05:13 by SBI »
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Offline spolia optima

  • Posts: 580
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G80-3000 with BROWN switches? Transplant?
« Reply #8 on: Thu, 17 November 2011, 10:17:08 »
The G80-3000 is a fantastic design. Simple, classy, easy construction.
And a little bird tells me that Cherry saves their best switches for their own 'boards ;)
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keyboards!
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