Tell me about cherry MX compatible springs - do replacements exist?

[omuerte]

I'm interested in experimenting with a couple variable weighted board projects. Does anyone know of a source for springs that are Cherry MX compatible and are about halfway between the stiffness of MX Black and MX Red stock springs? I'd like to have a go at a variable MX Black/Red/In-between board as well as a board with clear switches and variable spring weights. Ideally I'll go for three levels of switch weighting, which is why I'm looking for springs between the weight of red and black.

[PixelVandalism]

I'm pretty sure there was a GH spring group buy at some point?

I went and found it..
Not from 2010 at all :s

[omuerte]

<3 thanks, I'll pursue that with sixty and see if anyone has springs they're not using. If I'm really lucky I'll get some specs and a possible supplier as well.

[fossala]

I bought some a while ago, long sold now though. I didn't think they where that different to cherry blacks.

[IvanIvanovich]

Look for vintage blacks. Likely to get them on something like a WY30. They used a slightly different spring that was a couple grams lighter than the current production. The stems are also slight different in that the part that hits the leaf is softer angled. This is why people say vintage blacks is softer, as they are just a little bit. While the difference is not huge it might be just enough for your purposes. Alternately... you could go harder for the center section and use grey, blacks for middle and ring and reds for pinkys keys, though that might be a little much.

[omuerte]

Look for vintage blacks. Likely to get them on something like a WY30. They used a slightly different spring that was a couple grams lighter than the current production. The stems are also slight different in that the part that hits the leaf is softer angled. This is why people say vintage blacks is softer, as they are just a little bit. While the difference is not huge it might be just enough for your purposes. Alternately... you could go harder for the center section and use grey, blacks for middle and ring and reds for pinkys keys, though that might be a little much.

I played around with a two-stage setup earlier tonight on my mx clear board - I went for ergo clears for the center, browns for the ring/pinky and left the F-key row, home/end cluster and arrows with clears. It's actually quite nice to type on, so far I'm really enjoying it. I'd love to find a spring that was halfway between reds and browns though, blacks with a slightly lighter spring for the f-keys and arrows+home/end cluster would be even nicer.

When you say "vintage blacks" how old are you thinking? Would a 1986 WYSE PCE board with black switches hit the spot? If so, I'm in luck, that's the PCB I'm going to harvest the black switches from. I just have to desolder them tomorrow and I'm good to go.

[IvanIvanovich]

Probably, you can tell easy since the Cherry logo on the switch top is much larger than new ones. Once you pop them open and compare with a recent made black, you will know for certain. Spring looks more like clear spring with loose coil than the real tight coil on recent blacks.