Sticky stabs?

[oTurtlez]

So I got my board in from DanGWanG and I'm having an issue with the backspace and right shift keys. It feels as if they're sticking on the way back up, and are a bit harder to push on the way down. Any ideas?

[CPTBadAss]

Which board do you have and what stabilizers?

[oTurtlez]

Which board do you have and what stabilizers?

They're cherry stabs on a custom Phantom. I just reseated the keys again and they appear to be fine now. Weird. Confused as to why they didn't do that before but whatever. They're still kinda, I don't know if this describes it well, but murky? They feel a little slow. Then again, this is my first time using a board with lubed switches.

[CPTBadAss]

Glissant was having a similar issue on his Epsilon. Metalliqaz kept saying that the plate might be a little off and the stabilizer slots arent spread apart enough. Might have to file down the plate a little but I'm not 100% sure.

[esoomenona]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

[oTurtlez]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

I've seen this in one of WFD's vids. Would it be worth it to Do this?

[badcop]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

Clipped cherry stabs > costar all the way

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=34759.0


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

[codyeatworld]

I have clipped cherry stabs, I enjoy them. However I still have had this issue with my backspace, I just had to apply some pressure where the inserts are.

I could tell cause I couldnt press the backspace as far down as the other keys.

[mauri]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

Clipped cherry stabs > costar all the way

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=34759.0


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

Man I gotta test this, tho most likely I will fail miserably and my whole keyboard will spontaneously combust. Does anyone know just how accessible are stab sets? :d

[badcop]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

Clipped cherry stabs > costar all the way

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=34759.0


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

Man I gotta test this, tho most likely I will fail miserably and my whole keyboard will spontaneously combust. Does anyone know just how accessible are stab sets? :d

if its got a plate, i think you have to desolder just about everything to get them out.

[mauri]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

Clipped cherry stabs > costar all the way

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=34759.0


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

Man I gotta test this, tho most likely I will fail miserably and my whole keyboard will spontaneously combust. Does anyone know just how accessible are stab sets? :d

if its got a plate, i think you have to desolder just about everything to get them out.

Good thing, the switches aren't soldered anywhere yet then huh

[badcop]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

Clipped cherry stabs > costar all the way

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=34759.0


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

Man I gotta test this, tho most likely I will fail miserably and my whole keyboard will spontaneously combust. Does anyone know just how accessible are stab sets? :d

if its got a plate, i think you have to desolder just about everything to get them out.

Good thing, the switches aren't soldered anywhere yet then huh

good deal then!  try it out.  they definitely make a much needed improvement.

[mauri]

Too big of a reply pyramid u_u I've never actually had cherry stabs, so I'm just taking peoples word on it.

[gnubag]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

Clipped cherry stabs > costar all the way

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=34759.0


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

Man I gotta test this, tho most likely I will fail miserably and my whole keyboard will spontaneously combust. Does anyone know just how accessible are stab sets? :d

if its got a plate, i think you have to desolder just about everything to get them out.

Good thing, the switches aren't soldered anywhere yet then huh

you actually don't have to desolder everything when you use platemount stabs. just the switch of the stab should be fine when there is a slot for the wire. (compare spacebar stab from WFD's uni plate rev 1 and 2)

[CPTBadAss]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

I've seen this in one of WFD's vids. Would it be worth it to Do this?

I did this on my KMAC, it really feels nice.

[oTurtlez]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

I've seen this in one of WFD's vids. Would it be worth it to Do this?

I did this on my KMAC, it really feels nice.

Guess I'll be ordering a yihua and soldapult haha.

[Thimplum]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

I've seen this in one of WFD's vids. Would it be worth it to Do this?

I did this on my KMAC, it really feels nice.

Guess I'll be ordering a yihua and soldapult haha.

sodapult?

[oTurtlez]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

I've seen this in one of WFD's vids. Would it be worth it to Do this?

I did this on my KMAC, it really feels nice.

Guess I'll be ordering a yihua and soldapult haha.

sodapult?

Soldapult. It's a solder sucker thing, Google it

[esoomenona]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

I've seen this in one of WFD's vids. Would it be worth it to Do this?

I did this on my KMAC, it really feels nice.

Guess I'll be ordering a yihua and soldapult haha.

sodapult?

Soldapult. It's a solder sucker thing, Google it

gogle?

[oTurtlez]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

I've seen this in one of WFD's vids. Would it be worth it to Do this?

I did this on my KMAC, it really feels nice.

Guess I'll be ordering a yihua and soldapult haha.

sodapult?

Soldapult. It's a solder sucker thing, Google it

gogle?

The magic crystal eyewear that let you see the beauty of MYs.

[SpAmRaY]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

I've seen this in one of WFD's vids. Would it be worth it to Do this?

I did this on my KMAC, it really feels nice.

Guess I'll be ordering a yihua and soldapult haha.

sodapult?

Soldapult. It's a solder sucker thing, Google it

gogle?

The magic crystal eyewear that let you see the beauty of MYs.

So are you selling these, I need some?

[korrelate]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

I've seen this in one of WFD's vids. Would it be worth it to Do this?

Absolutely. I had this same problem with my Leopold and I even took it a step farther: I clipped all of the projections off of the bottom of cherry stabs. I also grabbed a pair of wire cutters and clipped the ends of the stabilizer bars and fished them out from between the PCB and the plate. Took a while, but I kept on it. I did this for all stabilized keys except the spacebar and I couldn't be happier with my Leopold. But I agree with Moose here: Costar stabs feel much faster (cleaner action, you know). The price you pay for this cleaner action is a bit of noise (chatter) but in my mind, it's totally worth the trade off.

And I also want to give credit where due: I only got the idea of clipping the stabs after watching a WFD video: this made a world of difference on my Leopold.

[oTurtlez]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

I've seen this in one of WFD's vids. Would it be worth it to Do this?

Absolutely. I had this same problem with my Leopold and I even took it a step farther: I clipped all of the projections off of the bottom of cherry stabs. I also grabbed a pair of wire cutters and clipped the ends of the stabilizer bars and fished them out from between the PCB and the plate. Took a while, but I kept on it. I did this for all stabilized keys except the spacebar and I couldn't be happier with my Leopold. But I agree with Moose here: Costar stabs feel much faster (cleaner action, you know). The price you pay for this cleaner action is a bit of noise (chatter) but in my mind, it's totally worth the trade off.

Gahh. I don't want to desolder 87 switches to swap stabs

[WhiteFireDragon]

Which board do you have and what stabilizers?

They're cherry stabs on a custom Phantom. I just reseated the keys again and they appear to be fine now. Weird. Confused as to why they didn't do that before but whatever. They're still kinda, I don't know if this describes it well, but murky? They feel a little slow. Then again, this is my first time using a board with lubed switches.

First round phantom plates were designed by bpiphany, which is just copied directly from cherry's exact specs for the stabilizer holes. I also found that using cherry's exact specs will result in some stabilizers that are sometimes not smooth if you also you cherry's authentic stabilizers. The specs are ever so slightly off.

I accounted for this offset on the round 2 phantom plates that I personally designed, and haven't seen any complaints of sticky stabs from the people that have already received them. If your plate is from Dan, it's from the round1 plates that I did not design, so maybe try to file around the cutout holes to widen them slightly.

Alternatively, clipping two tiny legs on the stems could also help because those sometimes catch onto the other plastic piece. I clip it on every keyboard I've built. (if linking to video location does not show correctly, it's at 51m 40sec):

[oTurtlez]

Which board do you have and what stabilizers?

They're cherry stabs on a custom Phantom. I just reseated the keys again and they appear to be fine now. Weird. Confused as to why they didn't do that before but whatever. They're still kinda, I don't know if this describes it well, but murky? They feel a little slow. Then again, this is my first time using a board with lubed switches.

First round phantom plates were designed by bpiphany, which is just copied directly from cherry's exact specs for the stabilizer holes. I also found that using cherry's exact specs will result in some stabilizers that are sometimes not smooth if you also you cherry's authentic stabilizers. The specs are ever so slightly off.

I accounted for this offset on the round 2 phantom plates that I personally designed, and haven't seen any complaints of sticky stabs from the people that have already received them. If your plate is from Dan, it's from the round1 plates that I did not design, so maybe try to file around the cutout holes to widen them slightly.

Alternatively, clipping two tiny legs on the stems could also help because those sometimes catch onto the other plastic piece. I clip it on every keyboard I've built. (if linking to video location does not show correctly, it's at 51m 40sec):

And to confirm, I am stuck with desoldering every switch if I wish to mod the stabilizers or swap them out?

[WhiteFireDragon]

Phantom can only use plate-mounted stabilizers, so you only have to desolder the 5 switches that has stabilizers, not the whole thing.

For anyone else in similar situation, if you're using PCB-mounted stabilizers AND use a plate (like KMACs and LZ boards), you must desolder every switch to remove the plate before the stabilizer can come out. This is why I don't quite understand those Korean keyboard designers forcing users to use PCB-mounted stabilizers when there is a plate.

[oTurtlez]

Phantom can only use plate-mounted stabilizers, so you only have to desolder the 5 switches that has stabilizers, not the whole thing.

For anyone else in similar situation, if you're using PCB-mounted stabilizers AND use a plate (like KMACs and LZ boards), you must desolder every switch to remove the plate before the stabilizer can come out. This is why I don't quite understand those Korean keyboard designers forcing users to use PCB-mounted stabilizers when there is a plate.

I guess that isn't so bad. Looks like I'm ordering a 936 and some form of desoldering device on Friday

[korrelate]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

I've seen this in one of WFD's vids. Would it be worth it to Do this?

Absolutely. I had this same problem with my Leopold and I even took it a step farther: I clipped all of the projections off of the bottom of cherry stabs. I also grabbed a pair of wire cutters and clipped the ends of the stabilizer bars and fished them out from between the PCB and the plate. Took a while, but I kept on it. I did this for all stabilized keys except the spacebar and I couldn't be happier with my Leopold. But I agree with Moose here: Costar stabs feel much faster (cleaner action, you know). The price you pay for this cleaner action is a bit of noise (chatter) but in my mind, it's totally worth the trade off.

Gahh. I don't want to desolder 87 switches to swap stabs

I never desoldered a thing on my leopold. I just removed all the keycaps, removed the plate-component and the stems of the Cherry stabs, used wire cutters to remove the L-shaped ends of the stabs, fished them out (tricky) and bingo - this board is my daily driver. I replaced the plate-component of the stabs and the stems (but only after clipping all of the little arms off of them so that they could move up and down as freely as possible). Basically I just took WFDs advice as far as humanly possible without desoldering anything.

Note: I left the stabs on the spacebar - that's the only key, IMHO that really needs a stab anyway.

And I'm not kidding - I removed the stabilizer bar from every key except the spacebar. I have never, ever missed them and I never liked my leopold until I did.


Also note: I didn't replace them with Costars (although I wanted to at first) because I didn't want to de&resolder everything. I just left them out. Period. And I have never, ever looked back.

[oTurtlez]

Cherry stabs suck. They don't feel as clean as Costar, IMO. There is a mod whereby you clip them, and they feel much better.

I've seen this in one of WFD's vids. Would it be worth it to Do this?

Absolutely. I had this same problem with my Leopold and I even took it a step farther: I clipped all of the projections off of the bottom of cherry stabs. I also grabbed a pair of wire cutters and clipped the ends of the stabilizer bars and fished them out from between the PCB and the plate. Took a while, but I kept on it. I did this for all stabilized keys except the spacebar and I couldn't be happier with my Leopold. But I agree with Moose here: Costar stabs feel much faster (cleaner action, you know). The price you pay for this cleaner action is a bit of noise (chatter) but in my mind, it's totally worth the trade off.

Gahh. I don't want to desolder 87 switches to swap stabs

I never desoldered a thing on my leopold. I just removed all the keycaps, removed the plate-component and the stems of the Cherry stabs, used wire cutters to remove the L-shaped ends of the stabs, fished them out (tricky) and bingo - this board is my daily driver. I replaced the plate-component of the stabs and the stems (but only after clipping all of the little arms off of them so that they could move up and down as freely as possible). Basically I just took WFDs advice as far as humanly possible without desoldering anything.

Note: I left the stabs on the spacebar - that's the only key, IMHO that really needs a stab anyway.

And I'm not kidding - I removed the stabilizer bar from every key except the spacebar. I have never, ever missed them and I never liked my leopold until I did.

If you can get me video or pics of how you managed to do that without desoldering anything it's be greatly appreciated!

[korrelate]

It'd be a pleasure! I've already done it all but I can walk you through the basic steps. Search on Youtube for WFD's videos though: he does a great job of walking you through the basics and there's no need for me to re-invent the wheel.

I recommend proceeding slowly though: I tried this out first with BackSpace (because it is where the Cherry Stabs were most notably sluggish ... I obviously make tons of mistakes.. LOL...). And then once I was comfortable with that I just did them all.

I'll pretend I'm going to do it with the space bar. And that reminds me: Another reason I didn't try it with the spacebar is: once you clip the L-shaped ends off of the stabs, that metal bar is just rolling around between the PCB and the plate. At that point (clipping the ends) you've trashed your stabs so they have to come out. Once you clip both ends though, these are still hard to get out and the space bar, even with the ends clipped - I think it's so long that you couldn't possibly remove it anyway. It all depends, though, on just how much of that L-shaped end you can clip off. Think hard about removing the stab on the space bar though: I left it on and working 100% and I'm pretty glad about it.

[oTurtlez]

With WFD's videos, didn't he just cut two corners of the four "Arms"? I thought two were left on.

[esoomenona]

There are two levels of cutting: clipping the feet and clipping the entire leg.

[oTurtlez]

There are two levels of cutting: clipping the feet and clipping the entire leg.

Benefits of both? I musn't understand how the cherry stabs work because they're beginning to confuse me. Why can't they be built into the caps like the Godswitch?

[korrelate]

Moose is right: in his video WFD only recommends cutting two of the tiny arms. I did that. Still felt a bit of drag and then went back in and remove the remainders. In my mind, the only thing that I wanted left, regarding the plastic parts of the Cherry Stabs was this:

1. The bare posts (the parts that attach themselves to the undersides of the keycaps). I wanted these free of as much impediment as possible.
2. Receptacles for the posts (the plastic, plate mounted parts of the stabs): someplace to hold (1) where (1) could slide up and down but not side to side.

Those arms just felt like they were doing nothing but contributing friction so I clipped them all. I'm sure that Cherry has a function for those arms and I'm sure I have no idea what that function was. All I know now is I sure as heck haven't missed them. Not one bit.

[oTurtlez]

Moose is right: in his video WFD only recommends cutting two of the tiny arms. I did that. Still felt a bit of drag and then went back in and remove the remainders. In my mind, the only thing that I wanted left, regarding the plastic parts of the Cherry Stabs was this:

1. The bare posts (the parts that attach themselves to the undersides of the keycaps). I wanted these free of as much impediment as possible.
2. Receptacles for the posts (the plastic, plate mounted parts of the stabs): someplace to hold (1) where (1) could slide up and down but not side to side.

Those arms just felt like they were doing nothing but contributing friction so I clipped them all. I'm sure that Cherry has a function for those arms and I'm sure I have no idea what that function was. All I know now is I sure as heck haven't missed them. Not one bit.

The wire still attaches to the posts without the arms?

[esoomenona]

You really need to see one to understand. Have you watched the video? The feet and legs are at the bottom. They touch the PCB when you press down, disallowing you from going further. This is the mushiness. They give resistance at a certain point in the downward motion. When you clip off the feet, you will still have some sort of resistance. With this resistance, you can't really bottom out and you notice that when coming from bottoming out all the other switches.

Clipping the entire leg allows you to bottom out.

[oTurtlez]

You really need to see one to understand. Have you watched the video? The feet and legs are at the bottom. They touch the PCB when you press down, disallowing you from going further. This is the mushiness. They give resistance at a certain point in the downward motion. When you clip off the feet, you will still have some sort of resistance. With this resistance, you can't really bottom out and you notice that when coming from bottoming out all the other switches.

Clipping the entire leg allows you to bottom out.

I'll have to rewatch it when I get home today. Thanks for all the input everyone.

[gnubag]

btw the plate stabs of the wyse keyboards that I got from whiskytango a while ago had different cherry stabs which are identical to clipped cherry stabs.

[esoomenona]

Yeah, clipping is for PCB mount Cherry stabs.

[oTurtlez]

Yeah, clipping is for PCB mount Cherry stabs.

I practiced by clipping the little leg things on the bottom of the stab slider on my G80-3700 and the stabs feel so much better. I just can't for the life of me figure out how to get the stabs off the plate without desoldering like korrelate was suggesting.

[esoomenona]

I think the only one you can do the spacebar in that manner.

I have an idea that you could theoretically do all of the rest, though it would be very difficult to do, and you'd need some sort of long thin device to maneuver around in there.

[oTurtlez]

I think the only one you can do the spacebar in that manner.

I have an idea that you could theoretically do all of the rest, though it would be very difficult to do, and you'd need some sort of long thin device to maneuver around in there.

Yeah, I'll have to wait until my iron gets in to get clippin.

[esoomenona]

It's a shame I don't have a keyboard that is plate mounted with Cherry PCB stabs, or else I'd try to make a video of how to do what I imagine could be done.

[oTurtlez]

It's a shame I don't have a keyboard that is plate mounted with Cherry PCB stabs, or else I'd try to make a video of how to do what I imagine could be done.

What about just a full swap to costar? Any places I could just go an order a set of costar stabs?

[esoomenona]

It depends on what you're working with. The plate has to be compatible. And most aren't.

What are you working on?

And you can get a full set of Costar stabs from wasdkeyboards.com.

[oTurtlez]

It depends on what you're working with. The plate has to be compatible. And most aren't.

What are you working on?

And you can get a full set of Costar stabs from wasdkeyboards.com.

Phantom with WFD's plate so it's compatible. I was looking at WASD but it seemed they only had 2x and 6.25x wires for the stabs. It's a PHANSI-150 layout so I need the 7x wire.

[SpAmRaY]

It depends on what you're working with. The plate has to be compatible. And most aren't.

What are you working on?

And you can get a full set of Costar stabs from wasdkeyboards.com.

Phantom with WFD's plate so it's compatible. I was looking at WASD but it seemed they only had 2x and 6.25x wires for the stabs. It's a PHANSI-150 layout so I need the 7x wire.

You can PM WFD he might be able to help you out with stabs.

[esoomenona]

There aren't 7x Costar wires. You'd have to find someone who could make you one, or bend one on your own. On my Phantom, I went with Costar stabs on everything except the spacebar, where I put a plate mount Cherry stab, which you can see me do in this video:

[oTurtlez]

There aren't 7x Costar wires. You'd have to find someone who could make you one, or bend one on your own. On my Phantom, I went with Costar stabs on everything except the spacebar, where I put a plate mount Cherry stab, which you can see me do in this video:

I could live with the cherry stab on my spacebar, that hasn't given me any trouble whatsoever. Would the 2x wires work for longer keys? I don't have much (any) experience with costar stabs so I'm not 100% if they fit all of the mods except the spacebar.

[SpAmRaY]

There aren't 7x Costar wires. You'd have to find someone who could make you one, or bend one on your own. On my Phantom, I went with Costar stabs on everything except the spacebar, where I put a plate mount Cherry stab, which you can see me do in this video:

I could live with the cherry stab on my spacebar, that hasn't given me any trouble whatsoever. Would the 2x wires work for longer keys? I don't have much (any) experience with costar stabs so I'm not 100% if they fit all of the mods except the spacebar.

What longer keys?