Author Topic: Activation issues of Cherry MX Clear's  (Read 1758 times)

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Offline KHAANNN

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Activation issues of Cherry MX Clear's
« on: Thu, 16 April 2015, 22:06:28 »
Before testing clear switches myself, I've read many issues with activations, I thought they were mainly electronical, caused by the bouncing of the inner plates, yet I discovered a faulty clear switch on my new V60 board, which is ridiculed with other issues too

This problematic switch, which is on the enter key, activates on touch (nowhere near the bump, it activates when you touch it)

I obviously need to replace the problematic switch, which won't be easy with the led in place, and it will probably weaken the adhesive feet further ... sad

I'm wondering whether this is a common issue, when you click the enter key slowly, or from right, it sometimes registers multiple times, the cause is the switch itself, as I tested without the keycap, it activates with a light touch, which probably indicates it's an inner plate alignment issue
« Last Edit: Thu, 16 April 2015, 22:09:04 by KHAANNN »
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Offline Oobly

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Re: Activation issues of Cherry MX Clear's
« Reply #1 on: Fri, 17 April 2015, 01:21:40 »
I've never had a faulty Clear, but I've harvested mine from a Ducky and a few Genuine Cherry boards only.

Sounds like very poor QC at KBParadise... (since the switch is faulty and most likely has been from before it was installed on the board).

I'd return the board as faulty (since it truly is faulty), that way you don't have to do anything that could affect the feel of the board.
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Offline KHAANNN

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Re: Activation issues of Cherry MX Clear's
« Reply #2 on: Fri, 17 April 2015, 01:34:52 »
I think it's mostly poor QC from Cherry, however the KBP V60 is pretty rough too, I don't have the opportunity to return the device, I also prefer to fix things myself, because the next board is going to have issues of it's own too (I also don't get the hint that any manufacturer is testing the switches themselves, excluding the artisan manufacturers, they probably just install things, check basic functionality and move on)

I've updated to their firmware that was released to fix clear repetition issues specifically, at least it reduced the repetition significantly, the switch still activates by touch but now at least it doesn't repeat easily

It pretty much acts like a red switch in terms of activation, when you rest your finger on the switch, it starts activating right away

I also suspect the cherry stabs amplify the issue, they might have even caused it, their application of these cherry stabilisers is very rough, it puts an extreme amount of stress into the switches/keypress in general, removing the switch also requires 3x force in general, so a keycap removal might have caused the issue too

Couldn't decide whether to replace the switch or not yet, I will probably hold on for now
I'm pretty curious about the innards of the switch tho, it was my impression that it was improbable for the switch to activate before the bump
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Offline Dihedral

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Re: Activation issues of Cherry MX Clear's
« Reply #3 on: Fri, 17 April 2015, 02:21:57 »
I suspect that it is a dodgy metal leaf. I,personally, would RMA it.

Offline KHAANNN

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Re: Activation issues of Cherry MX Clear's
« Reply #4 on: Fri, 17 April 2015, 02:46:34 »
I generally request spare parts instead of RMA'ing stuff, I will check with Mechanical Keyboards whether they can request/send additional leds/cherry stabs/adhesive feet

As the repairs have the risk of damaging these 3 not-easy-to-replace entities

Otherwise the V60 seems RMA-able by design, their use of cherry stabs is unacceptable, on clears it causes these issues, on blues it prevents the click, the keypress is like a linear gray, very stiff keypresses on both, with clears you couldn't feel the tactility as it is, clipping and lubing improved things significantly

I clipped/lubed the cherry stabs myself, so potentially I might have caused the issue, but I didn't, in my early days I mistreated some switches, none flinched, with this keyboard I was extremely delicate
Another possibility is mistreatment at customs, which is unlikely, rated at k*10M keypresses, switches shouldn't give off that easily

Anyway, after the new firmware and hitting/pressing the switch hard multiple times, it became usable, no more extra enters, only easy activation, undetectable during normal usage

(I wish I replaced the balanced switches with new ones, the stress probably damaged/weared them off permanently, it's out of the question now tho, it's not easy to desolder this board)
« Last Edit: Fri, 17 April 2015, 02:51:32 by KHAANNN »
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Offline KHAANNN

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Re: Activation issues of Cherry MX Clear's
« Reply #5 on: Fri, 17 April 2015, 08:56:12 »
Ended up replacing the switch after reproducing the issue, at it's sweet spot the switch was producing double enter's consistently

There was visually nothing wrong with the stem/leaves/enclosure/solder, thrashed everything except the spring just in case, the replacement switch seems flawless, also more tactile than the previous one

From my limited experience with keyboards, I would say:
Reds: 86/87 - issue with the spacebar switch, likely user-error
Greens: 60/87 - 20% of switches click weakly, entire board gets re-soldered
Clears: 58/61 - the issue I mentioned + 1-2 switch might be better of getting replaced, the balanced ones, likely manufacturer/balancer fault
Blues: Blues generally seem like white switches to me, the click varies heavily, but that might be a good thing, no need to replace the entire board
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Offline CaplockJack

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Re: Activation issues of Cherry MX Clear's
« Reply #6 on: Fri, 17 April 2015, 10:10:32 »
Try a G910 with RomerGs.  All the switches feel the same.   ;D

Offline KHAANNN

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Re: Activation issues of Cherry MX Clear's
« Reply #7 on: Fri, 17 April 2015, 11:09:23 »
Try a G910 with RomerGs.  All the switches feel the same.   ;D

:D you're not kxh on reddit are you?
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Offline berserkfan

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Re: Activation issues of Cherry MX Clear's
« Reply #8 on: Sat, 18 April 2015, 10:30:44 »
Before testing clear switches myself, I've read many issues with activations, I thought they were mainly electronical, caused by the bouncing of the inner plates, yet I discovered a faulty clear switch on my new V60 board, which is ridiculed with other issues too

This problematic switch, which is on the enter key, activates on touch (nowhere near the bump, it activates when you touch it)

I obviously need to replace the problematic switch, which won't be easy with the led in place, and it will probably weaken the adhesive feet further ... sad

I'm wondering whether this is a common issue, when you click the enter key slowly, or from right, it sometimes registers multiple times, the cause is the switch itself, as I tested without the keycap, it activates with a light touch, which probably indicates it's an inner plate alignment issue

If the switch is new then it is a faulty switch from Cherry. I suspect the metal contacts inside the switch are slightly misaligned.  I've also had a switch that actuated too early and on close examination the metal thinggy inside looked a little off kilter. Because it was slightly tilted, one leg made contact with the stem leg too early.
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