Sears Electric Communicator I (membrane ish?)

[notananthem]

I bought this at Goodwill for the modifiable cherry compatible keys but disassembled for these three bonus mechanical switches one with an LED. My question is what the heck are these switches? They have a spring between the key cap and the board, and then another spring inside with this silicone or rubber "spring" where it makes contact with the circuit at the bottom. The typewriter was totally mint and unused practically which was nice. The key feel on these switches was mushy, I use MX browns.

https://imgur.com/gallery/mkva0

[ideus]

Are those key caps Cherry compatible? They look like extra-thick double shots.

[notananthem]

They are, I'm going to have to modify them with a fordome. My keyboard is at work so I can't test fit

[Neo.X]

wow, that's some really nice supre-thick DS keycap. I always like thick keycap, for me, thicker is better. I am wondering how good the feel is typing on those keycaps. Please share some thoughts on it. Thanks

[notananthem]

I'll post a photo of them on my JD45 once I make sure they fit or modify the stem

[chyros]

It looks like an earlier, more elaborate version of Mitsumi hybrid switches Oo .

[notananthem]

I cut away the support and thinned the center stem with a foredom, but the + hole is a little loose and obviously not designed for an mx cherry, although the fit is off by just a touch.

What do people do to help them fit and not destroy their MX stems?

I dont want to bond the keycap to the switch post (ie solvents, superglue, resin, etc) but I do want it to be a net snug fit, I was thinking some air curing putty like Sugru or even trying to just wrap the end with a super thin tape like PTFE thread sealing tape for pipe.

So far the modified keycap presses down perfectly, but it is very slightly loose. Once I figure out the optimal modification for the key's stem, I'm going to just try to machine them all uniformly so they dont look like a dog chewed the stem supports away.

[Aran.E99]

you can put a small piece of masking tape on the stem. cut a strip that it as wide as one of the 4 tabs and it should make a tighter fit. it worked for me wit h my loose MX caps.

[notananthem]

Awesome thanks. I have a ton of thread tape which I think may be better, but ill experiment

[notananthem]

I tape it with PTFE tape and it works awesome. Great feel, no movement.

[xtrafrood]

PTFE tape puts the scotch tape mod to shame

[notananthem]

PTFE tape puts the scotch tape mod to shame

PTFE is sort of a lubricant though, I wish there was something that gave a bit of grip that was like ptfe tape.

[Aran.E99]

oh yeah, i forgot PTFE. its great stuff. i normally put some on my guitar's jack and potentiometer threads so they never come loose. it works wonders. best part is that is is super easy to shape. if it's too thick, just stretch it a bit.

[Dokyun]

I saw this one at that Goodwill too, but didn't think it was worth trying to modify the stems for MX mount. I see these switches on typewriters of a certain age sometimes, would like to know too what they are...ain't bad at all.

Now that I think about it though, I wonder if these caps would be compatible with Alps SKCC? Maybe I should've grabbed it anyways, haha