What is the difference between 3pin / 5pin Cherry MX?

[mamcx]

I will buy some keys for first time and find in ebay that some CHerry are 3pin and other 5pin.

Why?

[xondat]

Do you have pictures?

I imagine 3 pin would be plate mount, and 5 pin would be PCB mount.

[SpAmRaY]

Do you have pictures?

I imagine 3 pin would be plate mount, and 5 pin would be PCB mount.

^^ that is correct, PCB mount has two extra 'pins' or legs to give more stability when not using a plate.

[mamcx]

So, is problematic buy 5pin if later wanna use a plate?

[SpAmRaY]

So, is problematic buy 5pin if later wanna use a plate?

You can always clip the extra stabilizing legs off of PCB mount switches to make them plate mount or depending on if the PCB you use allows for PCB mount switches (it just needs the extra holes in the PCB),  you can use a plate at the same time.

[duynguyenle]

3 pin switches requires a plate. 5 pins ones can be used both pcb mounted or plate mounted (the pins can be snipped off if PCB doesn't support it). You can of course do both (plate mounted switch but still use the 2 extra PCB pins