Alps & Alps clone switch talk

#51

LOL, as long as you didn’t breathe a ton of it in I think you’ll be fine!

#52

Well, I basically looked like this after blowing into the container…

#53

I know that this is an older thread, but I wanted to chime in and say that I’ve used Finish line dry lube also. It’s not actually dry, but will dry after application. I’ve always assembled and let it dry on its own for a day or three before soldering/using.

I usually use a paintbrush and pop the top of the bottle so I can dunk and apply with a small paint brush (talking watercolor, not chip brush). I wouldn’t stick my face right over the bottle, but with the paintbrush method, you don’t get much of the fumes and it applies fairly evenly.

Also, the small bottle someone else linked is more than enough for a lot of switches. I’ve done 120 on 1/3rd of a bottle and still probably had more than half of that left.

#54

i heard there’s some pretty cool Alps patches for sale in the Marketplace :eyes:

#55

I am currently running a group buy for Hua-Jie’s AK-CN2 Alps clones. They are more tactile and louder than Matias.

#56

Just tried this with a salmon and a cream damped and it’s pretty great as well!
Do you know why this specific combination works so well?
The sliders differences are easier to see, and I heard the springs in orange are lighter than the other two, but what are the differences between orange, salmon and cream top/bottom housing, switch plate and tactile leaf?

#57

Reviving this again, I just got my hands on a really nice and clean M0116 with orange alps.
Now I understand what everyone said about clean alps, to be fair, it’s the first time I try oranges, but man they feel like one thousand times better than the kinda dirty salmons I had tried until now! Cannot stop typing with them :joy:

To the point, I would really like to use the M0116 caps in a custom 60%, but I can’t find a PCB that is compatible with the layout. Is there anything out there that I can use? Is handwiring the only way to get to use these caps? Has anyone done this before? I’m guessing I can cut the plate at least…

Thanks guys

#58

Yeah you’d have to handwire to get the bottom row of the M0116 on custom. The 60% PCBs I know of that support ALPS are either a regular ANSI or AEK layout. Honestly I would say to go with the AEK layout if you can. Not only would it make getting a plate & PCB much easier, you would also have a proper space bar with a centered switch.

For me the small off center switched spacebar on the M0116 is what killed it for me. I tried everything but not matter what I did it binded very easily on any presses other than ones on the right side. I could see that type of spacebar being a real problem on a custom build.

#59

Thanks, I didn’t even know that the switch of that spacebar wasn’t centered , that’s hilarious.
Apple always doing weird stuff or what? :laughing:
I actually need to swap the ‘d’ for the ‘f’ and the ‘k’ fro the ‘j’ when I type with these keyboards because the homing bumps in the wrong finger makes my brain hurt :sweat_smile:

#60

I can’t believe the deal I just ran into, I just scored a super clean Magnavox Videowriter with SKCM browns for a really good price! :partying_face: The pics looked great (the one showing switches made it look like the board was barely used TBH!) & the seller rated the switches an 8 out of 10 minimum. Wasn’t expecting to get a board with my holy grail switches tonight, but I’ll take it! Now I just need to decide if I want to just convert it or harvest the switches, really tough decision there! :metal:

#61

send to me, please. thx

#62

LOL, sorry bud been looking for one of these at a reasonable price for way too long to do that. Seriously though there is another one on r/mechmarket for $235 right now that looks very clean also.

Edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/mechmarket/comments/aq2crj/usil_h_vintage_keyboards_ibm_m_f122_alps_skcm/

#63

oh, i’ve been eyeing that one. Have to convince myself to spend money on it though. He says he’ll convert it to USB for $20 too. Seems like a nice board. I’ve never tried browns. I’ve only had white, black, salmon, dampened cream, green, orange and yellow. My favorite are the whites because I got some NoS and they feel amazing. I’ve heard great things about browns though.

#64

Yeah, it is a pretty penny even if it is a good deal. Clean Browns are something else though, they have a super unique feel due to the plastic dummy plate they use for their tactile leaf. I did a build for a friend with them a few months back & have been on the search ever since. Unfortuantely Browns command a crazy price loose or in board so when I saw the one I grabbed for $215 I just couldn’t pass it.

#65

I’m typing on some skcm browns right now and can attest that they are worth the pretty penny. They sound and feel glorious.

#66

So the ALPS rabbit hole sucked more money (that I really don’t have, LOL! :disappointed:) out of my wallet. Hasu finally restocked on ALPS64 PCBs & AEK plates made from FR4 (here’s the link if anyone is interested) so I went in on a set to make sure I can put together a build when I get my ADK64 case.

Now I got some decisions to make though. I got a XD60 ver.3 PCB that supports ALPS I was planning on using for this build, but finding a plate to use with it is proving tough since it does not support the AEK layout. Which I’m cool with since I’d like to do a regular ANSI layout with split backspace, although having a plate custom cut is the only option there & I don’t have the proper caps for that. Then I also gotta decide if I want to harvest the SKCM browns from the Videowriter I just got (I’d really prefer to just convert that to USB) or use the loose batch of SKCM oranges I got. :thinking: I could sure think of worse problems to have though, LOL! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

#67

are there any alps switches with pcb mounting pins? designing a plateless board and would love to support alps

#68

Unfortunately no, I’m 99% sure all ALPS switches & clones are plate mount with only two pins for the contacts. I guess it would still be technically doable if you were very careful of the placement when soldering the switches in, but I honestly wouldn’t trust the metal pins of the contact leaves to hold up to rigorous use.

#69

was worried thatd be the case. i gave some serious thought to trying to use alps without them but man, as soon as i pull a cap i know im losing a switch. i guess smk is the closest you can get to an alps with mounting pins, so ill stick with those

#70

Yeah, removing the caps & just the movement of the switches while typing if you were to run ALPS switches plateless would be more than enough to make pins break IMO too. IME with them the pins are pretty fragile compared to most MX switches. I’ve had ones snap off on me when just trying to bend them back into place! SMK would be the way to go with this project if they do have plastic mounting pins.