Which linears would you recommend on a tray mount board? Or is it the case that tray mount’s inherent stiffness simply does not play with linears?
Tray mounts are fine w/linears. It’s just switch housing design and type of plastic that sometimes results in harsh feel and sound. Harsh sound can be addressed in many different ways but I had a gasket board not being used and I enjoy long springs so went with that.
Another way to ease harshness is to reduce spring weight or not use slow spring. That reduces bottom out force. Another way is lubing bottom of the switch stem. Gasket board absorbs some of the bottom out force.
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I have the Silk Milkshake lubed here, one of the best switches I ever got to use. Currently on Gasket Mount with POM plate, but you reminded me I should really try with my Top Mount Alice. I love the top mound Alu Plate for its Clacky sound.
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I’ve gotten a batch of those Gateron KS-9 Pros (5-pin) properly broken-in now and I must say, they’re pretty great. Their down/upstroke have the same pitch and percussion timbre which gives them this really rhythmic sound/feel during those thicc typing tests. The stem wobble’s not great, but if you cherry pick a bit you’ll find some real gems that are totally stab worthy, and those SPRiT MX Slow Extreme with their +3g heavier start really helped tighten up the tolerances which improved the overall keypress a ton.
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Edit: just finished lubing all swtiches, dried up or just imagination, either way the result is great.
I’m lubing with a Tribosys 3204 I had for over a year and it seems like it got “dry”?
The box the container was inside had quite a bit of oil residue, container was potentially broken on the bottom but I was under the impression 3204 isn’t supposed to separate?
Box (after cleaning)
Looks really matte in person.
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3203 and 3204 will separate some over time. If they’ve been sitting for a while between uses, a quick stir is all it takes to re-suspend the oil. It’s unfortunate that the oil leaked into the surrounding container.
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Matches my observation as well although lube from oversea seem to separate more and faster. Without any information, I’d guess above 3204 is straight from the factory.
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Tried using Kailh Black v2 stem in Cherry Black housing:
- feels scratchier than polished Cherry Black stem, with and without lube.
- sounds slightly clackier and thinner but not by much.
- sounds slightly higher-pitched.
Also tried the stem in Gateron Ink Black v2:
- sounds louder and thockier.
- feels slightly shorter, ~0.3mm.
- needs full board in-use test to tell if the trade off is worth it.
Of the two combo, I liked the sound of Gat. Ink frankenswitch more. Would love to see long-poll Gateron Ink Black (v3?) with housing adjusted to accomodate full key travel.
UPDATE:
These are my findings in mixing Kailh Black v2 parts with a few other switches.
Kailh Black v2 stem:
- Blueberry Chiffon housing - great low-pitch sound, smooth, full-travel (AA)
- FLCMMK Ice Mint housing - great low-pitch sound, smooth, full-travel (AA)
- NK Cream housing - decent enjoyable sound, smooth, full-travel (A)
- North Pole housing - muffled sound, smooth, shorter-travel (0.3mm) (B)
Kailh Black v2 housing:
- NK Cream stem - smooth, full-travel. Getting boring sound from Cream long-poll is difficult yet this housing somehow pulls it off. (B)
So it may not be housing material that makes the loud low-pitch sound that very pleasing to the ear. It’s something else in common between Blueberry Chiffon (Nylon) and FLCMMK (POM) but not in NK Cream (POM).
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Could be thickness of housing?
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Could be. Hard to tell without a caliper. Although NK Cream housing feels heavier than that of FLCMMK by hand, the later may have thicker underside where the long-poll hits the housing.
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While preparing a set of Banana Splits for use, it occured to me that I’ve been filming less lately. Aside from stem wobble is now small enough to make filming less necessarily, more recent switches seem to sound better without filming. A common trait of these switches is enjoyable finger-bongo like reverb that gets nerfed when film is used, like tightening guitar string reduces reverb.
There is also an increase in squeaking (creaking? yodle-like bending?). Most of these use PC in the housing which I suspect is the cause. What reduced the noise is lubing the surfaces that meets between top and bottom housing which suggests it’s the friction between two parts of the housings. Filming should help but doesn’t which sort of makes sense for PC films but not for films made out of Poron or TPU.
NOTE: I use primarily thick PBT keycaps so please take that into account while reading my observations.
UPDATE: Banana Splits hype is justified. Enjoying the sound and feel. Modern switches I liked are: Oil Kings and Banana Splits in linears and Blueberry Chiffons in light-tactile.
Do we have a grid somewhere on KT about what the different combinations would be analogous too?
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I don’t think so. It’s a mystery to me why they’d make the effort of making interactive visuals of all the combos but neglect to capture sound so we could see and hear each combo.
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Hmm, ok, I might make a chart if I seriously consider a JWK switch
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To be fair that would require assembling, building and capturing 36 boards.
I guess they assume most people who buy this stuff are already familiar with the JWK sound signature.
Though they should have made the effort to at least give an example of the UPE and LY stems because I don’t think anyone has an idea what it is…
They consist of 4 different materials for the stem, 3 different materials for the bottom and top housing, and metal contact leaves.
Wait so the metal contact leaves have 3 different materials too? doesn’t seem like it but why mention them at all?
Also, are the stems long pole like the Durock POMs? because I don’t recall seeing a non-long-pole P3 stem.
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Can anyone tell me if Alpacas (non-silent) are still being made, please?
And if not, what would be a good/available replacement?
Thanks.
You can find vendors who have Alpacas in-stock. Two good alternatives: Oil Kings and Banana Splits.
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If Alpacas are just JWK recolor as people say, you can purchase the EV-01 switches from the Durock Store on AE, they’re unlubed (v1 I think) JWK linears.
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@ThereminGoat’s review will help to dig into the granularity of differences between Alpacas and stock JWK linears.
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