Ahoy, all. In light of the exploding variety of switches and components this past year or so, I thought it might be fun to have a thread dedicated to frankenswitches, whether they be failures, fantastic, or just for fun. I’ll get things started with one of the just for fun variety:
I’ve been waiting for a thread like this for a long time.
I don’t have any pics of this switch but it is quite nice from what I have been able to get out of it.
Parts:
Kailh brown stem
Zeal v2 bottoms (I actually used the original zilent v2)
Outemu no-wobble led top
Spring of your choice
It is a “better” brown and is really just a mid bump switch with some actual tactility to it. Just feels good to have something like this since there are so many switches now that are all high up bumps that are highly tactile, yet nothing in the middle areas. This has solved it more or less for me.
Here’s two recipes that I’ve tried on loose switches but would like to test on a whole board:
Outemu silent tactile stems in Cherry MX Blue housings. These are insanely tactile but they still manage to return even with a 62g spring. I have a sample that has been lubed with 3204 on the legs and it’s quite smooth. I may consider these for a fidget toy.
Kailh Speed Copper/Speed Burnt Orange stems in T1 housings. These have a very sharp tactile bump up top (similar to stock Speed Copper) but it’s much more pronounced, and the switch has a nice smooth linear finish, as well as the characteristic clack of Kailh stems.
I put together a switch that has turned out to be one of my favorites, I dubbed “Skream”:
Outemu Sky v2.2 housing
Novelkeys Cream stem
Sprit 45g spring
Sliders and stem lubed with Krytox 205g0
Spring bag-lubed with HOPPE’S No. 9 Lubricating Oil
They look and sound awesome! Watch the linked vid for sound test: (I’ll hopefully have one up this next weekend of these switches in my custom Preonic with aluminum case and copper plate)
The Kailh Pro Burgundy’s long-posted stem gives this a similar bottom-out sound to a Holy Panda, minus the tactile element beforehand. Not the same as a Cream, but still has a fairly “creamy” element to the bottom-out sound. Less harsh housing vibrations or a slightly softer plastic than my imaginary baseline, maybe?
I put this together specifically to have a linear with that great “tak! tak!” Holy Panda bottom out sound - but once again, I’m all about that color. More serviceable than my last colorful frankenswitch, I might actually use these after a bit of lubing.
Right: Black Mauve - Mauve with Cherry MX Black top housing. Sounds more solid (warning: subjective) than regular Mauves. Still not as good as Cherry MX Black but closer.
Left: Red Tap Dancer - Cherry MX Black bottom housing + Mauve top housing + Kailh Pro Burgundy stem. Extended stem tip striking Cherry MX Black bottom housing makes sound that reminds you of tap dancing. Two issues: shorter key travel, somewhat scratchy.
Have you ever wanted to flex an entire board of Hirose Orange switches, but can’t because you’re poor as all hell? Well oh boy do I have the frankenswitch for you! And it only needs two switches to make! WOW!
Stealirose Orange Switch
Top Housing: Cherry (for the logo)
Stem: Tangerine Rev2 (Gateron-made)
Spring: Cherry Black (or similar)
Bottom Housing: Black Gateron (or really any black bottom housing)
Name inspiration is taken from “Stealios.” The two switches that I had in mind are the Tangerine and a Cherry Black. You could do this with vint blacks, too, but the point is it’s cheaper. I don’t have a pic or a sound test yet but if someone has some extra Tangerines on the cheap then hmu.
