You can see what inspired the name and more photos in this thread.
These Kiwi housings are proving better homes for these stealthy stems than the YOK Pandas I had them in before - not that those were bad, but I think the tolerances are better for the stem here, leading to a bit more crisp feel.
Any switch with these stems is going to be very quiet, and of course these are no exception. The dampened bottom-out might be a turn-off for some, but the owner of these switches picked out these stems as an easy favorite because of it. The bottom-out feel is pretty unique, and definitely distinct from other silent linears I have tried.
After having tried prototype āclearā U4 stems in Halo housings and finding them a little muddy and underwhelming, I didnāt expect much different from the white ones that came pre-assembled in the new Boba housings.
I love being wrong about these things.
What we have here is something that to my sensibilities, is altogether more mellow and pleasant than the Boba U4. While the Boba U4 is a study in tight tolerances and steroid-aggressive tactility somehow wrapped in very quiet package, the Halo U4 is a glimpse into novel, complex dampening. Iāll do my best to explain.
The weighting of this combination reaches a sort of āvalleyā just as the tactile bump ends, with the spring providing plenty of resistance against bottoming-out before reaching the already soft silicone pads. While some U4 combos I have tried make it practically unavoidable to slam right into those dampeners, this one makes it remarkably easy not to bottom-out even while retaining a fair amount of the U4ās strong bump profile.
The result is a switch thatās snappy yet soft; a bit like biting through a stick of chocolate thatās embedded in a big, pillow-y marshmallow.
If weāre talking letter-shaped bumps, this oneās a āPā - but in cursive. Resistance up-top that you push through and overcome to be met with a springy cushion right as the rounded bump ends. Pressing the switch lightly, it almost feels as if it has reduced travel - but if you push through that, thereās just a bit more travel before you hit the gummy-soft dampening pads on the bottom-out.
Another bonus of the updated U4 stem is a bit more stability than most other Halo housing combinations Iāve tried, albeit less than the all-but-perfect tolerances between these stems and Boba housings.
Hey! I recently made these too!
Itās a crazy feeling switch.
Edit: also using prototype U4s, i did run into a small problem with the leaf but just had to be careful when closing the switch up
Subtle āclickā synced with actuation / tactility
North-facing / GMK compatibility
The name was an obvious choice, because after this mod, they will never be Royals. eyyy
Flavor-text:
Anyway. The idea for these came from two different places. More generally, Iāve seen conversations musing about dampened clicky switches, and more specifically a friend of mine totally new to mechanicals has been trying switches and mentioned how much he loved the crisp kind of tactility that clicky switches had, but that the noise would drive him nuts.
While Iāve seen plenty of lamentation about the Box tactilesā propensity for producing clicking sounds depending on their age / use / other factors, this switch brings it out as much as possible and relies on it as a less loud but still plenty audible alternative to discrete, purposeful noise-making mechanisms. Since the click itself is caused by overcoming the negative-style tactile bump of the slider, itās naturally synced with both tactility and actuation.
The sound isnāt too different from that of a normal Box Royal, except thereās only the click of the leaf / pusher / slider-cam interaction - no bottom-out clack or top-out rattle. The click itself is a bit more sharp with the SBB stem vs the original Royal, as well.
These are some weird bois, but if youāve been curious about dampened clickies, Lordes are an easy to reproduce take on the theme.
A side note - Iād originally intended to use Crystal Royal bottoms for this switch because they look great and have 5 pins, but found that those are closer to the more subtle Hako Royals than the bombastic Box Royals. While the combination was still a pleasant one, it was pretty unremarkable - basically a slightly heavier and more tactile Silent Box Brown.
Poppy, negative tactility with a āD-shapedā bump starting right at the top and a soft, bouncy cushion right at the end.
Flavor-text:
Iāve approached frankenswitching with Boba / U4 bits a few times, and while most of the combinations have been interesting or entertaining, they were just as much vexing to me. All of them had bumps that were just too big and wide for my comfort - including the āstockā Boba U4s. The 62g versions in particular emphasize the down-stroke while having a comparatively weak return force, which Iām still getting used to.
I liked how Ink housings retained most of the U4ās strong bump while letting the stem pop back up more easily, but none of the springs really felt quite right - including the TT MPās, at least at first. Great smooth, poppy balance to the tactile bump - but so crunchy!
Remembering Gazzewās suggestion, ādonut dippingā either end of the spring in [ grease of choice ] was the finishing touch that tied this one together.
Donuts are magic, and so is polytetrafluoroethylene. ā¦say that five times fastā¦
It seems like it was a fad for a minute there for shorter travel switches to bottom-out on the center post, and I like that these donāt. As a stock switch itās a fantastic no-fuss linear.
Iām also generally curious about Gateronās shrouded stems in general; from what I can tell, those are the short travel ones. Here in the West the only one I know of is the Ink Yellow, but in other markets theyāve got some tactile ones, too. (y u no sell tactile Inks, Gateron??)
It would probably be dis-advantageous for them to do this, but Iād love it if I could just order individual components in bulk by part number.
Yellow Ink stem in a Black Ink housing makes for the same switch, just a little heavier. *Nope - totally wrong about that; they actuate when you breathe on them. Closer to being accurate with Ink Blues, though.
Hereās a comparison between some stems; Ink Yellow, Ink Black, Halo True:
Each is lined-up by the top so you can compare the other dimensions relative to that. The Ink Black stem in the middle is the most typical; with the contact legs extending slightly past the āfeetā where the switch bottoms-out. (Thereās more space for the contact legs; they donāt touch anything besides the leaf.)
The Ink Yellow stem has the āfeetā extend down to the same depth as the legs, so it bottoms-out sooner than but in the same way as a typical stem.
The Halo stem has an extra-long center post, similar to Kailh Pros or Creams. In most housings, that center post is what hits the housing, making the distinctive ātak takā sound.
The down-side of this for me, though, is that the stem teeters on that single contact-point when the switch is at the bottom. For me, this lends a slightly unstable feeling to the switch - not so with the Ink Yellow (and presumably Gateronās other shrouded-style) stems.
No, I donāt think they would be useless*. Iāll be doing more testing today and in the coming days to see if it actually holds true, but so far they seem a viable alternative to Kailh Pro and Cream stems for putting together linears with a shorter overall travel.
Right!? I was like WTF when the announced Ink red, yellows & blues. What about browns? I know browns get some hate, but Gateronās brown stem is a bit more tactile than MX browns. Add that to a stiff leafed ink housing & I guarantee it will blow up like crazy. There hasnāt been a super smooth mid tactility switch since V1 Zealios, itās beyond me why nobody is trying to make something similar?
I did some more testing today, and I was pretty surprised - the Ink Yellow stem is indeed nigh unusable in the majority of housings Iāve tried it in so far. Not all of them, though.
Iām really glad you asked about it and that you pushed me to test more thoroughly - Iāve learned just enough today to realize thereās a whole dimension of part interactions I hadnāt yet considered. So! Hereās what I found so far with the Ink Yellow stems.
Unusable: Actuates way too early / with just a light touch
Ink Black
Cream
Kailh Pro
Halo
Marginal: Potentially usable but mostly a curiosity - still actuates very early
Gazzew Boba
Nominal: More or less normal linear function
Ink Blue
Outemu Ice Teal
This just makes me all the more curious (and reinforces my desire to have a supply-side parts catalog I could pick through).
So - it seems that the Ink Yellow stems do work in a few other housings, but indeed wonāt be usable with the majority of them.
At the moment, I only have the two click-jacket switches - but the small sample size does point in the direction of the stem being viable in housings meant for clickies. Itās quite nice in the Ice Teal housing; smooth and stable.
The marginal case with the Boba is pretty interesting, but I donāt think itself would be a great idea to use. It actuates very early, but not quite as early as most of the other cases - so it could theoretically be a good āspeedā switch, but I donāt think typing with them would work for most people.
One more trivial but interesting thing about the Ink Yellow stem / Boba housing combo thatās pretty neat and also contributes to why it wouldnāt really work: Itās insanely stable. Without lube, it borders on bind-y; and the surfaces youād have to lube to make it buttery would be exposed to potential dust and other keeb seasonings - the shrouds would end up accomplishing that contrary to their normal ostensible function.
I tried a few different springs including the stock Ink Yellow one, and they didnāt change anything aside from the weighting. The stock springs in the yellows are definitely not the same ones in the blues or blacks. For most of the combinations I tried, I used whatever spring would normally be paired with the housing.
In that frankenswitch above with the Ink Yellow housings, I used the 68g āMagically Progressiveā springs from Thic Thock. Of all the springs I have, those were the only ones that gave me the āpoppyā experience I was looking for, being light enough at first not to outshine the bump, and heavy enough at the bottom to have a nice, bouncy return. Donut-dipping is a must, though.
Ok, I was thinking more about the famous Gateron Yellow /Milky yellow springs and if itās the same in ink yellow.
I put in 63.5g Complex SPRiT springs tonight in mine. Feels nice and Iām probably going to keep them like that cuz I donāt think my Quefrency pcb can handle another desoldering.
