Funky Frankenswitches

Here’s two recipes that I’ve tried on loose switches but would like to test on a whole board:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
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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)

Typing Test

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Using firearm oil on switch springs? Alright, i’ve got to try this one.

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This was my first attempt at even trying to something with a switch.

But I made a Speedios. =)
The stem from Helios
Housing from Kailh Speed Pro Burgandy
Spring from Gateron Clear

Works for game but as soon as I need to type that gateron clear spring makes a mess of it all. =P
So I will re do them with another spring.

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Oh Frankenswitches

I haven’t had that much time recently to muck about with my random switch parts that I keep for no particular reason.

Hopefully I’ll get around to it soon, but within the space of linears I don’t think there is as much variation as tactiles :thinking:

We’ll have to see

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Red Burgundy

  • YOK Red Panda housing and spring
  • Kailh Pro Burgundy stem
  • Distinctive sound
  • Red like wine

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.

Edit: changed the name because I wanted ta

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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.

UPDATE: Mauves sound pretty nice but there is a slight hint of cheap plastic soap case sound to it. Cherry MX Black top housing reduces some of that.

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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.

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Maybe just me, but if you put ‘ios’ in the name it should be a zeal switch part in there. But then again, there are no rules in frankenswitches. =)

But will try if I ever get some tangerines.
Is there something fun to do with the tangerine housings?

It’s “irose” to denote the Hirose switch it’s imitating. The housings afaik are just Gat milky top housings.

Oh, the shame…

Gat Yellow + UHMWPE stem = Gat PEllow “Pillow”
Clean feeling switch. Not too expensive and easy to upgrade into. Doesn’t need lube to feel great.

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Not so funky but in the waiting for more parts I put some MX Black springs in the Kailh speed silver one of them got a Black stem to.

Stealirose Orange (Hirose Orange clones) are finished! No typing test yet but soon^TM. Here’s some pics.

Pile and Close-Up:

In their future natural habitat:

These bois are smoooooth, and other than the spring there’s no real difference compared to stock Tangerines Rev2. I have no reference to contrast them to the real thing, however if anyone would like to temporarily/permanently donate some Hirose Orange switches so that I could do a comparison I would not be opposed.

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Working from home and wanted to change things up a bit.

I had bought some Gat Yellows but for whatever reason, the pcb pegs are too large for any of the pcbs(too lazy to clip) I have on hand. Had some silent Alpacas lying around to try and thought why not mix the two together.

Switch is

  • Milky Top
  • Alpaca bottom
  • Gat Yellow Stem
  • filmed
  • 206g0 on stem, 104 oil on TX 80g springs.

I really like em! Feels good and has a very pleasant thock-ish sound on certain plates, currently using a Polypropylne one.

Sound test here(phone mic recording). Temporarily calling them Yellowjackets for the heck of it.

Another irritating thing about the Gateron milky tops, not sure if it’s an issue with different batches or not, but sometimes the part of the keycap that goes into the switch stem will catch on the edge of the top; luckily I had enough spares.

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Hi everyone,

On a random and fun note, I’ve cleared time this weekend to do some force curve graphs for different springs. Since I have the time slot and resources ready, feel free to let me know if there is any particular spring or frankenswitch you’d like me to try. I can post the graphs in this thread or a new thread.

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I’d love to see a force curve of a stock switch vs that same switch lubed/with pe stems. I’ve always wondered just how much resistance the scratch adds.

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If possible a stock Gateron Yellow with a PE stem to see if smoothness makes a measurable difference. I’d also love to see a Gateron Yellow, with PE stems, & 68g slow curved spring if possible! I know the second request is a bit of a pain so no biggie if you can’t do that, but I’d be highly appreciative if you could do the first request. Anyways a huge thanks for taking suggestions on what to test! :wink:

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I’m actually pretty curious about how springs influence tactile bumps myself - it might be neat to do a grid of 9 with three housings, stems, and springs - maybe a light one, a heavy one, and some kind of graduated one.

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I’d be very interested in seeing a centralized source that lists components of the most common (eventually getting into odd combos) of frankenswitches. I remeber seeing a google sheet on discord in one of server channels pinned, but I don’t know if it is being actively maintained.