Funky Frankenswitches

I have baby blue sliders in tactile boba housings with 57.5g 18mm geon springs. They definitely feel really nice for being a frankenswitch. I will have to try some linear boba housings.

EDIT: Tried the Boba LT housings with the same spring and they sound and feel just a great. The tactility felt more or less the same in my testing between tactile and linear housings. Could be from the spring I was using though. :+1:

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Interesting. I read somewhere that contact leaf in Boba tactile housing is thicker than that of LT (linear) housing but may not.

Re sound, I noticed that difference in sound between filmed and unfilmed Baba switch vary a lot. I like a little variation so I have ERTIOASDHN filmed for louder crisper slightly higher-pitch sound while rest of the board is unfilmed to retain the more rounded lower-pitched sound. But film also increases tactility slightly.

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I have read the same as well. I believe there is a difference for sure, not sure why I canā€™t really feel a difference with baby blue sliders though. Could just be me lol.

I tested U4 and U4T stems in the linear boba housing with the same 18mm 57.5g spring, and you can definitely tell a difference between tactile and linear housings with those stems.

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This is all very interesting to me.

I may be acquiring some Boba Linear housings soon. Whenever the new generation appears.

Seems like these Baby Blue stems fit great. I see that you are using complex 2 or 3-stage springs. Do you think regular 52 G 15mm [OUTEMU] springs would work okay with these? How about 55 G 18mm? Are they as noisy as Baby Kangaroos?

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I donā€™t think 52g 15mm nor 55g 18mm will work as well. Baby Blue + Boba LT frankenswitch is not as loud nor sharp as Baby Kangaroos.

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This all sounds very promising, actually.

Except for the multistage springs. I think I have one package of them somewhere. 57.5 G 18mm springs seem reasonable, though. Maybe I will try that.

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Hi~! In the quest to get a more tactile Gazzew Boba switch to keep up with a heavier spring weight I wanted for spacebar usage, I delved into frankenswitching to get what I wanted. Thanks to a couple posts in here and other forums+documents that gave me very useful information, I came up with;

  • Gazzew Boba U4 bottom
  • TTC HEY nylon top w/condenser
  • WS Heavy Tactile long-pole POM stem
  • 22mm 70g 2-stage spring (originally used the 22mm 45g WS HT spring)

I think Iā€™ll call it the Boba HT. I donā€™t have tools to measure any specs, but the peak force should be higher than either the U4 or WS Heavy Tactile that the parts were sourced from, based on pushing the stems against each other.

The sound profile is quite deep, should be deeper than even a stock Boba U4T based on a test a friend did with a WS Brown stem in a Boba U4T housing. I recorded a sound comparison with a Root Beer Float for reference. Haimu/WS stems seemed too tight for the Boba top even if it could be assembled, and I wanted a better-sounding alternative to just using an Outemu PC clear-top (the no-slot ones did the job for fitment), then I saw @Deadeye mention ā€œsome TTC tops fit Boba bottomsā€, and so I got the idea to try the TTC HEY switchā€™s nylon top which also meant being able to use the TTC light condenser that came with it, as the Boba bottom SMD slot fits it too. I chose a 2-stage 22mm 70g spring as I liked the spring behavior in Punkshoo Root Beer Float switches but wanted a higher weight rating for spacebar usage.

Visually it looks almost like an old TTC-Razer switch, complete with the light condenser making it light-friendly with SMD LED boards like mine despite having an opaque black housing combo. Stem wobble tolerance isnā€™t particularly good since the TTC top relaxes the tolerances even more than the no-slot Outemu clear-tops, but not bothersome for me in normal typing. I filmed it with a 0.15mm keysporon film.


Overall itā€™s a long-pole heavy tactile with a <probably heavier than 70g?> peak force, having a fairly quick, snappy push and return action similar to the stock WS Heavy Tactile switch, but with a stiffer bump to complement my desired weighting, and a sound profile opposite to the WS nylon switches. I was pleasantly surprised with the results, even with the research I did before attempting to make this. That said, any feedback and suggestions are appreciated, as I am still a novice, having fun with general frankenswitching and discoveries within~.

Thanks a lot for the info gathering here!

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Hey, Iā€™m new to this Frankenswitch rabbit hole. So, would this be a good Cthulhu switch?
I already have Gateron Milky Yellow tops
Gateron UHMkown switches, i found was pretty similar to the Cthulhu recipe
stem: gaen switch sliders. what color, teal or cloud?

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I just tested Geon Snow slider in an Ink bottom-based Cthulhu and it sounds very similar to the NK Cream slider version although I still like the later more. Loss in key travel is also similarly minimal.

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I am a fan of long pole switches, so I went with the Cloud sliders, but @donpark is right about the Snow sliders as well, if you wish to go that route.

Let us know what you go with and what your thoughts are! :+1::+1:

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Unfortunately, the Snow ones are out of stock. The linear sliders that are in stock are the Teal and the Cloud. What are your thoughts on that? Do you recommend any other stems (budget, cause I donā€™t want to buy another switch set just for the stem). Also, I may or may not get this frankenswitch because my parents might not let me :frowning:

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I absolutely love the cloud sliders and have used them in my alternate Cthulhu frankenswitches as well as another one that I called Black Stars. These sliders are the ones found in the Geon Black switches which are recolored versions of the popular Zaku switches.

My first Cthulhu switches actually used the Kailh Burgundy switches, which made me fall in love with these switches as well as long-pole switches in general.

If you are looking for the NK Cream stems, then Kailh black or red linears will be a good budget option as well. The burgundy stems are just a bit longer.

@Deadeye would be a great resource to tap for the intricate details and differences between the NK Cream and Kailh stems. :+1::+1:

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Thanks! :slight_smile:

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No problem!

Welcome to KeebTalk!! :+1::+1:

:smile:

keebsforall com/products/kailh-pro-switches

Would this be a good priced kailh burgundy switch?

it wouldnt let me post a link

Yep - KFA is a solid vendor.

This hardly constitutes a funky frankenswitch, but it worked. My daughter likes tactile switches and needs a quiet switch for work. I bought a set of Boba U4s, which are disturbingly quiet. But they are perfect for her work environment. Unfortunately, they were too heavy for her. So I merely swapped out the springs from some cherry MX Reds and voilĆ , she has a quiet, light, superbly tactile switch. I guess my contribution here is that frankenswitching can be something that even the simple minded like me can do.

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So did Kailh steal your design?

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Ha, well - I like to think of Frankenswitching as crowd-sourced R&D / market research. :wink:

If anything Iā€™d recommend people go with the pre-made one; Iā€™ve found that while swapping tactile BOX stems into linear BOX housings totally works, the end-result switches are more susceptible to electrical chatter than either donor - something like 15% of the ones I made ended up that way.

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