Introducing an Aggressively Tactile Switch - The 'Drop Bear'

Hey Everyone,

Sharing something that I’ve been found while playing around with different switch parts - the most intense bump in a switch I’ve ever come across.
TL;DR: Take a T1 or Koala switch, put in a Outemu Sky stem, and put in an 80g spring, otherwise the tactile bump is too big for the stem to return after a keypress. Yes, it’s that tactile.

When the Kailh Box Royals hit the market, one of the criticisms floating around was that it was ‘too tactile’ and that typing on it could become tiresome. I’m a very heavy handed typist, and use a weird typing style that only uses my thumbs, index and middle finger, so they were exactly what I’d been looking for. Ever since, I’ve been trying different combinations of switch parts that amplify that feeling.
At meetups I’d typed on holy pandas and Skys and Zealios V2s, but none had taken that ‘next step’ as I perceived it.

This switch is what I consider that next step.
It’s the type of switch I’d reccomend to someone who sounds like they are trying to punch their desk when they type.
It’s the type of switch I want to type on when I’m mad.
It’s the kind of switch you can bulk up your finger muscles on.
The Drop Bear.

…Man my fingers are tired.

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Very interesting. Still have quite some Durock T1s left and I at least some Outemu Skys (v2.2 or so). Sounds as if that might become the first time I’ll give switch modding a try. Next rabbit hole, I hear you coming. :wink:

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I wonder if lubing the tactile legs would make it easier to user a lighter spring while still having a comparatively higher tactile bump.

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Did you use the normal tactile sky stem or the new clicky phoenix stems?

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A stock Outemu Sky stem, I bought them from Play keyboards.

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That might work, I did lube one and use the Outemu Sky spring, but the return wasn’t 100% reliable, it was either slow, or didn’t come back up on the odd occassion.

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I tried it. It’s a nice chunky tactile switch. Would be great for a macro pad or something. I just can’t type on anything with that stiff of a bump. But I do like how it feels and sounds. I used either a 78 or 85g spring. Can’t tell… the marker wore off my baggie. Ha.

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I’ll have to get my hands on some T1’s to try out with the phoenix stems. I’m trying to make the most tactile double click switch I can while also jailhousing it to silence the click.

I don’t think the Phoenix stems have the same double click as OG Aristotles. The OG ones have the big hooks at the end of the contacts on the sliders that allow for that, while I’m pretty sure the Phoenix stems do not have those hooks. Not sure how that’ll affect your plans since you’re planning on jailhousing them though, just figured I’d give you a heads up. As I have heard a few people were disappointed with the Phoenix stems since they didn’t double click like the OGs.

I’ve never used OG aristotles so I don’t think it’ll matter that much to me :p. I simply prefer the type of tactility that comes with these types of switches. In what ways were the aristotle switches better? Sound or feel?

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Mostly sound from any boards with some type of stotles I got to try. The tactility was way over the top too, but they were scratchy stems & the QC on them was horrible. Many twisted stems that either made that cap crooked or even made the switch bind/lockup! So you needed to buy a good bit more than you needed to cherry pick them in order to get a functional & decent looking board with them from all I heard.

Glad to hear the OG mechanism is not hugely important to you & the design change won’t affect your enjoyment of them! I figured I’d give you a heads up when I saw you said double click.

They do double click though? You mean click on downstroke and then on upstroke right? That does happen on the phoenix stem. I have a gatistotle and gateron + phoenix (gatenix?) on my desk right now and the difference is that the gatenix does not rattle as much and the second click is higher on the upstroke and the sounds and feels different from the first click.

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Yep but that’s the exact same as a gateron blue or green. Unfortunately the phoenix stems aren’t really all that different in feel or sound from a gateron click jacket stem. They aren’t bad or anything, however, they’re just closer to a standard click than they are an Aristotle click.

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The upstroke is completely different though? The way they sort of ‘stick’ on the way up is pretty noticeable and it’s pretty different from gat blues, not sure I like it though.

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Got ya, I must’ve misunderstood what the complaints I seen about them were getting at. So they do double click, just not like the OG did.

Yup the upstroke is completely different. It has a sort of slack as the stem gets caught during the tactile event, whereas normal tactiles push as it rounds the bump

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Very interesting switch!

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Welp now I’m curious… the more out-there a switch’s characteristic(s), the more I want to mess with them.

Mine didn’t feel Noticeably different. Guess I got a bad batch.

The housing you used also matters. I found that using the phoenix stem in a cherry housing gave it weaker tactility than using it in an outemu sky housing

Edit: I should add that I used a cherry linear housing, the contact leaf is probably different than that of cherry tactiles