I measured around 50 box jades and my findings were very similar to the tables above.
Here are some measurements I took of the box switches I have.
| Box Yellows (Bought Sept. 27, 2017) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stem # | x-axis thickness | y-axis length | x-axis length | y-axis thickness |
| 1 | 1.35 | 3.98 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| 2 | 1.37 | 3.98 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| 3 | 1.36 | 3.98 | 4.00 | 1.10 |
| 4 | 1.37 | 3.97 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| 5 | 1.36 | 3.93 | 3.96 | 1.08 |
| 6 | 1.35 | 3.93 | 3.98 | 1.10 |
| 7 | 1.34 | 3.96 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| 8 | 1.35 | 3.95 | 3.98 | 1.10 |
| 9 | 1.36 | 3.93 | 3.96 | 1.08 |
| 10 | 1.34 | 3.98 | 4.00 | 1.10 |
| 11 | 1.35 | 3.95 | 3.98 | 1.10 |
| 12 | 1.35 | 3.96 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| 13 | 1.34 | 3.95 | 3.98 | 1.10 |
| 14 | 1.34 | 3.97 | 4.00 | 1.10 |
| 15 | 1.34 | 3.97 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| 16 | 1.34 | 3.95 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| 17 | 1.34 | 3.96 | 4.00 | 1.11 |
| 18 | 1.35 | 3.97 | 4.00 | 1.11 |
| 19 | 1.34 | 3.99 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| 20 | 1.35 | 3.96 | 3.98 | 1.10 |
| 21 | 1.34 | 3.96 | 3.99 | 1.11 |
| 22 | 1.34 | 3.97 | 4.00 | 1.11 |
| 23 | 1.33 | 3.96 | 3.98 | 1.10 |
| 24 | 1.34 | 4.00 | 3.98 | 1.11 |
| 25 | 1.34 | 3.95 | 3.98 | 1.10 |
| 26 | 1.34 | 3.97 | 4.00 | 1.10 |
| 27 | 1.35 | 3.94 | 3.96 | 1.08 |
| 28 | 1.34 | 3.95 | 3.99 | 1.11 |
| 29 | 1.34 | 3.95 | 3.95 | 1.08 |
| 30 | 1.34 | 3.96 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| 31 | 1.34 | 3.95 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| 32 | 1.35 | 3.93 | 3.96 | 1.08 |
| 33 | 1.34 | 3.98 | 4.00 | 1.10 |
| 34 | 1.35 | 3.97 | 3.99 | 1.11 |
| 35 | 1.35 | 4.01 | 4.00 | 1.10 |
| 36 | 1.34 | 3.98 | 3.99 | 1.11 |
| 37 | 1.34 | 3.97 | 3.99 | 1.11 |
| 38 | 1.35 | 3.99 | 4.00 | 1.11 |
| 39 | 1.33 | 3.96 | 4.00 | 1.10 |
| 40 | 1.34 | 3.93 | 3.94 | 1.08 |
| 41 | 1.34 | 3.98 | 4.00 | 1.11 |
| 42 | 1.34 | 3.97 | 4.00 | 1.11 |
| 43 | 1.34 | 3.95 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| 44 | 1.34 | 3.97 | 3.99 | 1.11 |
| 45 | 1.34 | 3.98 | 4.00 | 1.11 |
| 46 | 1.34 | 3.94 | 3.96 | 1.08 |
| 47 | 1.33 | 3.96 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| 48 | 1.35 | 3.95 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| 49 | 1.34 | 3.98 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| 50 | 1.34 | 3.99 | 3.99 | 1.11 |
| 51 | 1.35 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 1.11 |
| 52 | 1.34 | 3.97 | 3.99 | 1.11 |
| 53 | 1.34 | 3.96 | 3.98 | 1.10 |
| 54 | 1.33 | 3.94 | 3.97 | 1.09 |
| 55 | 1.35 | 3.98 | 3.98 | 1.10 |
| 56 | 1.34 | 3.97 | 4.00 | 1.11 |
| 57 | 1.34 | 3.97 | 4.00 | 1.11 |
| 58 | 1.34 | 3.97 | 3.98 | 1.10 |
| 59 | 1.34 | 3.97 | 3.99 | 1.11 |
| 60 | 1.35 | 3.96 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| Mean | 1.3440 | 3.9643 | 3.9867 | 1.1008 |
| Median | 1.34 | 3.97 | 3.99 | 1.10 |
| Box Navies (Bought Feb. 20, 2018) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stem # | x-axis thickness | y-axis length | x-axis length | y-axis thickness |
| 1 | 1.32 | 3.99 | 3.99 | 1.13 |
| 2 | 1.32 | 4.00 | 3.99 | 1.14 |
| 3 | 1.32 | 3.99 | 4.00 | 1.12 |
| 4 | 1.32 | 1.98 | 3.99 | 1.13 |
| 5 | 1.33 | 3.99 | 3.97 | 1.13 |
| 6 | 1.32 | 4.00 | 3.99 | 1.14 |
| 7 | 1.32 | 4.00 | 3.98 | 1.13 |
| 8 | 1.32 | 3.99 | 3.99 | 1.12 |
| 9 | 1.32 | 3.98 | 3.98 | 1.13 |
| 10 | 1.32 | 3.99 | 4.00 | 1.13 |
| 11 | 1.32 | 3.98 | 3.99 | 1.13 |
| 12 | 1.32 | 3.98 | 3.98 | 1.13 |
| 13 | 1.32 | 4.01 | 4.00 | 1.13 |
| 14 | 1.32 | 4.01 | 3.99 | 1.14 |
| 15 | 1.32 | 4.00 | 4.01 | 1.13 |
| 16 | 1.32 | 3.99 | 3.98 | 1.13 |
| 17 | 1.32 | 3.99 | 3.99 | 1.12 |
| 18 | 1.32 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 1.13 |
| 19 | 1.32 | 4.00 | 3.99 | 1.14 |
| 20 | 1.32 | 3.97 | 3.98 | 1.13 |
| 21 | 1.32 | 3.97 | 3.99 | 1.12 |
| 22 | 1.32 | 4.01 | 4.00 | 1.14 |
| 23 | 1.32 | 3.98 | 3.98 | 1.14 |
| 24 | 1.33 | 3.99 | 3.99 | 1.12 |
| 25 | 1.32 | 3.97 | 3.99 | 1.13 |
| 26 | 1.32 | 3.97 | 4.01 | 1.13 |
| 27 | 1.32 | 4.00 | 3.99 | 1.13 |
| 28 | 1.32 | 3.97 | 3.99 | 1.13 |
| 29 | 1.32 | 3.99 | 4.00 | 1.13 |
| 30 | 1.33 | 3.98 | 4.00 | 1.13 |
| 31 | 1.32 | 3.98 | 3.99 | 1.12 |
| 32 | 1.33 | 4.00 | 3.99 | 1.13 |
| 33 | 1.33 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 1.13 |
| 34 | 1.32 | 3.98 | 3.99 | 1.12 |
| 35 | 1.32 | 3.99 | 3.99 | 1.13 |
| 36 | 1.32 | 3.99 | 3.99 | 1.12 |
| 37 | 1.32 | 4.00 | 3.98 | 1.13 |
| 38 | 1.33 | 4.00 | 3.99 | 1.13 |
| 39 | 1.33 | 4.00 | 3.99 | 1.12 |
| 40 | 1.33 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 1.13 |
| 41 | 1.32 | 3.98 | 3.98 | 1.13 |
| 42 | 1.32 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 1.13 |
| 43 | 1.32 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 1.13 |
| 44 | 1.33 | 3.98 | 3.99 | 1.13 |
| 45 | 1.33 | 4.01 | 4.00 | 1.13 |
| 46 | 1.33 | 3.99 | 4.00 | 1.13 |
| 47 | 1.32 | 3.98 | 3.98 | 1.13 |
| 48 | 1.33 | 3.98 | 3.99 | 1.13 |
| 49 | 1.33 | 3.99 | 4.00 | 1.14 |
| 50 | 1.32 | 3.99 | 4.00 | 1.13 |
| 51 | 1.32 | 4.00 | 3.99 | 1.13 |
| 52 | 1.33 | 3.98 | 4.00 | 1.13 |
| 53 | 1.32 | 3.99 | 4.01 | 1.13 |
| 54 | 1.32 | 3.99 | 4.00 | 1.13 |
| 55 | 1.32 | 3.99 | 3.98 | 1.14 |
| 56 | 1.32 | 3.99 | 3.99 | 1.13 |
| 57 | 1.33 | 4.00 | 3.96 | 1.14 |
| 58 | 1.33 | 3.97 | 3.99 | 1.13 |
| 59 | 1.32 | 3.98 | 4.00 | 1.13 |
| 60 | 1.33 | 3.99 | 3.98 | 1.13 |
| Mean | 1.3228 | 3.9565 | 3.9913 | 1.1300 |
| Median | 1.32 | 3.99 | 3.99 | 1.13 |
1 Like
@Owlbert Thanks so much for those measurements! I’ll add them to my list.
@Nebulant Did you have a chance to put that data into an excel or google sheet?
Interesting. I guess I’ll need to measure some switches as well.
Some questions I’ve had about the situation.
- Are these “new” switches as in they’ve never had keycaps on them?
It seems semi plausible to me that depending on what kind of keycaps were used, the POM cruciform mount could be warped just by inserting a keycap.
I’m still a bit of a novice when it comes to materials science…but
- Acetal Copolymer (POM) MatWeb - The Online Materials Information Resource
- PBT MatWeb - The Online Materials Information Resource
- ABS MatWeb - The Online Materials Information Resource
ABS (105) seems to be not as hard as PBT (112-120) or POM (69.0-121). Compared using Hardness, Rockwell R.
But, I have no idea which formulation of POM Kaihua is using, so that it’s hard if the ABS is actually less hard or not.
Modulus of Elasticity (again from the above links)
- ABS 2.21 GPa
- PBT 0.420-21.9 GPa
- POM 0.586-11.7 GPa
I’d say from those numbers that ABS isn’t as elastic (more brittle) than PBT and POM. So…ABS keycaps aren’t as durable as PBT or POM and are more susceptible to cracking it seems.
-
Do any keycap manufacturers actually publish their keycap mounting dimensions? Cherry has in the past it seems (https://deskthority.net/w/images/c/c8/Cherry_MX_1×1_keycap_specification_(1983).pdf). If I’m reading the schematic correctly, I’d say 1.17 +/- 0.02 mm? It has to be less than the stem mount or the keycaps will fall off, lol.
-
Is it possible the keycap fabs screwed up the melting temperatures and then how it cooled afterwards? Again, I’m not an expert in this sort of thing. Brittle ABS is a thing when dealing with 3d printing at least.
-
What to do about the situation? Is Kaihua entirely at fault? Is GMK making faulty keycaps? TBH, I don’t know.
Getting Kaihua to manufacture things to their spec shouldn’t be too difficult (as long as keycap insertion warping isn’t a thing). Getting Kaihua to make smaller stems might be doable, but that would require new tooling for every stem Kaihua makes.
Really what would be better: Get keycap manufacturer to give dimensions and tolerances for their keycaps. If they are out of spec, that’s the manufacturer’s screw-up.
I’ve asked Kaihua to check all the molds of all the stems (it seems like they had already started doing this, so at least Kaihua isn’t ignoring the situation).
- Do keycaps fail consistently? As in, for a BOX switch that is known bad, does it consistently destroy keycaps?
Will a BOX switch that is measured to 1.32 mm in the X-Axis destroy any keycaps?
Really, what this situation reminds me of is Matias Alps switches vs. Signature Plastics DSA PBT Alps mount keycaps. Matias tightened the stem mount slightly to better hold onto keycaps (so they wouldn’t fall out during shipping); whereas SP decided to make their Alps mount as tight as possible. And at least in 2014 when I noticed this (when working on the Infinity 60%) tried to get SP to adjust the molds so they would better accommodate Matias switches. Long story short, SP refused to do anything about the situation.
The more data we can get on all the different parts (proper datasheets and possibly even material specs for plastics used) the easier it is to focus on the problem at hand.
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Here are my results form measuring Box Jades I bought from KBDFans on July 19.
| Switch | x-axis length | y-axis length | x-axis thickness | y-axis thickness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3.96 | 3.98 | 1.30 | 1.11 |
| 2 | 3.96 | 3.98 | 1.32 | 1.09 |
| 3 | 3.97 | 3.99 | 1.35 | 1.10 |
| 4 | 3.96 | 3.95 | 1.33 | 1.10 |
| 5 | 3.95 | 3.97 | 1.35 | 1.06 |
| 6 | 3.97 | 3.98 | 1.31 | 1.12 |
| 7 | 3.98 | 3.96 | 1.32 | 1.12 |
| 8 | 3.99 | 3.97 | 1.34 | 1.08 |
| 9 | 3.97 | 3.96 | 1.32 | 1.11 |
| 10 | 3.99 | 3.97 | 1.33 | 1.10 |
| 11 | 3.97 | 3.97 | 1.34 | 1.09 |
| 12 | 3.98 | 3.95 | 1.34 | 1.11 |
| 13 | 3.97 | 3.97 | 1.33 | 1.13 |
| 14 | 3.99 | 3.97 | 1.31 | 1.07 |
| 15 | 3.97 | 3.98 | 1.37 | 1.11 |
| 16 | 3.95 | 3.98 | 1.33 | 1.08 |
| 17 | 3.99 | 3.98 | 1.34 | 1.08 |
| 18 | 3.96 | 3.98 | 1.29 | 1.08 |
| 19 | 4.00 | 3.97 | 1.30 | 1.10 |
| 20 | 3.97 | 3.96 | 1.35 | 1.10 |
| 21 | 3.95 | 3.97 | 1.31 | 1.11 |
| 22 | 3.97 | 3.96 | 1.37 | 1.09 |
| 23 | 3.97 | 3.96 | 1.33 | 1.10 |
| 24 | 3.96 | 3.98 | 1.25 | 1.12 |
| 25 | 3.98 | 3.96 | 1.31 | 1.10 |
| 26 | 3.97 | 3.96 | 1.31 | 1.09 |
| 27 | 3.99 | 3.95 | 1.34 | 1.11 |
| 28 | 3.97 | 3.95 | 1.32 | 1.10 |
| 29 | 3.98 | 3.97 | 1.35 | 1.09 |
| 30 | 3.98 | 3.98 | 1.37 | 1.12 |
| 31 | 3.95 | 3.96 | 1.34 | 1.11 |
| 32 | 3.98 | 3.97 | 1.33 | 1.10 |
| 33 | 3.99 | 3.96 | 1.33 | 1.10 |
| 34 | 3.98 | 3.95 | 1.32 | 1.10 |
| 35 | 3.96 | 3.96 | 1.34 | 1.10 |
| 36 | 3.98 | 3.98 | 1.34 | 1.11 |
| 37 | 3.97 | 3.98 | 1.32 | 1.08 |
| 38 | 4.00 | 3.99 | 1.34 | 1.08 |
| 39 | 3.96 | 3.96 | 1.35 | 1.11 |
| 40 | 3.97 | 3.95 | 1.33 | 1.11 |
| 41 | 3.98 | 3.98 | 1.32 | 1.10 |
| 42 | 3.96 | 3.98 | 1.33 | 1.08 |
| 43 | 3.97 | 3.97 | 1.35 | 1.09 |
| 44 | 3.96 | 3.97 | 1.35 | 1.08 |
| 45 | 3.96 | 3.99 | 1.33 | 1.10 |
| 46 | 3.95 | 3.95 | 1.36 | 1.11 |
| 47 | 3.96 | 3.98 | 1.33 | 1.10 |
| 48 | 3.99 | 3.97 | 1.32 | 1.08 |
| 49 | 3.96 | 3.97 | 1.33 | 1.11 |
| 50 | 3.99 | 3.96 | 1.30 | 1.10 |
| 51 | 3.96 | 3.97 | 1.33 | 1.11 |
| 52 | 3.99 | 3.98 | 1.32 | 1.11 |
| 53 | 3.98 | 3.96 | 1.33 | 1.10 |
| 54 | 3.97 | 3.98 | 1.33 | 1.09 |
| 55 | 3.98 | 3.97 | 1.31 | 1.10 |
| 56 | 3.98 | 3.97 | 1.32 | 1.11 |
| 57 | 3.95 | 3.96 | 1.32 | 1.09 |
| 58 | 3.96 | 4.00 | 1.29 | 1.09 |
| 59 | 3.96 | 3.95 | 1.32 | 1.10 |
| 60 | 3.97 | 3.98 | 1.33 | 1.10 |
| 61 | 3.96 | 3.97 | 1.36 | 1.10 |
| 62 | 3.96 | 3.98 | 1.33 | 1.09 |
| 63 | 3.97 | 3.98 | 1.32 | 1.07 |
| 64 | 3.96 | 3.96 | 1.33 | 1.10 |
| 65 | 3.98 | 3.97 | 1.32 | 1.12 |
| 66 | 3.97 | 3.97 | 1.34 | 1.10 |
| 67 | 3.95 | 3.96 | 1.29 | 1.10 |
| 68 | 3.96 | 4.00 | 1.33 | 1.10 |
| 69 | 3.96 | 3.98 | 1.31 | 1.09 |
| 70 | 3.95 | 3.98 | 1.33 | 1.08 |
| 71 | 3.95 | 3.95 | 1.33 | 1.09 |
| 72 | 3.99 | 3.96 | 1.36 | 1.12 |
| 73 | 3.98 | 3.97 | 1.36 | 1.09 |
| 74 | 3.97 | 3.98 | 1.35 | 1.10 |
| 75 | 3.98 | 3.99 | 1.31 | 1.08 |
| 76 | 3.98 | 3.96 | 1.31 | 1.14 |
| 77 | 4.00 | 3.97 | 1.35 | 1.13 |
| 78 | 3.97 | 3.97 | 1.35 | 1.09 |
| 79 | 3.96 | 3.99 | 1.31 | 1.08 |
| 80 | 3.98 | 3.96 | 1.32 | 1.08 |
| 81 | 3.98 | 3.96 | 1.34 | 1.10 |
| 82 | 3.98 | 3.98 | 1.32 | 1.10 |
| 83 | 3.95 | 3.97 | 1.35 | 1.09 |
| 84 | 3.96 | 3.95 | 1.31 | 1.07 |
| 85 | 3.98 | 3.99 | 1.35 | 1.10 |
| 86 | 3.99 | 3.99 | 1.31 | 1.10 |
| 87 | 3.98 | 3.99 | 1.36 | 1.08 |
| 88 | 3.98 | 3.97 | 1.35 | 1.11 |
| 89 | 3.97 | 3.96 | 1.33 | 1.12 |
| 90 | 3.99 | 3.97 | 1.32 | 1.09 |
| 91 | 3.98 | 3.96 | 1.34 | 1.09 |
| 92 | 3.99 | 3.97 | 1.32 | 1.10 |
| 93 | 3.98 | 3.97 | 1.30 | 1.11 |
| 94 | 3.97 | 3.97 | 1.33 | 1.09 |
| 95 | 3.98 | 3.98 | 1.34 | 1.11 |
| 96 | 3.98 | 3.99 | 1.36 | 1.08 |
| 97 | 3.96 | 3.94 | 1.34 | 1.12 |
| 98 | 3.98 | 3.99 | 1.31 | 1.10 |
| 99 | 3.96 | 3.97 | 1.31 | 1.12 |
| 100 | 3.97 | 3.97 | 1.32 | 1.07 |
| MEAN | 3.972 | 3.971 | 1.329 | 1.098 |
| MEDIAN | 3.974 | 3.972 | 1.329 | 1.099 |
| STDEV | 0.012 | 0.012 | 0.019 | 0.015 |
| CV | 0.31% | 0.30% | 1.46% | 1.35% |
6 Likes
I talked briefly to Mike from Novelkeys at the Seattle meetup yesterday and he said that he had talked to Kailh about it around 2am on Friday morning and that they were investigating and would likely make some sort of official statement soon.
He also mentioned something about it possibly being related to Dare-U being the only people buying box switches for a while and how they may have asked Kaihua for a tighter fit?
Side note, Mike’s just like actually the best person ever.
3 Likes
Gonna get a good caliper from my buddy at work tomorrow so I can add the measurements of my batches of BOX switches to this thread. I only have Navys & Royals in boards at the moment & haven’t had any issues beyond the Navys making a GMK & ePBT set of mine fit loosely on regular MX switches. However I do have some samples of Hako Trues, Hako Clears, BOX Jades, BOX Burnt Oranges, BOX Pale Blues, & BOX Yellows, so I can add some info beyond just the Navys & Royals. I’ll post the results here once I get the measurements taken & recorded! 
1 Like
ignore post, see next one
So here’s something interesting. I’ve taken a picture of a box jade and a box navy. See a difference in the stems?
On the x-axis of the jade, we have the small bulges which many of us theorize as the culprit behind the keycap cracking issue. On the navys, we don’t have those.
I’ve measured the box jade x-axis thickness on the bulge at 1.33mm and the y axis thickness to be 1.15mm.
On the box navy I’ve measured the x-axis thickness is 1.31mm and the y-axis to be 1.12mm.
This is only a sample size of one each, but I think this is interesting to look into.
For those who can take a look at their other box switches, do you have ones that look like they have a bulge or ones without a bulge?
2 Likes
@Manofinterests I noticed this last night but with both switches being Box Royals. Not only are they visibly different thickness but the actual purple color is different. Sadly I had mixed up the bag from my separate Box Royal orders so I can only assume they are from different batches but it was still interesting to see this noticeable difference from the same switch.
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Which comes from the newer batch, the left or the right?
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I believe the right one is newer but like I said I had sadly mixed up the bag.
Thanks for the clarification. I checked my remaining unused BOX Navies and they look like the one on the right and they’re all the same. They belong to the same batch and I bought them just last month from Aliexpress YMDK. Wondering if this issue is about older batches.
Okay. Here’s what I’ve found:
Switches that have the extra ridges (all purchases this year):
Hako violet
Hako true
Hako clear
Hako Royal
Box jade
Box white
Box brown
Box red
Box pale blue
Switches that do not have extra ridges:
Box navy
Box black (purchased last year)
But the thing is, it was the box black that broke my hyperfuse set. So, go figure.
Did I mention that I have a lot of box switches? RIP
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Box Pale Blues from the last MD drop I received has the ridges.
Also, I think I see ridges on the navies in your photo.
I’ve looked at all my box switches (pale,blues, hakos, royals, jades, navies, and blacks) they all have the bump on them. The only difference I found is that for darker colors the bars are harder to see, but they appear on every switch I have. (I have samples from 2017 and 2018) I don’t have a macro camera to capture this but I am pretty sure they are on every stem, the difference is just an optical effect. Maybe the thickness of the bar changes though?
Yeah, i do see them on the navy in that pic. It was hard for me to see on mine so I’ll have to look again. Same for black
Good eyes @EightDiagram, I didn’t see those when I originally looked, because I didn’t zoom in hehe. I’ve taken some pictures under my microscope to confirm: Sorry for the mess, I dropped these switches on my carpet 
Box Navy:
Top View
Slanted View for ridge visibility
Pic 1
Pic 2
Box Jade:
Top View:
Slanted view for ridge visibility
Pic 1
Pic 2
I only have a handful of each switch, but I still wanted to have these numbers recorded.
| Box Navys | x-axis length | y-axis length | x-axis thickness | y-axis thickness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3.99 | 3.98 | 1.31 | 1.11 |
| 2 | 4 | 4 | 1.31 | 1.1 |
| 3 | 3.97 | 3.97 | 1.31 | 1.12 |
| 4 | 3.97 | 3.96 | 1.3 | 1.11 |
| x-axis length mean | y-axis length mean | x-axis thickness mean | y-axis thickness mean | |
| 3.9825 | 3.9775 | 1.3075 | 1.11 |
| Box Jades | x-axis length | y-axis length | x-axis thickness | y-axis thickness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3.97 | 3.97 | 1.3 | 1.12 |
| 2 | 4.01 | 3.99 | 1.32 | 1.13 |
| 3 | 4 | 3.98 | 1.33 | 1.13 |
| x-axis length mean | y-axis length mean | x-axis thickness mean | y-axis thickness mean | |
| 3.993333333 | 3.98 | 1.316666667 | 1.126666667 |
These seem to be pretty close to @Nebulant who measured 1.329mm for x-axis thickness mean and 1.098 for y-axis thickness mean. My x-axis thickness deviates .02mm similarly to my y-axis thickness.
My figures for navys deviates around .02mm from @Owlbert who got 1.3228mm for x-axis thickness and 1.13mm for y-axis thickness.
Since the deviations are pretty small, I think I can chalk it up to not having a large enough sample size.
I also unscientifically pulled out my really old first gen box whites which also appear to have the ridges. I measured a handful unscientifically and it seems like they all measure around the same as all of the data that has been posted on this thread.
So far, all the data that everyone has been posting seems to fall in line pretty closely with Kailh’s official specs on this matter. Based on these specs, it should also be noted that Kailh Box Brows, Jades, Blacks, and Reds are most likely the switches that will cause keycaps to crack with the highest frequency.
I hope GMK releases their own data or spec sheets soon so we can have another point of reference. I think knowing GMK’s specs to see if there are any official deviations or changes since October 21st 1987 and we don’t know if there have been changes since then.
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Every box switch I have has the ridges, and I think I have at least one of all of them.
Also, when I measured my Axis thickness, I did it close to the center, I might have missed the lumps now that I look at it… pls dont make me measure again…
I also noticed cracked stems on a few of the keyboards I have box switches on.
I wanted to see if the cracking seemed related to stem thickness, so I did the measurements for one of the boards. The switches were box navy and the caps Devlin K series.
Even though all of the stems are within Kailh’s specs, there does seem to be some correlation with the cracking and the stem width.
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