Hello, i have a question about old cherry MX Brown switches from old G80, they have an electronic component in place of the LED, i’m a noob in electronic, can you say me what it is and why it’s here ?
Can i remove it if i want to use that switches on a modern DIY keyboard ?
A real big thanks for a stupid question 
That looks like a diode, used to have Nkey rollover. You can remove it.
A big thanks 
Yep all old Cherry boards are wired like this. In fact I’m pretty sure the LED holes were designed for a diode, never got changed, then just happened to work for LEDs TBH.
Interesting, i also have a G80 with MX Black, more recent, no diode but just a metal U instead of the diode.
These days it’s more common to use SMD diodes on the bottom of the PCB rather than through-hole diodes in the switches. But having a piece of metal in that spot to just bridge a connection sounds pretty odd.
Yeah I have seen that also on one of the broken Cherry 1800 TKC was selling. I’m not 100% sure what they are for though, if I’m remembering correctly the PCB had SMD diodes on it.
I’ve seen it on a 11900. I’m fairly certain it’s to add another layer of durability on their more business-oriented boards, when compared to the G80.
My Dolch Pac60 keyboard has a wire in the switches like this. I think it’s just to add stability since it’s PCB mount.
I have made pics of some of the Cherry boards i have
1) G80-3000 MX Black, no Diode but a "U"
2) G80-8200 MX Brown, Diode
3) G80-1800 MX Black, no Diode but a "U"
4) G80-11900 MX Black, no Diode but a "U"
For all the boards, no diode on the PCB… And we can see that the “U” are also used on the CPU, they are connected.
Wait, the metal bar IS connected?
It’s seems, look at the last PCB, on all switches, the two big soldering points are the for the switch and the two smalls are for the metal bar in “U”.
What in the world could that be for, then?
Looks like possibly making the PCB design simpler? Not all of them are connected to anything, and the ones that are seem to be bridging a connection that would otherwise have to go on a different layer because of other traces going between those points.
No idea, it’s why i ask the question, can i remove them ? Now it appears that on modern PCB, we don’t need them, so, i can open all the switches and remove that strange metal bar or diode before mounting them on a modern PCB
That’s what i’m thinking too, making the PCB simpler and stabilize the switches by 4 soldering points instead of two.
If you’re putting them in a modern board, they’re definitely not needed. Don’t worry about removing it!
Yep, that’s the conclusion 
my question is… how do those old browns feel compared to new browns?! Must know!
Super smooth, i love them !
