Retooling Outemu Sky switches

Learning and discussion Guides
1

Here is my take on “retooling” the Outemu Sky switches (forgive me if this is the wrong term, it was the term I was taught for this procedure). There are other switches that can benefit from this treatment as well.

First, the problem. The center hole on Outemu Sky housings can be a tight fit for some stems. What’s worse, the hole has some rings / ridges around the inside that you sometimes feel the switch stem rub against, making it feel rough / gritty / chunky / etc.

skyrings
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Hopefully in this pic you can see the rings better. They are way down in there, but the stem reaches them. The tip of the stem can rub across those like a washboard. Doesn’t feel great.

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Here is the hole after modification. The process is thus: Get about a 2.34-2.35mm drill bit (or reamer). Push or walk the drill bit or reamer down until it bottoms out at the bottom of the hole. Then run the drill at full speed for a few seconds. Some people prefer to then remove the drill slowly from the hole while the drill is still running. I prefer to stop the drill before pulling it out, because it seemed like pulling it out while it was running was leaving spiral scratches around the inside of the hole. You can probably see in this picture, no rings, looks smooth. Be sure to clean any shavings or dust out of this hole when you’re done.

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Here are tools you can use. On the left is a 2.35mm drill bit, and on the right a 2.34mm reamer bit, which is the tool I prefer for this job.

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Here is the drill bit I tried:

Here is the reamer I tried, which does an even better and creates smoother walls inside of the center hole:

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2

What stems have you tried post this modification that you saw the benefit with? My experience with the outemu bases has been really negative for linear switches but I liked tactile in the R2 ones and I hear good things about them with clucky stems.

Just wondering if you feel it’s worth the additional effort to use these for feel and not just for the colour

3

Aliaz, Halo, cherry clear, and Kailh pro purple are the stems I have tried with this housing and liked. I like the way this housing increases the tactility, so for me it’s worth using if you want more tactility.

I wouldn’t use this housing with linear stems, the leaf pressure that increases tactility also makes it feel more scratchy. I think it’s worth it for tactile stems but not linear.

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4

thanks for this post. i think i have to try this sometime soon.

5

I wonder which base did you went with? Because he said their was two different bases one which has a tactile leaf and one with a linear leaf.

6

One question, does the switches comes disassembled or do they come like completed? I wondering since if they come preassembled I would likely need a switch opener.

7

Oh I’m not sure actually. He sent me them as a sample.

It’s not so much the leaf that is the problem but the housing for me. Not a fan of the sound the poly carbonate makes.

Also I’m pretty sure he sells both assembled and unassembled.

9

I bought these disassembled. He might still offer them as DIY switches when he gets more, he did that before with the Ice v2 polycarbonate housings.