I thought it might be fun to have a switch photo thread so folks can show off their bits of beautifully colored plastic.
Also, so I won’t be muddying the desk or workbench threads with a bunch of tenuously related pictures as I catalog my fairly large collection.
Bring out your prettiest switches!
The worst ones, too.
SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT
Playing around with the light box today. I’m really liking it but I think I’m going to need an air duster. I suppose Photoshop will do - but I’m too lazy for that right now. I’m in an informal mood.
Taken freehand with an iPhone 8 using a cheap lightbox;
Alpacas
Cream Arcs
Lychee Tactiles
MX Blacks
Vermillion Birds
Jelly Blues
Sarus
Carrots
Banana Splits
I’ll go old school for my first post here.
I keep all my full sets in mason jars - this is where the rest live.
There’s a set or two in here, but those are likely destined for frankens or are around as backups.
Chaotic as it looks, there is some method to the madness. How many can you guess?
I keep my shameful amount of switches I have in 6, soon to be 8, totes that are stacked in the closet. Well sometimes they’re in the closet and sometimes they’re just sitting out on the office couch for a week or two.
And then I have 10-20 loose frankenswitches piled on my desk that are made with parts unknown at this point along with 2-3 bags of other random newly arrived switches.
Don’t forget an assortment of unidentifiable springs and loose films and a tub of 205g0 to compliment the desk setup.
Gotta keep that desk piled up, yo.
This is an accurate description of my desk most days - but my mom came to visit last week, so it’s uncharacteristically clean at the moment.
Hot photos, sir
Having some fun with my turntable;
Five T1 flavors:
Cream family photo; Dreams at either end for comparison.
From left to right:
Dream, Original
A little bit of phone case in the frame, but shows the slightly different color Blueberry housings have.
Dreams in the extras box amongst siblings.
Bonus blurry dreamy Dream pic
Hopefully my tragic photography “skills” aren’t making people feel like throwing up. But here’s some photos of my favorite obscure switches i own.
Starting with some desoldered Zorro Yellows. One of my most mysterious and interesting ones. They are more on the wobbly and scratchy side, but not too bad. They have a very interesting and unique sound that i haven’t heard with any other switch. I guess i would put it in a similar category as cherry nylon. Still trying to find the name of the Factory who makes these, so if anyone knows 100%, please DM me or something.
Some Yusya Red. They have a very unique type of winglatch system, very narrow compared to others. Maybe a little less wobbly and scratchy as the Zorro, but still quite bad compared to modern Gateron, JWK or similar. Also another switch with an interesting sound.
“FG” branded blue switches. No idea who the manufacturer of those is. They have some similarities to others but not quite something i’d call a match. Really sharp tactility for a clicky switch, but pretty inconsistent. The same can be said about the entire switch. Just in one board alone there were 3 different varieties with different shaped and colored stems.
My collection of “Leobog” switches so far. Definitely one of the most underrepresented brands out there. They deserve a lot more love. Very little wobble, very smooth and very affordable. These “Ice Cream” switches are 100x better than any other full POM switch i’ve tried, including NK Creams.
And my most recent one. “ZDZ” branded red switches. They don’t match up with any of my other switches and not really anything special performance-wise. But they have very strange housing molds and tolerances. The latches latch in very tightly and are difficult to remove, almost like old Aristotles.
I have to agree. I got a few samples after seeing you mention them a while back and I’m impressed - very smooth and stable.
The stock Leobog / AULA Matcha Green felt alright with those sub-MG profile keycaps in a stock MK870.
I guess they would do okay in aluminium plates.
Since you can get 110 for $25 sometimes, or even $16, one build I am mulling over is resoldering a 104-key with them. Not sure what the ideal lubing would be for them, but could get you a more interesting and satisfying light tactile keyboard than generic, machine-picked MX Browns.
What is that container?
I got the first two at Walmart in the sporting goods section, sold under the brand “Hyper Tough” - but there are equivalent ones you can elsewhere - like equivalent to the point that the parts are interchangeable and they nest together properly.
Here’s the Walmart one, and it’s the cheapest by a good bit:
Hyper Touch Heavy Dudty Interlocking Organizer 2-Pack
Here are three equivalents on Amazon; oddly enough they’re all more expensive, but hey different colors:
I know those orange Makitoyo ones nest with the red Hypertough ones, and I’m about 99% sure all four of them are interchangeable.
i might pick these up to hold the loose keycaps i have instead of getting more of the kinetic labs ones
