Thocciest and Cleanest Sounding Frankenswitch [Theory]

Learning and discussion Key switches
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What is the thocciest and cleanest sounding switch possible, in theory?

First, this is of course fully up to preference and will be different for different people.

Second, thoccieness is heavily based on the rest of the board, like keycap profile, keycap material, case material, plate flex, plate material, case hollowness, weight, case foam, mounting style, etc., so this will simply be “what switch is the thocciest and cleanest COMPARED to any other switch on the exact same board in the exact same spot”

Tactiles generally have more room for thoccieness than linears, but getting them to sound clean and crisp would be more difficult. That is why I think a good linear would be the way to go for this. Clickies and silents are out of course.

By thoccieness, I mean a deep and large sound with little high end.

By clean, I mean no scratch or ping, at all, if possible.

Pom is quite thoccy but pom on pom has a history of scratchiness. Elongated stems give quite a bot of clack, but if it is low enough, it could sound thoccy.

The goal is to think of some new switches, not just to point at existing switches.

For lube, 205g0 or thicker would be the best bet.

What do you think?

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Hypothetically, one could produce a switch that bottoms out on the rails and the pole, which would likely result in both the loudness and the deepness desired (as well as softening the bottom-out by displacing the force into three locations instead of one or two). Unfortunately I don’t know that machining tolerances would allow for this.

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I see… You would have to have a soft enough material to push though any inconsistency between the rail bottom out and the pole.

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You started in the wrong place. First define “thocc.”

I utterly hate the term. It was funny as a joke, but it’s utterly meaningless in practice. Like calling a dessert “sugary”…it brings very little novel information.

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TL;DR: This thing is pretty darn thocky.

By individual components;

So far, the thockiest lower housing I’ve used is any variation of the Boba - the pink one has a leaf intended for linears so it might be the better bet. Cherry or Gateron PA housings also have good thock potential, as do Ink bottoms.

Top housing is less of an easy choice, but I’ve heard that Cream (POM) top-housings are good for thock. That said, I’m about 95% sure a Cream top won’t actually sit on a Boba bottom. In fact, I’ve found… one? other top that will (TTC lens top), and it’s not worth it in 99% of cases. Considering all that, maybe just use both halves of a Bobagum and lube the leaf.

Cream housings do fit on top of Cherry and Gat bottoms, IIRC. Boba tops fit on just about anything, but might not secure the leaf as well in some cases. I did read a post recently mentioning that Cream housings deepen the sound of Gaterons without lending too much scratch, so that might be worth a try.

I’d be inclined to look for a pretty long spring, and get it completely covered in some tenacious oil. Donut-dipping usually does the trick, but when I wan to be really sure about getting a clean sound, I cover the whole thing.

Now, stems… I’m gonna say Kailh Pro Burgundy. They’re already part of the thockiest linear recipe I’ve tried so far - and I’m honestly not sure if using a Boba bottom would be any thockier or not; the Deadpool. Kailh Blacks, Reds, and Creams all have slightly shorter poles than the Pros, so you could regain a hair of travel there if so desired.

edit: repaired the above links

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@DasGnome

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Sounds like Boba U4T can be tuned to be very thocky as well

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Well I’ll admit I fucked up and can’t read apparently. My b.

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