That mat is awesome
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Thanks! Yeah it is kinda crazy they picked this one to send me cause I almost bought one when they released them, LOL!
SKCM undampened Creams?!?!? Wow, that’s rare. Do you have SKCM Browns or Greens? Those are rare and (waaaay) too expensive to lol
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I actually do have some SKCM browns, I got lucky & found a Magnavox Videowriter for a decent price a couple years back. No luck on neon greens though. I’ve been keeping an eye out for even just a few of them to add to my collection like I did with these. Although I’m beginning to think Chyros bought the last ones when he found those NOS ones a few years back LOL! The seller still has some of the undamped creams up for sale if you were interested in grabbing a few just to have!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1x-Vintage-Alps-SKCM-Undampened-Cream-Keyboard-Switch/254802416603?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
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Thanks, but I imagine shipping to the UK wouldn’t be cheap or ideal lol. It’s great that someone is still selling them though! I thought they’d all be gone by now.
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Just posted some typing sounds for the Pewter switches over here, along with typing sounds for something special I got in the mail last week: the Signal switch, another JWK-made mid-tactile.
As a note, I received a batch of this switch from the vendor—Mode Designs—for free ahead of its release a few days ago. I am not in any way being paid to promote them or their switch, and have no other relationship with their business; I just collect and write about switches.
These are another mid-tactile made by JWK—roughly in-line with the Dragonfruit and Penguin switches, down to the 63.5g spring—but certainly an interesting one to me. They’ve got your standard JWK PC-top Nylon-bottom housing mix, unlike the other two recent mid-tactile releases (which both have UHMWPE in their material mixes), in the popular Durock smokey housing color (with a custom MODE nameplate, to boot).
Here’s some comparison shots with the Dragonfruit stem:
And a couple of attempts to show the light, consistent factory lube on these:
Comparing these to the Dragonfruit and Penguin switches, I’ve found:
- The Signal switches have housing tolerances and stem wobble that are quite close to the Penguin switch—good housing fitment and low stem wobble, unsurprising because it is JWK’s go-to materials, but not quite as good as the Penguin for whatever reason—and a sound profile that is consistently louder.
- The sound appears to be a bit lower on bottom-out and a bit higher on top-out, although the latter difference is definitely exaggerated by the less-muted top-out relative to the Dragonfruit and Penguin switches (most likely an effect of the UHMWPE in their top-housing mixes).
- They’re less smooth stock than the Dragonfruits and slightly smoother stock than the Penguins, which is unsurprising considering the Penguins come unlubed; Penguins’ stock smoothness seems to come entirely from the housing material and JWK’s housing production processes.
- Some combination of the housing material and lube application makes the Signal feel a bit clackier on return than the other two as well.
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I did some research back around the time that Chyros did that and I am not kidding that they completely fell off the face of the earth right around when he did that.
Aside from that I got 2 full boards of ~9/10 undamped creams around that time instead and I still regret selling them to this day, but I did save a few of them and man are they crazy nice. Wish that something more akin to it still existed.
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I agree the undamped creams really surprised me. They feel the closet to SKCM brown with it’s plastic dummy plate + extra actuation leaf out of all the other SKCM tactiles (except neon green which I have yet to try) IME. I strongly believe SKCM browns setup for tactility is what makes it feel so unique compared to all other SKCM tactiles. Which makes the undamped creams even more interesting to me cause they have an all metal tactile leaf with rather aggressive teeth on it. Definitely a shame all 3 of the ALPS holy tactile trinity (neon green, brown, undamped creams) are so rare nowadays.
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Beauty! Kicking myself for passing on one of these now that everyone has started getting them in, LOL!
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Have my childhood AAK here with me. Can confirm: they suck. They are stiff, low-travel, and tactile in all the wrong ways.
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More SP-goodness 
Norwegian alpha sets in yellow, orange and red.
And a few single FN-caps for som layout experiments.
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Finally got my Pewters in today! NGL I thought the USPS seriously lost these, I ordered them on around the 13th or 14th of last month. Overall they seem pretty nice on a quick test loose. Definitely a mid tactility switch leaning more towards light than heavy. Fairly smooth stock, but the good majority of my batch is way over lubed. Gonna have to ultrasonic these suckers & manual lube some to really give you my proper opinion on them.
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Gorgeous, absolutely.
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Ugh, this is so beautiful it hurts.
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Thanks for all the support guys. I thought he was going to be an 1800 or even a full size. Turns out we built a battleship weighing in at 9lbs 7oz 
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Wow big bay! Congrats! He looks great.
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He’s a tough little guy. They’ve had to do lots of poking and prodding and testing and he barely fusses.
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