I’ver learned today (tonight that actually was, CET) that I really love clicky switches. After the brown debacle of the built in delivered royal kludge browns and the lubing which seem not to have taken away any of the scratch I’ve decided to order prevail epsilon (since Tangerienes seem to be out of stock now) and kailh box jades. Both batches have been laying around on the shelf for good two weeks so I’ve taken the liberty and night time to install them while watching the new click and switch clicky switch ranking. It is a mother loving revelation.
Follow the glorious path of the office harrasment. Every key stroke feels like an fing-gasm. Especially the ones that are backed by lubed duroc plate mount stabs.
Praise the lord of audible workplace abominations. It’s finger smashin’ good.
I’ve also learned that the stock royal kludge ABS keycaps sound actually a little bit more schunky than custom keycaps from wasd keyboards. But can’t beat the customization feature there, though.
What caps are interfering? I did the paper strip test with a few GMK rows and didn’t have any striking.
This makes me wonder if other parts play into that as well, aside from the obvious short travel stems. For example, Nylon Gateron Yellows don’t have the little bottom-out pad shape in the bottom housing that milky ones do, etc.
I don’t own any GMK sets (yet), I should have specified, I use Cherry profile ones from AliExpress (nice quality ones).
I guess GMK conforms to Cherry’s original dimensions, but manufacturers don’t use the original or even the same dimensions themselves.
Which reminds me, if anyone here used KPRepublic’s granite keycaps (the gray ones with multiple languages), you probably noticed the keycaps hit the top housing on most rows due to the keycap stem being too short.
Today I learned that Tecsee Purple Panda’s stem sticks out long enough to prevent that type of interference.
I’ve never heard of them getting in stock again, weird, I thought it was a one time product, anyway I 3D print my own washers and only have 1 of this keycap set, so in that regard I’m fine.
It’s a weird issue I’ve seen discussed very little online, I’ve seen this also mentioned with older EPBT sets but I’ve yet to see any real confirmation.
Weirdly not every long pole switch will solve this. U4Ts for example will still have that interference on the R2 row.
I used to watch that page like a hawk and bought a whole bunch of them a while back; might have been a couple years ago at this point. I know they are rarely if ever available these days, so I’ve actually been looking for a manufacturer that can do this specific size. It’s such a useful thing - I always use them on stabs when I have long pole or otherwise short travel switches installed.
You lucky dog you! I saw one of those Chiconys on ebay a while back & was so tempted to grab it. Is that SKCM Salmon in it too! Makes really feel bad for passing if so, although I believe the one I was looking at had simplified white ALPS in it. Was branded for a different company too. What’s up with the ergoLogic & FlexPro, rubber dome boards? Still very very cool just for the way they tent. Anyways grats on the awesome finds bud!
Oof, didn’t notice that. These aren’t actually mine, just boards I found were trailblazers for their time. Like @Extra_Fox mentioned, design is so cyclical and good ideas seem to stand the test of time.
But, I’m so into learning more about Alps recently and that Chiconys is a must have for me now.
They might not be rubberdome, I misunderstood your post & thought you found these for real. Never seen those models so I’ll have to do some digging (as I’d love to have one if they are mechanical) to see if I can find any info. I’ll report back if I can find out what the ergoLogic/FlexPro use for switches.
Edit: I also agree with @Extra_Fox s take on the evolution of layouts being kinda cyclical.
Key Tronic is known mostly for its “ErgoForce” technology where different keys have rubber domes with different stiffness. The alphabetic keys intended to be struck with the little finger need only 35 grams of force to actuate, while other alphabetic keys need 45 grams. Other keys can be as stiff as 80 grams.
Key Tronic’s rubber dome keyboards are known to be quite tactile and provide a relatively distinct landing.
If you don’t want to go full out ergo, you can buy something like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/194941233879
…just look out for the ergoforce sticker. Although, I can’t comment on how effective it is since I’ve yet to try it out. It’s still a bit of money for a rubber dome…but some Topre boards have variable weighting too.
Also, as we’re in the topic of ergo boards, you might wanna check out the IBM Model M15, those cost a butt ton of money too, but they’re much rarer.
Thanks for digging them up on DT! They sound pretty interesting for a membrane board TBH. Almost like proto Topre variable weighting scheme! I could see KeyTronic’s domes being decent, back then they still put some quality into the membrane KBs even though they were a cost saving measure overall.
