Nothing totally conclusive, but proving a negative is more involved than proving a positive. I’ll put it this way: I haven’t had any stressed stems I could directly attribute to any of my Gazzew switches.
I have traced a few to plastic-wrap shims, pre-retool Kailh Box switches, and even prototype umwipe stems - with a few being inconclusive as to the culprit. If I ever do see evidence of Gazzew switches straining stems I’ll document it here, but I haven’t yet.
Last I heard from Gazzew was similar; no evidence to indicate a problem and he’s comfortable calling them safe. The GMK set I’m typing on now with TTCs underneath was previously mounted on some U4s, and they haven’t had any problems that I can see.
From what I understand the spec is a hair larger than Cherry at its largest point, but not to the degree of even current Box switches. It’s also true that Gazzew’s stems have a taper on the cross-mount and are widest at the top, getting slightly more narrow towards the bottom. In a case where the fit is very tight, I think this shape lets the stem deform a little if it needs to before cracking a stem - just a guess there.
Hi. All the talk about “long” springs and 55g or 57g being the lower limit for Boba U4 seems to actually be about TX L springs. And these springs are only 16 mm long, so not very long.
So, did anybody try 22mm springs, such as the ones from mStone, inside Boba U4s?
I haven’t tried this brand out yet, but I tried swapping with springs from Outemu Silent Lemon (22mm, 50g bottom) and Outemu Silent Peach (22mm, 45g bottom) and found that both were actually usable. Just, to be honest, the 45g one seems to be a bit lacking when pressing the key slowly. Also I only use 1U and 1.25U keycaps (and added some lube, but it was already ok without doing so).
So does it work only because Outemu springs actually are heavier than their nominal weight? Or 22mm is after all the way to go and I should just go with it and order mStone 22m 50g springs? (or some other brand with equivalent specs).
I find that OUTEMU springs are a little heavy for their nominal weight. For example, the 52 and 62 G that you get in the Bobas and Bobagum.
In fact, the 52 G OUTEMU spring can power a Silent Sky in an Aliaz housing, even though the stem is rated for 62 - 68 G.
Yes, when we talk about “long” springs, we mean 16mm as seen in TX “Long.” But 22mm would certainly qualify!
Thanks for the heads-up on the Silent Lemon spring. I’m about to receive some myself.
I also recommended that someone try out the MStone springs, to see how they do. I don’t have any of my own. These new 22mm and also 2-stage springs, etc… seem very interesting as to their possible application to Boba switches.
I recently ordered some 58 G, 2-stage “extension springs” from FlashQuark to see how they do with Boba [and also Silent Sky]. It seems as if these new classes of springs that offer more power / extension / stages for a given (low) weight such as 52, 55, 57-60 G could allow people to have low-weight Boba switches, without suffering from upstroke problems.
I’d love to see some force curve measurement for these. I can definitely imagine them feeling heavier due to the higher initial compression ratio (which would really increase the initial weighting and weight-at-tactile-event) but it feels like if they had a higher measurable bottom-out weighting than they’re marketed as having that this would have been caught and corrected really quickly by Gazzew (who is normally very on top of this kind of thing?).
Hello and welcome! Alas, JWK tops don’t fit on Gazzew bottoms.
Few do, and I haven’t really found anything outside of Outemu that’s been better. Some TTC tops fit, but if you’re lacking tops for some Boba bottoms, various Gazzew tops are usually available by themselves.
Ok thank you so much I haven’t bought anything was just wondering if I could make the Anubis a little spicer bc the fully nylon seems kinda boring to me. Is there any good botttom or top housings made up of a diff material like umwhpe or hdpe that I could use for the Anubis (I just want to keep the moyu black stem)
Hm - two thoughts off the top of my head; one which I know will work and another I think should but will test for sure when I get home this evening;
Kono Midnight bottoms - these are made by JWK so I know they’ll fit. The housing is polycarbonate so you’ll get a harder clack, but the real reason I recommend it is the leaf. Midnights are already pretty similar to Anubi / Moyu Blacks but the stems are a little different; all three stock switches have a little post-travel after the bump but with the Anubis / Moyu Black stem with the Midnight leaf, the travel just seem extra-clean and snappy. A subtle but significant change for me - parts to make a set of these are still on my “to buy at some point” list.
There are definitely general trends with plastic and sound but there are also plenty of exceptions. (Example; conventional wisdom is that a long-pole linear with traditional materials will be on the sharp clacky side - Black Sesames fit that description but are deeper / less sharp sounding than average.)
I do think those MM bottoms would be a good option; they come in a variety of materials and are available on their own. (They’re JWK like the Midnight bottoms.)
I also think the UHMWPE ones will probably give you the deepest sound out of those - but it will also probably be more muted / less loud than a Nylon or polycarb bottom. I’m generally a fan of UHMWPE and blends of it for housings when it comes to the sound.
Ok, thank you. I think I will go with a nylon bottom and a uwhpe top. Or, if I am satisfied with the stock Anubis I might use it as is, but our backup plan is definitely an uwhpe top.