What's on your workbench today?

Put this on top of my speaker to capture the light from my window better.

Brutal V2 1800, used to have EPBT 9009, went to Mode Tomorrow keycaps, and now its rocking GMK British Racing Green R2. Hard to find anything that will color match better than this one.

I’ve been mixing a lot of switches and plate options, I was really digging Ergo Clears on Alu, and then recently went back to the plastics of POM and PC and have been pretty into PC again. I also finished frankenswitching a batch of JWK Twilights, using JWICK T1 housings and Durock Medium Tactile stems. The all nylon combo sounds surprisingly deeper than my Ergo Clears with Deskey films and I’m enjoying the increased tactility compared to regular Ergo Clears. It does feel a little bit notchier because the tacility is so sharp and punchy feeling, despite a thicker coat of 3204 than I usually go for these days.

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Yes, that’s pretty-much how to do it.

T1 has a respectable tactile leaf, so you will need to use adequate lube so that the DMT stem can function.

I built a few test cases the same way you did, with 3204. I never needed that much tactility, though, as I am satisfied with the regular Medium Tactile. But there are people who want some pre-travel, and significant tactility, so I’ve recommended them Twilights [factory or homemade.]

If people prefer long-pole switches, they might try out Cherry’s upcoming long-pole Ergo Clear.

I agree that Ergo Clears are really good on aluminium, but with plastics you are probably better off using JWK/Durock. I will be getting a plastic/silicone sandwitch budget keyboard soon, which may be a good platform for DMT. We’ll see.

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I’ve come around on tactility these days (at least for work use) and have started to trend higher but with sharper bumps instead. Funnily enough I find Twilights to be more comfortable to type on long term than equivalent spring T1s as a result of the bump size being smaller.

I’ve been swapping between Ergo Clears and DMTs for a while on the Brutal and was never really happy with T1s. Hopefully Twilights will be the best of both worlds for me here.

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Agreed.

I find light Ergo Clears easier to type on than Browns sometimes. Because the tactility can start earlier, at roughly the same weight.

I seem to prefer a rounded tactility starting early, in this case.

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I just realized you’re talking about tactile switches, so I have to butt in lol. I only use tactiles and love trying all different kinds! What spring did you use for your Twilights? These are on my list to make - even just for a small board to try. I thought I read the factory ones ended up using a heavier spring compared to the og recipe to help it return?

Did you find the caps changed the sound and/or feel too? I broke out some Green Jacket tactiles that I’ve had for a while. Their top housing legs are a little fragile (in some plates they bend when you try to put them in), so I put them on PC with DCS caps and the tactility felt less pronounced, but in a good, easy way. The board was DR-70F. Sounds was nice too, but I do like higher pitched - my go-to/go-back-to board is a Parallel Portal with Emogogo tactiles on CF with DCS.

Btw the board looks so good!

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I’m using TX XL 18mm 60g springs and a 18mm 67g spring in my spacebar for return speed and to match the feeling of the alphas. Generous coating of 3204 on the stem, housing, legs and a light layer on the leaf, though if you lube the legs heavily you can skip the leaf layer.

If I recall correctly from reading the Geekhack IC thread Pylon and Brainandforce ended up using the same 67g spring as the stock T1s. Unfortunately it seems as though the actual GB samples Pylon received were using a leaf that was actually the original Durock Medium Tactile leaf instead of the T1 leaf:

When I tried making my original samples I had Durock T1s in clear and smokey housings, and JWICK T1 black housings. The Durock housings felt a little more tactile but also a little more sluggish since the tolerances are a little tighter than the JWICKs, and actually I had a DMT stem get stuck in the clear top housing because it was thicker than the slot in the top housing. Personally, I would recommend sourcing the parts from the official Durock store on Aliexpress if you haven’t yet, because JWICK T1s are usually less than $0.25 USD a switch (currently $0.14) and DMTs are $0.30 USD right now, which makes frankenswitching this very reasonable for a pretty unique switch. JWICK housings are so much cheaper than Durock T1s I’d rather just use those for this, and they sound better being full nylon.

Yes, the caps change affected the sound and feel. I find thicker and shorter keycaps generally keep the tactility the most intact feeling, which makes sense given there’s less material and your fingers are effectively closer to the leaf. The GMK sits the lowest followed by the Mode and ePBT tied. GMK has recessed stems and lower cap height, the ePBT has same cap height as GMK but flush stems, and Mode has higher cap height but recessed stems.

And thank you! It was really hard to find something that color matched quite the way I wanted so after this I think I’m done with colored anodize, either silver or gray for me from now on for color versatility.

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DR-70F. Nice.

@alphadecay gave you a very good response.

When I made custom Twilights, I used Smoky T1 housings. It was a while ago. But I had a bunch of them from a local distributor.

They were actually very good T1 housings, as that one was a good batch.

So the DMT stems worked. I think I got away with 65 G 14mm TX springs for 1U testing with Cherry-profile. I may also have used 62 G 16mm springs, as those had been recently released.

So, similar to what @alphadecay said.

T1s are good to experiment with. With compatible tops, you can try Aliaz stems and other things. I agree that JWICK T1s would be a very cheap way to experiment, and likely have better sound.

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Thanks @alphadecay and @HungerMechanic!! I have a bag of JWICK T1s from a while ago and just a couple Durock Smokey T1s, so I’ll probably compare. I don’t have a ton of DMT either but do have a bag of Penguins and at that GB link, I noticed:

If you want a taste of what this switch feels like, you can use the stem off a Durock Medium Tactile, Mode Signal, Penguin, or RARA V2, and pair it with the housing from a Durock T1 or Koala.

So okay, my head is back in it! I think I’ll start too with lighter than 67g like you both did. I just read in the IC they were aiming for 55g at one point during the IC, but realized the stem they were testing with was slightly different so went to 62g because Durock didn’t have a 60g stock…and then ended up at 67g with the wrong leaf :person_facepalming:

Anyway, thanks again to you both!!

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Let us know how it goes!

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Swapped in the 1.0mm alum plate & swapped the caps out to MTNU Dolch on my F1 today. The 1.0mm plate makes it feels a little bit softer, not hugely different with a 1.6mm PCB though. The sound again remains largely unaffected like with the plateless setup, think that is just the hallmark of truly having full isolation from the case with your mounting system at this point though. I’m eventually gonna pair this plate with a 1.2mm PCB for maximum effect. Also looks so good with my two tone case & seeing the red peak out from under the caps! Although it does kinda limit the sets that will look good on it too. :man_shrugging:

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Huh so this is the really thin plate? And then those are flex cuts around the alphas? Looks interesting! I will have to research this guy a little more!

I still need to build up my F1-8x, but I just with with the classic plate. Not sure yet if I want to experiment, but I have been like your posts about what you are doing with yours!

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Yep, this is the v4 1.0mm alum plate & the relief cuts around the alphas definitely help it feel a bit softer than using the regular thicker alum plate. However pairing this with a 1.6mm PCB definitely kills any real flex or bounce from happening. I need to get it paired up with a 1.2mm PCB to see if allows for anymore give or not. The problem being is the only 1.2mm TKL PCBs I got are all solder PCBs, so I gotta start to try out some other switches I want to hear/feel in the F1 before I decide what I’ll use there. I also got a PP plate for my F1 getting cut at Hype while we speak so if you want the rundown on any of the setups I’ve used in mine so far just PM me bud!

Being honest though, all setups have felt & sound fairly similar with 1.6mm PCB (even plateless!?) because the mounting system so thoroughly isolates the plate/PCB from the case. So don’t expect huge differences in sound or feel with different plate materials or thickness. Like I said before a 1.2mm might let the feel & sound change a little more, but I still have to confirm that before spreading it as fact.

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How do the switches clip into a plate that thin? I thought the MX spec was for 1.4-1.6mm plates. Are there shims, or is it just cut with tighter tolerances for friction fit?

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You asked the question I couldn’t properly formulate, but has been stuck in my head since I saw this.

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Hmm youre right I’ll have to look at it after work. The switches clip in the plate fine & the plate doesnt move up or downon the switches. Ill let you guys know a little later!

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@wjrii & @TheNamesTy45 So regarding the 1mm plate for the F1 & how do switches stay fit in it. I just took my F1 apart to swap in those new Granite switches & took a look. It seems like the switch cutouts are made a little bit smaller than normal spec as all switches feel like a tighter in the 1mm plate so the extra friction helps keep everything in place. It is a switch by switch basis on if the switch will fit tight or loose though, the Keygeek Y2s fit tightly & don’t move around at all while the TypePlus Granites fit decently looser & could move up & down in the extra .5mm of space. However it mainly works because when plate/PCB are installed the switches will naturally sit all the way down on the plate & with the F1’s mounting there is nothing to push back up against the force of you typing. So even with looser fitting switches once everything is all put together the missing .5mm of material the switch needs to be totally vertically secured in a plate actually doesn’t matter.

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Also now that I got the TypePlus x Alexotos Granite switches installed in my F1 & have used them a little bit I do gotta say they are really nice! The dry lube they’re using on these works great! They are super smooth, no unwanted noises from the springs or leaves, but they have a livelier sound more reminiscent of a unlubed switch. Same with the feel of the switch, while they are super smooth they have a livelier feel vs a wet lube. The housings are decently tight, definitely don’t need films. Although the top housings are a pretty soft material so they might need films if they get opened & closed a bunch. The stock springs are a little heavy for my liking so I’ll probably swap them out eventually, but totally a preference thing. The springs themselves are definitely high quality. Overall I’d definitely recommend these switches even to a beginner as they’re very useable stock & just feel/sound high quality all around IMHO! I haven’t tried any yet, but I’d assume the Classic Blues are just as good.

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