A few weeks ago I received a nice package from Daniel Beardsmore (more info here).
A Monterey K110 and a few goodies!
Fast forward to bare board..many switches
Note the Costar-style stabs
More switches!
The controller
Clearly labeled connectors are a favorite!
Grounding the plate with a solder blob...not so much..
Small-ass Enter stab arrangement
Funky 20-year-old grease!
OMG, they used freaking LazZors!!!1
On the front too!!1
Monterey K110 with Hua-Jie switches
- chzel
- Location: Athens, Greece
- Main keyboard: Phantom
- Main mouse: Mionix Avior 7000
- Favorite switch: Beamspring, BS, Vintage Blacks.
- DT Pro Member: 0086
Let's get busy!
Tweety is helping out... Bottom of Hua-Jie switch Top with numbering, varies across the board Internals The click leaf. Very "snappy" and satisfying click. Remove it and you've got a smooooth linear switch! One of the yellow switches (from the F-row). It has a shorter travel but feels the same. How did they do it?
Internals: Externally they are the same. Internals pretty much the same. Only the slider colour (obviously) and the spring are different. Here is where the magic happens!
Longer posts to move the bottom-out further up! And the last pic... Are you pondering what I am pondering???
NARF!
Tweety is helping out... Bottom of Hua-Jie switch Top with numbering, varies across the board Internals The click leaf. Very "snappy" and satisfying click. Remove it and you've got a smooooth linear switch! One of the yellow switches (from the F-row). It has a shorter travel but feels the same. How did they do it?
Internals: Externally they are the same. Internals pretty much the same. Only the slider colour (obviously) and the spring are different. Here is where the magic happens!
Longer posts to move the bottom-out further up! And the last pic... Are you pondering what I am pondering???
NARF!
- Mal-2
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
- Main keyboard: Cherry G86-61400
- Main mouse: Generic 6-button "gaming mouse"
- Favorite switch: Probably buckling spring, but love them Blues too
- DT Pro Member: -
- Contact:
- Daniel Beardsmore
- Location: Hertfordshire, England
- Main keyboard: Filco Majestouch 1 (home)/Poker II backlit (work)
- Main mouse: MS IMO 1.1
- Favorite switch: Probably not whatever I wrote here
- DT Pro Member: -
- Contact:
Interesting — that's the exact same lower shell mould as alps.tw's T8 switch:
I don't understand the principle behind their numbering system, but 7E77 is combination number 15,677 in sequence (ignoring lame maths errors, or 4,877 if you take the letter part to stop at H which is about as high as I've seen it go), yet two randomly-selected switches from two different switch models (AK-CN2 and AK-D5¹) both share the same mould! It's also not the first time that I've seen the same mould number twice. I've wondered previously about just how many moulds they actually did have, considering the amount of combinations possible in their schema.
¹ AK-D5 is a guess, as the data sheets say that AK-DN2 and AK-D5 (which has an orange slider) are both reported to be clicky, while linear switches are confirmed to exist. The source keyboard for the photo above is unknown. It might be that the linear switch in the photo was a custom order: D5 with the click leaf omitted by the factory.
I don't understand the principle behind their numbering system, but 7E77 is combination number 15,677 in sequence (ignoring lame maths errors, or 4,877 if you take the letter part to stop at H which is about as high as I've seen it go), yet two randomly-selected switches from two different switch models (AK-CN2 and AK-D5¹) both share the same mould! It's also not the first time that I've seen the same mould number twice. I've wondered previously about just how many moulds they actually did have, considering the amount of combinations possible in their schema.
¹ AK-D5 is a guess, as the data sheets say that AK-DN2 and AK-D5 (which has an orange slider) are both reported to be clicky, while linear switches are confirmed to exist. The source keyboard for the photo above is unknown. It might be that the linear switch in the photo was a custom order: D5 with the click leaf omitted by the factory.