Unknown Marquardt switch?
Posted: 28 Sep 2015, 00:53
I bought an industrial pad that looked fun from a local classified ad, and it turned out to be something that I didn't expect.
Here is the pad:
The first thing I noticed was how strange was the case. It is made from aluminium but is 90% empty, and the sound when you type on the key is just so weird because of that.
The PCB (and the whole thing) looks old school. The serial connector broke when I opened the case.
The keycaps are dye sublimated, in a strange profile. They feel just like Cherry PBT.
But hey, what are those switches?
I couldn't find any documentation about them. They have a cross mount, are very easy to open and seems overall pretty well designed. You can see the Marquardt logo on the housing.
The cross-mount is Cherry compatible:
Overall, those switches are really interesting in their feelings. They have a lot of hysteresis, but it personally doesn't bother me. They are really scratchy but much more tactile than Cherry MX switches. I guess that with a small amount of lube, they could be divine.
Their sound is really weird, but somewhat similar to Topre switches in the "thock" when the stem goes up.
Here is a little typing test, with a towel behind the PCB so that the sound is the closest possible from the pure switch sound :
Does anyone have more information about that switch?
Here is the pad:
The first thing I noticed was how strange was the case. It is made from aluminium but is 90% empty, and the sound when you type on the key is just so weird because of that.
The PCB (and the whole thing) looks old school. The serial connector broke when I opened the case.
The keycaps are dye sublimated, in a strange profile. They feel just like Cherry PBT.
But hey, what are those switches?
I couldn't find any documentation about them. They have a cross mount, are very easy to open and seems overall pretty well designed. You can see the Marquardt logo on the housing.
The cross-mount is Cherry compatible:
Overall, those switches are really interesting in their feelings. They have a lot of hysteresis, but it personally doesn't bother me. They are really scratchy but much more tactile than Cherry MX switches. I guess that with a small amount of lube, they could be divine.
Their sound is really weird, but somewhat similar to Topre switches in the "thock" when the stem goes up.
Here is a little typing test, with a towel behind the PCB so that the sound is the closest possible from the pure switch sound :
Does anyone have more information about that switch?
. I wasn't doubting you or anything btw, I just thought they looked a bit weird. Nice find! Are they reminiscent of any other switches or do they feel quite unique?