deskthority

Hello, Deskthority. I was wondering if anyone had modified their Zealios to be a lighter weight, and if so, how light can they get?

With the shape of the slider you can not use a spring with too light a weight.
The slider has the same shape as Cherry MX Clear, and with that one I know that people have tried all kinds of springs before Zealios were announced: a so called Cherry MX Ergo Clear. The springs from a Cherry MX Red, Blue or Brown has a tendency to not come up easily. I once saw a video of one with a 30g spring from a linear Gateron switch ... which took more than a second before it popped up.
I would think that the lightest Zealio is already as light as you could get without any stickiniess problems.

By the way, most of the force above the actuation point is from the shape of the slider against the internal leaf spring. The weight of the spring affects mostly the force below the tactile bump.
Personally, I prefer the original spring weight as it cushions my finger, preventing me from bottoming out.

Thanks Findecanor. Duly noted!

Findecanor wrote: ↑With the shape of the slider you can not use a spring with too light a weight.
The slider has the same shape as Cherry MX Clear, and with that one I know that people have tried all kinds of springs before Zealios were announced: a so called Cherry MX Ergo Clear. The springs from a Cherry MX Red, Blue or Brown has a tendency to not come up easily. I once saw a video of one with a 30g spring from a linear Gateron switch ... which took more than a second before it popped up.
I would think that the lightest Zealio is already as light as you could get without any stickiniess problems.

By the way, most of the force above the actuation point is from the shape of the slider against the internal leaf spring. The weight of the spring affects mostly the force below the tactile bump.
Personally, I prefer the original spring weight as it cushions my finger, preventing me from bottoming out.

A bit off topic here...but you seem like the right person to ask. I heard that Zealios are smoother. So, does stock cherry MX whites have any advantages over Zealios? Also is there any difference between new and vintage MX whites?

Mh, I beg to differ. The Zealio stem is not identical to an MX clear stem, it appears to me that the tactile bump is just a teeny tiny bit smaller than on the Clears. Or perhaps this has to do with them being lubed from the factory (though people have found the same to be true for new MX switches).

Either way I can tell you for certain that Zealio stems work with 45g/MX Red/Blue/Brown springs. I know because I have a full board set up this way. You definitely are not required to use at least 60/62g as with Clears, this felt too heavy for me so I went for the 45g springs from Massdrop IIRC.

I have 35g springs here as well, the lightest I have, and I can test for you tomorrow if they work with Zeal stems, though I doubt it. Those are ultra light and I use them with black stems for a fast and less fatiguing gaming board.

I think the difference is in the smoothness and in the lubrication. Back in one of the first threads on Geekhack there were extreme macro pictures of the MX Clear and purple Zealio next to each other, and as far as anyone in that thread could see the shape of the tactile bumps were identical.
People have also reported that stickiness gets reduced in Ergo Clears made with 45g springs if they get lubricated.

need wrote: ↑So, does stock cherry MX whites have any advantages over Zealios? Also is there any difference between new and vintage MX whites?

I suppose you mean Cherry MX Clear. The "MX White" is a clicky switch. Both names are official names from Cherry - they are not monikers made up by the community.

Zealios used to come only with lighter springs but that has changed in the last (or previous?) run, I think.. (I have not tried any of the stiffer ones). The transparent plastic in the Zealios' lower housing has a lower melting point than the black plastic of Cherry MX switches and a few builders have messed up their switches when soldering, which they would probably not have done had they used Cherry MX or regular Gateron bottom housing.

I don't know if vintage MX Clear were smoother new than new switches are now, like how vintage Black and Blue are, but all Cherry MX switches tend to become smoother the more they are used. With very high wear, the tactile bump starts getting worn down.