What provisional name should we give to the MX blue variants?

[robeth]

-- I like MX Sky & Navy

[elecplus]

Based on current votes I think I'll rename the wiki pages to MX Sky and MX Navy. Of course, I'll also take some pictures of them disassembled too.

None of those pics look like the turquoise blue that I am used to?

Which? I'm not sure what you are referring to.

vendors-f52/hauling-off-my-good-kbds-t1 ... e%20cherry
Apparently I did not take a picture, and XMIT took the board, so I have no idea of the current status. It definitely was not sky blue or navy blue.

[elecplus]

Also, Seebart posted turquoise Alps on a Chicony board some time ago
keyboards-f2/chicony-e8hkb-5591-t8753.html

[Blaise170]

Ah I see. I haven't heard of the turquoise Cherry MX, so it'd be interesting to see them. I've seen in a post before that there were like eight different kinds of MX Blues, but I thought it was just a weird variation in color. Now that I've used three different types of my own (modern/vintage, sky, navy) I can say that they are all distinctly different which really makes it a mystery.

Here is the page I remember it from. Yab managed to find an interesting assortment of switches, including the two I currently have, as well as some real oddities like Alps-Mount Cherry MX switches.

...

The turquoise Alps aren't actually Alps, they are wiki/SMK_Alps_mount.

[elecplus]

I suggest we all get a very large box of Crayola crayons (at least 128 count). The colors are named on the labels http://www.amazon.com/Crayola-Ultimate- ... B00CI6J3HA

Then again, online colors are severely skewed, at least on my monitor. http://www.prismacolor.com/products/col ... tcore-lead
Click on the tab that says color palettes, and some look right, and others look horrible! The yellow is fine, but most of the greys look rather green. Electric blue looks more like robins egg blue. Slide the dot across the top, and click on any color bar for description and color values.

[jacobolus]

Pretty sure all of these are just regular MX blue switches with poor cross-batch control on the dye in the plastic.

They don’t need a special name.

If you are comparing to other MX blue switches with different slider colors to judge whether the distinction between colors was intentional, make sure you find ones from the same time period. Comparing switches from 1989 or whatever with switches from 2015 is useless for this purpose.

[seebart]

Also, Seebart posted turquoise Alps on a Chicony board some time ago
keyboards-f2/chicony-e8hkb-5591-t8753.html

Those are SMK Alps mount "Monterey".

wiki/SMK_Alps_mount

Pretty sure all of these are just regular MX blue switches with poor cross-batch control on the dye in the plastic.

They don’t need a special name.

Impossible to tell this way, we would have to see the actual differences to other MX blue switches.

Yes. I disassembled the navy switch today, the click slider has lube on it, it is similar to MX White but has a softer click. The sky blue is even more strange, as it doesn't appear to have any lube but it is almost linear and silent (it also has a two piece click slider). So they are different, even though I don't know if they were part of Cherry's catalogue or if they were special orders.

Edit: By the way, I should mention that the springs are also different lengths...

[snuci]

Blaise170, forget the colour variations. If the switches are different, please take them apart and take some detailed pics. If they are different, they may need a new name. To make it short and sweet... "pics or it didn't happen" It would be good information for the wiki. Without that, this isn't going anywhere.

[jacobolus]

Other identical looking Bondewell laptops from the same time period have MX blue switches with standard color sliders. You might want to get one of those to compare.

[ntw]

MX Sky & Navy

But what caused the different color? Is it diff dye used in that particular batch or decolorization over the years like the TA?

[Tuntematon]

On second thought, even if these are notably different, I'm not sure they should qualify as discrete variants. They are still MX Blue. Maybe they should just be noted somewhere on the MX Blue page?

[snuci]

On second thought, even if these are notably different, I'm not sure they should qualify as discrete variants. They are still MX Blue. Maybe they should just be noted somewhere on the MX Blue page?

Now we're talkin'! If, for all practical purposes, you can't tell one from another other than a slight change in hue, it will be very difficult for someone to see what variant they have. So I have a Sky or Navy? Unless they open up the key switches, they will not know nor will anyone else.

If it takes opening a key switch to see what the variation is, it just needs to be noted but I agree that it's one color. If the slightest bit is different externally, then it's a true variation and it needs a name. Just my opinion.

[Blaise170]

So I made a switch test keyboard where I included my two varying switches. Because of this, I cannot open them at the moment until I get back to a soldering iron. However, I did take a video with sound differences, which in my opinion are quite a bit different. Perhaps this will shine some light, even though it's not the visual "proof" you all are wanting. The three switches are a vintage blue, a navy, and my sky. I'm uploading it now, expect a post within the next 30 minutes.

[Blaise170]

And here's the quick take I took, hopefully it's not too bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHrT8CPtZ4M

Edit: Can't figure out how to embed this...

[E3E]

And here's the quick take I took, hopefully it's not too bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHrT8CPtZ4M

Edit: Can't figure out how to embed this...

Just take the video ID, LHrT8CPtZ4M, and use the youtube tags:

Code: Select all

[youtube]LHrT8CPtZ4M[/youtube]

Also, that pale blue/sky blue sounds very muted. My vintage MX whites in their stock housings sound very much like that.

[Sankart]

I just took apart one of my dark blue MX switches to take a look at the insides. I didn't find any similar pictures on here, so I thought I might as well take some. They aren't the best as I'm horrible with a camera and the camera of my BB Passport isn't that good either.

Spoiler:

Darker spring (oxidized?)

Dark Blue 1.jpg (834.15 KiB) Viewed 4440 times

Darker jacket (because it's older? Some old Clears I got are pretty much the same colour)

Dark Blue 2.jpg (585.41 KiB) Viewed 4440 times

Although the switches seem to be exactly the same, they sound a liiittle bit different, the click of the usual MX blue is a tad more poignant and overall noticably less rattling. I tried recording it, but somehow the background noise is quite loud (in skype it's perfectly fine...). Anyway here's the recording. First is usual blue, second is dark blue.
http://vocaroo.com/i/s1nTIP5vpyh9
The difference is larger in real life. Overall I don't know whether it is actually a different switch than usual MX Blue or if they just messed up the colouring, but at least in comparison there are some slight differences. I don't think that the dark blue switch feels any smoother than the new MX blue.

(I got these switches from a Highscreen branded Bondwell B200)

[Blaise170]

I still need to take take photos myself.