New alps.tw Type OD1 variant
Posted: 23 Aug 2018, 01:12
The keyboard in question:
I bought this keyboard a long time ago, but never bothered investigating it because I assumed it just had some generic KPT clones. I had originally planned to restore and document it once I bought a proper desoldering gun, but that probably won't happen for a while. Instead, I decided to investigate it today on a whim and was pretty surprised to see two solder joints on each switch in a familiar pattern, instead of the three symmetrical joints I was expecting.
The F6 key was missing its keycap when I bought it so I decided to desolder that one. Here's what I found:
PCB, plate, and keycap compatible with Alps. Internally though, they have more in common with KPT switches than Alps.
The click leaf looked familiar so I searched the wiki a bit. Turns out, these are nearly identical to alps.tw Type OD1, except the slider is white and the pins are Alps compatible, not KPT (plus one or two other minor differences). As it stands, I don't know if these switches are from the same manufacturer as Type OD1, or if they're a clone. Considering updating the Type OD1 wiki page with this info.
I bought this keyboard a long time ago, but never bothered investigating it because I assumed it just had some generic KPT clones. I had originally planned to restore and document it once I bought a proper desoldering gun, but that probably won't happen for a while. Instead, I decided to investigate it today on a whim and was pretty surprised to see two solder joints on each switch in a familiar pattern, instead of the three symmetrical joints I was expecting.
The F6 key was missing its keycap when I bought it so I decided to desolder that one. Here's what I found:
PCB, plate, and keycap compatible with Alps. Internally though, they have more in common with KPT switches than Alps.
The click leaf looked familiar so I searched the wiki a bit. Turns out, these are nearly identical to alps.tw Type OD1, except the slider is white and the pins are Alps compatible, not KPT (plus one or two other minor differences). As it stands, I don't know if these switches are from the same manufacturer as Type OD1, or if they're a clone. Considering updating the Type OD1 wiki page with this info.
