Cherry to Alps adapters

Mrinterface · 22 Jan 2013, 09:39

With this thread I'm going to tell you how I made the cherry to alps adapters. With these adapters you can put cherry caps on an alps keyswitch.

The design in FreeCAD :

The printing of the protos

The result after printing

First protos :

: Grrrrrrrrrr.....; 2013-01-22 09.32.45.jpg (2.07 MiB) Viewed 27790 times

New design based on protos :

: Cut some corners; Screen Shot 2013-01-22 at 11.09.02.png (31.07 KiB) Viewed 27743 times

phetto · 22 Jan 2013, 09:40

Nice job.

What plastic did you use?

Mrinterface · 22 Jan 2013, 09:42

phetto wrote:Nice job.

What plastic did you use?

The plastic used in an Orca 3D printer

7bit · 22 Jan 2013, 09:43

For the final product, I demand the highest quality standards!!!!

matt3o · 22 Jan 2013, 09:54

once we have the prototype, wouldn't be easier/faster/cheaper to mold them? epoxy resin should be way more durable

Mrinterface · 22 Jan 2013, 09:55

7bit wrote:For the final product, I demand the highest quality standards!!!!

But of course my liege-lord.....

Mrinterface · 22 Jan 2013, 09:56

matt3o wrote:once we have the prototype, wouldn't be easier/faster/cheaper to mold them? epoxy resin should be way more durable

Yes, they shall be cast!

matt3o · 22 Jan 2013, 10:00

of course. sorry for being noob

Mrinterface · 22 Jan 2013, 11:24

Latest design sent to i.materialise
5 @ 100%
5 @ 102%
5 @ 98%

tlt · 22 Jan 2013, 16:04

matt3o wrote:once we have the prototype, wouldn't be easier/faster/cheaper to mold them? epoxy resin should be way more durable

I tried with a latex mold and polyurethan resin. It worked but it was way to much work to mass produce. I managed to make at most 4 at a time. The quality was often not good enough ( air bubbles ) and the mold broke often. I think you need a real tool out of metal that you can put melted ABS in or something like that.

Mrinterface · 23 Jan 2013, 20:20

i.materialise came back with a price......
6,50Euro per piece. That's too much, so I tried shapeways : 1,05 euros! That's more like it.
I trust my design to be perfect, so I just ordered 5. Starting february they will arrive.

dirge · 23 Jan 2013, 20:52

What about adapters for both ways? If you like Apple extended II caps but want them on MX switches?

tlt · 23 Jan 2013, 21:13

I have looked at the mounts and I think Alph caps on Cherry switches is going to work a little better because the hight of the key will increase less.

Mrinterface · 24 Jan 2013, 15:33

dirge wrote:What about adapters for both ways? If you like Apple extended II caps but want them on MX switches?

Yes,

But first these... If I know how to make / mass produce them , the Alps to Cherry adapters will be much easier...

mbodrov · 24 Jan 2013, 16:24

Why not make whole sliders, then? Designing them will probably be somewhat more difficult but production cost should be nearly identical for sliders and adapters.

Mrinterface · 24 Jan 2013, 16:37

mbodrov wrote:Why not make whole sliders, then? Designing them will probably be somewhat more difficult but production cost should be nearly identical for sliders and adapters.

I checked that, but for the cherry to alps you also need to design another upper switch housing because the keycap slider part won't go in if you don't make more room.

REVENGE · 24 Jan 2013, 23:41

Thanks so much for making the designs!

Mrinterface · 24 Jan 2013, 23:56

REVENGE wrote:Thanks so much for making the designs!

My pleasure... Really. Love doing it.

Actually , this is my step towards bigger projects

7bit · 25 Jan 2013, 00:02

I guess the bigger project would be to design a slider for Alps switches with a Cherry MX key cap mount!

Mrinterface · 25 Jan 2013, 00:07

7bit wrote:I guess the bigger project would be to design a slider for Alps switches with a Cherry MX key cap mount!

Exactly....

Ekaros · 25 Jan 2013, 11:33

7bit wrote:I guess the bigger project would be to design a slider for Alps switches with a Cherry MX key cap mount!

Would the widths be even combatible? Haven't read the spec, but by my memory the ALPS slider is thinner than normal MX cap mount...

Merijn · 25 Jan 2013, 12:51

I'm just wondering how much higher the keys would be on the keyboard. Wouldn't they stick out a lot now?

kps · 25 Jan 2013, 16:28

7bit wrote:I guess the bigger project would be to design a slider for Alps switches with a Cherry MX key cap mount!

I think I remember having seen photos of such switches, made by ALPS.

Ekaros wrote:Would the widths be even combatible? Haven't read the spec, but by my memory the ALPS slider is thinner than normal MX cap mount...

An APLS slider is 5.0mm; a Cherry slider is 5.6mm.

7bit · 25 Jan 2013, 18:58

The cross is the important thing. Maybe it can be smaller to fit when the switch is depressed from time to time ...

Mrinterface · 01 Feb 2013, 18:20

: 2013-02-01 18.17.52.jpg (1.99 MiB) Viewed 27464 times

phetto · 01 Feb 2013, 18:39

Does it work well?

Mrinterface · 01 Feb 2013, 19:03

Preliminary results :

Cap is slightly higher ( need to measure the difference with a normal Alps cap ) and the Alps section turned out to be too small so that could be slightly bigger. My approach to the MX side of the adapter seems to work...

More info after I have some time to dive into it.

pasph · 17 Feb 2013, 01:20

Updates?

Mrinterface · 17 Feb 2013, 11:19

pasph wrote:Updates?

Not yet.

Trying to find time to create an array of the adapters so I can 3D print them cheaper....

calavera · 23 Feb 2013, 02:57

When you get this into production I will be first in line to buy them!!

I think for the adapter to work you really need them to be durable. As you know it takes a lot of force to pull alps key caps off their switches. I see these snapping off easily like that red prototype there. Good luck, I'm keeping my eye on this thread.