Are those vintage cherry mx blacks?

[Rainman]

I recently harvested switches from an old cherry keyboard Cherry g80-1000 (already sold the keycaps ) and I wonder if these switches are vintage mx blacks? The picture I took is the switch right next to a new mx blue. The font and the cherry logo is bigger on the black switch which is a good indication that these might indeed be vintage blacks.
I soldered these on my Poker 2 and they feel incredibly smooth and maybe a bit lighter to new mx blacks.


Anyone can confirm?

[Chyros]

Could well be, but the font this is misleading. I have vintage blacks that aren't large-font, and large-font ones that aren't vintage.

[Stabilized]

Could well be, but the font this is misleading. I have vintage blacks that aren't large-font, and large-font ones that aren't vintage.

How can you tell?

[ramnes]

The best way to know is to look at the manufacturing date of the keyboard.

Flip it and check the date code.

[seebart]

I'm pretty sure all my vintage blacks have a small font like this one but I could check my Cherry G80-0499 from 1985.

w/images/b/b2/Unitech_K959_cherry_MX_close_up.JPG

Unitech_K959_cherry_MX_close_up.JPG (898.67 KiB) Viewed 9506 times

[Rainman]

The best way to know is to look at the manufacturing date of the keyboard.

Flip it and check the date code.

Damn, unfortunately I don't have the case with me any more to check for codes, but as far as I can recall, when I examined for the keyboard code first time, I think it was produced somewhere around 1991 or 1992.

[Chyros]

Could well be, but the font this is misleading. I have vintage blacks that aren't large-font, and large-font ones that aren't vintage.

How can you tell?

Apart from the manufacturing date of the boards, it's pretty easy to tell if you try them side-by-side . You can even HEAR the difference quite clearly.

[ramnes]

That's not always true. Cherry MX switches are also vulnerable to dust; not as much than Alps, but still!

[hKing]

https://imgur.com/a/MPhvF

According to this, your switches should be vintage blacks...

[Wodan]

So far my indicator for clearly NOT vintage MX Blacks is the SMALL font Cherry print directly above the MX stem cutout on the upper shell. There are however vintage MX Blacks with a small font print where the "C" of the Cherry print is pretty much above the left flank of the cutout for the MX stem, see Seebarts pic. I have seen those on Amiga 2000 (Cherry G80-0904) keyboard. Those keyboards must have vintage blacks ...

https://imgur.com/a/CfRzh

[Rimrul]

What marks the change from "vintage" to "regular" blacks? I have a 1998 G80-1800HAD, and the switches feel smoother and more linear than on my co-workers 2010-ish G80-3000L**DE-02. Is the Timeframe on the Wiki (between 1994 and 1995) the minimum age for vintage blacks?

[Wodan]

Smoothness it's what this is all about. Vintage = Smoother is the assumption.

If you love smooth linears, vintage blacks are great for you.

[seebart]

Wodan is right, I had a look at these just now:

Cherry G80-0499:

IMG_20160626_132939.jpg (914.83 KiB) Viewed 9390 times

NCR H0150-STD1-10-17:

IMG_20160626_132913.jpg (930.97 KiB) Viewed 9390 times

Cherry G80-2100 HCD:

IMG_20160626_133037.jpg (905.02 KiB) Viewed 9390 times

[Wodan]

G80-2100 HCD is ... not vintage?

Hope we agree on this as well

[Rainman]

According to hKing and Wodan's replies, I'm gonna go ahead and claim my switches to be indeed vintage blacks. They have all the attributes of vintage mx blacks + the timeframe of keyboard production correlates.

[seebart]

G80-2100 HCD is ... not vintage?

Hope we agree on this as well

Of course not, that's why I put it in there as a comparison to the other two.

[Lynx_Carpathica]

I put some pics here comparring 2 sliders. A modern, and a vintage one.
wiki-talk-f33/picture-mx-black-slider-c ... 15802.html