The Jet Ski switch - a hybrid between MX and ALPS

[SlipperyJohn]

I was told y'all love unique mods, so let me tell you about an interesting switch mod I did today that I'm calling the Jet Ski switch.

To start off, I'm going to tell you a bit about Taiwan Jet Axis.



The Taiwan Jet Axis line of switches are interesting. While they are very similar on the outside to MX switches, the differ in one important way: they have 180 degree radial symmetry.



You might think that would give it extra space on the inside, and you'd be right. Curiously though, they don't seem to use it at all.



Just empty space.



The slider design is very interesting, distinctly different than MX.



The slider is guided along two shafts that go through the holes on either side. This has the wonderful effect of almost entirely eliminating wobble.



This is an ALPS housing, specifically a housing for an SKCM Brown switch. Note how this also has space to both sides.



The ALPS switch, however, uses that space for a click leaf.



The slider for the alps switch is comparatively uninteresting.



So the ALPS switch (top, brown slider replaced with white) has a lot in common with the Taiwan Jet Axis switch (bottom). There's only one missing part: an extra leaf.



Being insane, I wondered what would happen if I put an ALPS leaf. I dismantled a white alps switch and tried to shove it in. It was a bit too wide, so I had to cut it down.



It fits! I cut away a little too much, so positioning was tricky.



I compared it to some other tactile switches I had on hand: an Outemu Brown, a MOD-H, and an R2 78g Zeal. It feels a lot like a stiffer zeal with no wobble, but it's quite scratchy (on par with the outemu brown).

The position of the ALPS leaf has a huge impact on the feel though. Originally it was off center, which caused the force to ramp up dramatically. A more precise cut would make this much better. Ideally, leaves could be manufactured to fit. You could even go as far as to manufacture an MX-compatible switch with internals nearly identical to ALPS! As an ALPS lover, I really hope somebody gets on that!

See this video for click comparisons between those four switches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLdtrRIwF4Y

Checkout the wiki for more information about the Taiwan Jet Axis switches: wiki/Taiwan_jet_axis

[Daniel Beardsmore]

That space really is for a click leaf — the version shown on the wiki has a click leaf in it (it's not hugely obvious; I'd take better photos but the only type I have is linear). The [wiki]ProWorld Cherry MX clone[/wiki] also has a click leaf in it.

The reason for Cherry MX not having a click leaf is because it offers [wiki]hysteresis[/wiki], and if you read the patent for MX switches (or at least, the only one found to date) it talks solely about hysteresis and makes no mention of the audible feedback. Old Cherry documentation also refers to the "cam" on the slider platform, that denotes "movement differential" (Cherry's term for hysteresis) again not mentioning the fact that you also get a click sound.

Using a click leaf is a less advanced approach, and of course incur a much greater risk that the sound and actuation occur at different points in the stroke.

[seebart]

Wecome to DT SlipperyJohn! Interesting information, thank you for posting. Chyros will like this, I remember him being very interested in the ProWorld clones.

[Chyros]

Indeed, very interesting - it never occurred to me to modify non-ProWorld switches in this manner as I kind of assumed it wouldn't work anyway. Most intriguing, I'll give this a go myself .

[derzemel]

oooo... does this mean that we will someday have cherry compatible switches with ALPS tactility?

[seebart]

oooo... does this mean that we will someday have cherry compatible switches with ALPS tactility?

Yes, from what I've seen that may very well be possible.