IDENTIFY THE KEYSWITCH thread

[10gb]

Anyone happen to recognize this switch? It looks like an alps clone, could it be some omron since it has that little hole in the middle?

[hellothere]

I support the Omron theory.

[regebro]

Hi all!

I have an old rare synthesizer from the 80's, yes, I know, it's not THAT kind of keyboard, but bear with me.

It has a few push buttons, and some of the owners have problems with their button switches and we are now all trying to found out what switches it's using, but we are having no luck. And the pinout of those switches are slightly similar to Cherry switches, in that the pins don't sit straight, so to speak, so I'm wondering if this possibly could be a sort of keyboard switches? They are definitely not cherry-switches though. The switches do have a bridge wire, so pin 1 and pin 3 are connected, which makes me think these switches are definitely designed to sit in a grid. Pin 2 is connected to pin 1 and 3 when the button is pressed, there is no latching.

It also turns out different synths have different switches, we have found three different models so far, so if there were three models of these switches in the 80's why are they impossible to find now? Ah well. Any clues welcome.

OSCar_tact-switch.jpg (115.4 KiB) Viewed 8049 times

P1010006.JPG (316.42 KiB) Viewed 8049 times

P1010005.JPG (347.9 KiB) Viewed 8049 times

I don't have good pictures of the third type, but it's similar to the second, but with a grey body and round button.

Screen Shot 2020-10-02 at 05.44.48.png (150.2 KiB) Viewed 8049 times

[Dogak]

Do you know what this switch is?
How does this feel?

s-l500.jpg (16.33 KiB) Viewed 7979 times

[mode1ace]

Do you know what this switch is?
How does this feel?

s-l500.jpg

Dome with slider, there is no switch, just a slider through the plastic plate which will hit a membrane behind.

[hellothere]

I have an old rare synthesizer from the 80's, yes, I know, it's not THAT kind of keyboard, but bear with me.

Maybe this would help: https://techsmechsvintagesynth.com/home ... r-set.html. Considering they're NOS potentiometers, I'd think the company that bought them might have some info on the switches. It wouldn't hurt to give them an e-mail.

Are you sure that the grey/metallic colored thing in Screen Shot 2020-10-02 is a switch? From looking at a couple pics of the whole synth on Wikipedia, it looks like the OSCar has membrane keys under the labels "Semitone/Waveform, Store and Recall, Sequence Editing, and Chains." It looks more like those black circular things are buttons. If I'm wrong about that assumption, it'd probably be a good idea to post a close up of what's written on the silver thing.

I did some basic Googling and there are a bunch of websites dedicated to the OSCar, like http://www.airburst.co.uk/oscar/index.htm. They might have some more details. I even saw that there's a virtual synth out there that replicates the OSCar.

Looking into it a bit, I think the switches look like either Hall Effect or Fujitsu Magnetic Reed. Now, because this is the Internet, someone should come along shortly and tell me that I'm flat out wrong and will post the correct answer and have photographic evidence to prove it.

[regebro]

Maybe this would help: https://techsmechsvintagesynth.com/home ... r-set.html. Considering they're NOS potentiometers, I'd think the company that bought them might have some info on the switches. It wouldn't hurt to give them an e-mail.

Thanks, he also doesn't know, which is why we are reaching out to non-OSCar experts, because none of us know.

Are you sure that the grey/metallic colored thing in Screen Shot 2020-10-02 is a switch? From looking at a couple pics of the whole synth on Wikipedia, it looks like the OSCar has membrane keys under the labels "Semitone/Waveform, Store and Recall, Sequence Editing, and Chains." It looks more like those black circular things are buttons. If I'm wrong about that assumption, it'd probably be a good idea to post a close up of what's written on the silver thing.

Maybe I'm using the wrong terminology, but these are all pictures of the buttons/switches in question, they can all be replaces with each other.

Looking into it a bit, I think the switches look like either Hall Effect or Fujitsu Magnetic Reed. Now, because this is the Internet, someone should come along shortly and tell me that I'm flat out wrong and will post the correct answer and have photographic evidence to prove it.

There is a circuit that is closed when the button/switch is depressed, so I don't think it's hall effect.

[zrrion]

From this listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/203141236081

I asked the seller for a pic of the switch and they sent me this:


From the shape of the caps I was hoping these might be ALPS caps at least. No idea what this is though.
Here's a mirror for the listing pics for posterity: https://imgur.com/a/E6iLdVE

[Palatino]

I'm also having no luck identifying this switch from an Acer KB-084C. I can't find any info on the keyboard either! Anyone know anything about either?

[hwood34]

I'm also having no luck identifying this switch from an Acer KB-084C. I can't find any info on the keyboard either! Anyone know anything about either?

Looks like Mitsumi KPQ

[hwood34]

Found this old Japanese Toshiba RS3081 but I can't find anything else on the board and have never seen anything like these switches before:

[zrrion]

do you have pictures of the rest of the board?

[hwood34]

do you have pictures of the rest of the board?

Board is listed here, pretty cool one but definitely too expensive to ship from Japan unless the switches are something crazy

[hellothere]

There are other similar ones listed. Here's one with a USB cable. The one posted by hwood34 is the nicest looking, IMO, and has more keys.

[hwood34]

There are other similar ones listed. Here's one with a USB cable. The one posted by hwood34 is the nicest looking, IMO, and has more keys.

Yeah, super interesting looking and I love the little switches at the top. But I'm not about to drop $100 + the cost of shipping that big bish across the ocean if the switches are gonna be bleh (looking at you, Maxi Switch linears...) fuck it, I'll crack er open and figure this out for y'all

[hwood34]

Another that's on the tip of tongue but I just can't pin down what it is:



Looks a little like Mistumi's, but a lot bigger and a little more alps-y. Some interesting nubs on the top of the stem too.

[CL4P-TP]

Another that's on the tip of tongue but I just can't pin down what it is:



Looks a little like Mistumi's, but a lot bigger and a little more alps-y. Some interesting nubs on the top of the stem too.

It's a (bad) rubber dome with slider and Alps mount

[hwood34]

Another that's on the tip of tongue but I just can't pin down what it is:



Looks a little like Mistumi's, but a lot bigger and a little more alps-y. Some interesting nubs on the top of the stem too.

It's a (bad) rubber dome with slider and Alps mount

It did look a lot like that might just be one big plastic faceplate... tragic

[Dogak]

Do you know what this key switch is?
I got to know this is made by Alphameric but it seems to have two types: foam and foil and resistive.wiki/Alphameric
Mine is from the Reuters DK-3000 keyboard. Can you let me know which one it is?

Alphameric.jpeg (1.86 MiB) Viewed 7327 times

[hellothere]

Do you know what this key switch is?
I got to know this is made by Alphameric but it seems to have two types: foam and foil and resistive.wiki/Alphameric
Mine is from the Reuters DK-3000 keyboard. Can you let me know which one it is?
Alphameric.jpeg

Alphameric Foam & Foil. Looks almost identical to a Keytronic Foam and Foil.

[hellothere]

Looking into it a bit more ...

First, one of the patents listed happens to have "AlphaNumeric Holdings Ltd" listed as the name of the company. The others are all "Alphamerics Holdings LTD" or "Alphamerics Holdings Limited." Which may be interesting.

I took a look at both the patents and at one of the "known" examples of the resistive model. The resistive model doesn't have foam and foil, but it looks like a plastic switch that hits a layer of magnets (?), and then hits the PCB. So, this might be an "open it up to check" thing, especially if the documentation available says that the mount is the same/similar to the foam and foil mount.

[Anakey]

looks like it is just conductive pad that would then bridge the two plates on the pcb rather then being resistive in any way its just substituting the foam and foil that is in most cases not very durable with a pad that bridges two plates on the pcb that is not going to degrade

[hellothere]

In either case, that's a cool keyboard with an interesting switch manufacturer. I do hope it's the resistive model.

[Dogak]

In either case, that's a cool keyboard with an interesting switch manufacturer. I do hope it's the resistive model.

I haven't yet opened it up but the key feel is quite different from general foam and foil switches.
I can feel the repulsive force from the key switch. It's similar to other membranes or dome with slider switches.
This is why I think it'd be a resistive model.

[hjalfi]

I just picked up a Canon Typestar 210 battery-powered thermal typewriter from a local junk shop; it works perfectly, and has a very nice light linear keyboard which is positive and very pleasant to type on. The keycaps are pad-printed cylindrical jobs, sadly, rather than double-shots, but when I lifted one I had a surprise waiting for me:

PXL_20201121_003732161.jpg (2.27 MiB) Viewed 7000 times

What on earth is that?

I haven't taken the keyboard apart yet, but there's a light metal backplate with a membrane. It's hard to tell in the photo but the bottom of the cylindrical slider has a cutout in it. This fits around a plastic piece which protrudes into the slider well --- it's the vertical black thing inside the well. The spring rests on this plastic piece, and the slider then presses the membrane below. The extra pin on the keycap is a mystery to me.

Does anyone know what it is?

(I have previously dismantled a Canon Typestar S70 which uses a peculiar SNK spring-over-dome construction. The 210 is quite different.)

[Anakey]

wiki/Matsushita_prong_over_membrane
the 3 pins ensures keycap can only go on the right way round

[hjalfi]

Great, thanks! No wonder I liked it --- I grew up on the Archimedes...

Edit: Taking a look at the back, yes, there is a label with the Matshushita "M" on it. I've updated the wiki page.

[hellothere]

Great, thanks! No wonder I liked it --- I grew up on the Archimedes...

Edit: Taking a look at the back, yes, there is a label with the Matshushita "M" on it. I've updated the wiki page.

Post a pic or two to the wiki, too, please!

[hjalfi]

Good idea --- image added.

[shine]

Hi!

What are this switches?

alps integrated dome?

the switch is very tactile. The board is a For.A character generator VTW-100