IDENTIFY THE KEYSWITCH thread

[jsheradin]

anyone recognize this switch? it was from an ebay listing a few days ago

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275203116765?s ... 7675.l2557

Possibly a wiki/Hosiden_switch but I'm not sure if they came in white.

[june bug]

Possibly a wiki/Hosiden_switch but I'm not sure if they came in white.

oh yeah, that totally looks like it... really wish i didn't forget about the dang auction

thank you

[hellothere]

I want to say some kind of Cherry switch, but I don't know.

This is a Royal Alpha 2015 typewriter. Made in the 1980s by Triumph-Adler. Made in Japan. Linear, and not terribly heavy, cross-mount switches. I think the stems are angled. Upside down number+letter marking in northeast corner of the white switches. Caps are thick double-shot, but the mount is not MX compatible. I can't remove the switches to see if there's a name on the bottom of the switches, ATM, because I haven't yet figured out how to get into the case .

Neat trick: Has a parallel port to connect to a computer.

Spoiler:

IMG_1493 - Copy.jpg (2.79 MiB) Viewed 45284 times

IMG_1492 - Copy.jpg (2.32 MiB) Viewed 45284 times

IMG_1491 - Copy.jpg (2.72 MiB) Viewed 45284 times

IMG_1490 - Copy.jpg (2.48 MiB) Viewed 45284 times

[jsheradin]

I want to say some kind of Cherry switch, but I don't know.

This is a Royal Alpha 2015 typewriter. Made in the 1980s by Triumph-Adler. Made in Japan. Linear, and not terribly heavy, cross-mount switches. I think the stems are angled. Upside down number+letter marking in northeast corner of the white switches. Caps are thick double-shot, but the mount is not MX compatible. I can't remove the switches to see if there's a name on the bottom of the switches, ATM, because I haven't yet figured out how to get into the case .

Neat trick: Has a parallel port to connect to a computer.

wiki/Mitsumi_standard_mechanical, some of the switches might be wiki/Mitsumi_standard_mechanical_double_action (like x, ., -, etc.) where you press extra hard to get a repeating line of them.

[hellothere]

Thanks! I've owned an Apple Extended Keyboard II with Mitsumi Mechanical switches, although Alps mount. I just forgot about them .

[Seirin-Blu]

Maybe there is a thread like this already. If so, I can't find it. If not, here it is!

Can someone tell me what key switches these are? Link to Wiki please, if possible. They are from 1974.

MCM70 keys.jpg

Yoooooooo this thing is awesome and tickles my engineering brain. I love all of the math symbols that are on there.

Edit: wow I just replied to the first post in a four year old thread

[hellothere]

Edit: wow I just replied to the first post in a four year old thread

Congratulations?

[jsheradin]

I love all of the math symbols that are on there.

Those are relics of the once widespread APL notation. Unreadable compared to modern programming languages but it's powerful and you get extremely dense code.

[Seirin-Blu]

Edit: wow I just replied to the first post in a four year old thread

Congratulations?

I thought it was kinda funny. I wasnt paying attention and thought it was a recent post

[hellothere]

I'm really trying to cut down on saying "FWIW," but FWIW, a large percentage of the keyboards we talk about here are pre-2000s, so if you find an old thread or post, I don't see a problem responding to it or asking about it, because that might be the only thread about that particular keyboard / keycap / switch / mouse / trackball / pointing device on this forum.

This does make me wonder what the oldest thread that was responded to most recently. Other than spambots. I remember bots responding to 10 year old threads. We've got some excellent moderators that fixed that problem, though.

[jsheradin]

This does make me wonder what the oldest thread that was responded to most recently. Other than spambots.

The price check thread is only about 3 days younger than DT itself; still reasonably active.

[ferix]

I picked up a typewriter part (PCB + switches/plate/keycaps) and to my surprise, it came with some switches I could not identify.
They are Alps branded and old. They look like SKCC but are a bit different. The PCB has a datecode from January 1982 and the keycaps are Alps SKCC mount at least.
They are tactile, which is afaik a bit uncommon for early switches and fairly light. Not too bad at all to use.

They look like this:

A few more photo's of the switch, keycaps and what's inside is here: https://imgur.com/a/9vPBzO9

If someone knows what these are, I'd love to know. According to the person I got these from it came from a damaged BSI typewriter.

[Lalaland124]

I picked up a typewriter part (PCB + switches/plate/keycaps) and to my surprise, it came with some switches I could not identify.
They are Alps branded and old. They look like SKCC but are a bit different. The PCB has a datecode from January 1982 and the keycaps are Alps SKCC mount at least.
They are tactile, which is afaik a bit uncommon for early switches and fairly light. Not too bad at all to use.

They look like this:

A few more photo's of the switch, keycaps and what's inside is here: https://imgur.com/a/9vPBzO9

If someone knows what these are, I'd love to know. According to the person I got these from it came from a damaged BSI typewriter.

If I’m not mistaken then these are Alps SKFF.

[ferix]

Thanks, that indeed is the one! As the wiki didn't have pictures I completely missed it. For a small bonus the keyboard, well, as much as I have. Thanks a bunch!

[hellothere]

https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyb ... on_to_the/

I think I want one ...

[Lalaland124]

https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyb ... on_to_the/

I think I want one ...

Really good switch with a very sharp click, can only recommend!

[hellothere]

I re-listened to Chyros' video on these, too.

The Canon AP400 seems to be somewhat less rare than I anticipated. There are two of them on ebay (US) right now, both with horridly high shipping prices. I'm also not quite ready to make a full-on custom keyboard, but I'm closing in on that.

[Lalaland124]

Any idea what this could be?

Spoiler:

096A4AE8-FC88-41DE-A62E-793CFAAE6548.jpeg (208.35 KiB) Viewed 44422 times

6CFB608F-5909-4BE9-A50F-1386A54EBE97.jpeg (383.75 KiB) Viewed 44422 times

[mmm]

Any idea what this could be?

Spoiler:

096A4AE8-FC88-41DE-A62E-793CFAAE6548.jpeg6CFB608F-5909-4BE9-A50F-1386A54EBE97.jpeg

Looks like high profile Alphameric foam and foil (the wiki only features pictures of the low profile version, but there is another example with a lot of similarities to the keyboard here).

[Crizender]

Any idea what this could be?

Spoiler:

096A4AE8-FC88-41DE-A62E-793CFAAE6548.jpeg6CFB608F-5909-4BE9-A50F-1386A54EBE97.jpeg

Looks like high profile Alphameric foam and foil (the wiki only features pictures of the low profile version, but there is another example with a lot of similarities to the keyboard here).

I agree. There was a similar keyboard posted in an older thread that is near identical, and also made by the same company as the one in the image (Lynwood) viewtopic.php?t=11874

[Herb Johnson]

Looks like the place/thread to ask, to identify the following keyswitch, and to ask where I might get keycaps.
Another tech friend has a few hundred of them, no data or source, unused old stock. In summary,

Switch is momentary, 2-pin .1/4" spaced pins,
Black body 9/16 inch square, about 11/16" tall base to stem
with square flat-topped white stem slightly tapered around .270".

Details and photos on my site at:

https://www.retrotechnology.com/z/keystem.jpg
https://www.retrotechnology.com/z/keycap.jpg
https://www.retrotechnology.com/z/1000_switches.txt

but I've attached the photos. Any one recognize this?

Regards Herb

[SK-8K]

Looks like the place/thread to ask, to identify the following keyswitch, and to ask where I might get keycaps.
Another tech friend has a few hundred of them, no data or source, unused old stock. In summary,

Switch is momentary, 2-pin .1/4" spaced pins,
Black body 9/16 inch square, about 11/16" tall base to stem
with square flat-topped white stem slightly tapered around .270".

Details and photos on my site at:

https://www.retrotechnology.com/z/keystem.jpg
https://www.retrotechnology.com/z/keycap.jpg
https://www.retrotechnology.com/z/1000_switches.txt

but I've attached the photos. Any one recognize this?

Regards Herb

Not sure, but could probably 3D print an adapter to MX stem, since the original keycaps stem stuck out anyway. Also if you have a datasheet I can make a KiCAD footprint.

[jsheradin]

Looks like the place/thread to ask, to identify the following keyswitch, and to ask where I might get keycaps.
Another tech friend has a few hundred of them, no data or source, unused old stock. In summary,

Switch is momentary, 2-pin .1/4" spaced pins,
Black body 9/16 inch square, about 11/16" tall base to stem
with square flat-topped white stem slightly tapered around .270".

Details and photos on my site at:

https://www.retrotechnology.com/z/keystem.jpg
https://www.retrotechnology.com/z/keycap.jpg
https://www.retrotechnology.com/z/1000_switches.txt

but I've attached the photos. Any one recognize this?

Regards Herb

Switches are Datanetics DC-60: https://telcontar.net/KBK/Datanetics/DC-60

Not too sure about a source for caps though. Resin printers are always an option. They're pretty cheap these days and have sufficient resolution for smooth caps.

That cap looks awfully similar to Hi-Tek high profile caps though. I'll measure one in a bit.

Update: Hi-Tek peg measurements

high-tech-hi-tek.PNG (9.85 KiB) Viewed 43714 times

There's a handful of peg styles but they all seem to measure about the same.

Capture.PNG (1.9 MiB) Viewed 43714 times

[Herb Johnson]

jsheradin, thanks for the quick ID and references to the telcontar.net page for details, and of course the local deskthority reference. I looked on site "here" for square keystems, but Datanetics wasn't listed there. My friend the owner is really pleased to ID these.

Regards Herb

[Herb Johnson]

>> Update: Hi-Tek keycap peg measurements: inner box .1915", outer box .2740

problem is, these keystems are spec'ed DC 61-01 your catalog,
at .275" square. Actually measured they are slightly tapered at
.266" square on top and .276" on bottom.

So I don't know if a proper keycap "peg hole" would be tapered or straight. It would be a snug fit
at .275" or so square inside the peg-hole, and (my buddy's measurements of keycap)
.271 + .033 + .033 = .337" outside the peg hole (to fit inside the switch body).
(measurements on posted photo confused, should be .033" - .036" walls")

I measure the inside width of the switch body to admit the keycap peg,
That is the likely outside width of the keycap stem, at
roughly 11/32" or .343" . Consistent with the above calculation of .337

by various means my guess at the keycap size is .620" square give or take.
Spec'de minimum spacing for DC60 switches is .625" (5/8"). Consistent.

regards Herb


.

[Meowmaritus]

Nope, it's got switches. No markings on the bottom other than "Assembled in Mexico"

IMG_20181018_2114076.jpg

guess u dont need to bolt mod it

yes it took 4 years to make the joke

[dovenyi]

Any ideas what this one could be? I've clicked through all the linears in the wiki but can't find this.
It's definitely linear and the housing is open on top. The switch is covered only by the keycap.
The device is a Rolitron Rolco-60.

[hellothere]

Any ideas what this one could be? I've clicked through all the linears in the wiki but can't find this.
It's definitely linear and the housing is open on top. The switch is covered only by the keycap.
The device is a Rolitron Rolco-60.

The switch type is listed in your link . Ericsson RMD 973.

[Muirium]

Guess who writes that site.

[hellothere]

Guess who writes that site.

I still posted here first, so I win

For whatever reason, I keep forgetting to browse https://kbd.news. It's a really cool website.