MEI switches internal pictures

[gmjhowe]

I have had one of the Datalux keyboards sitting around for a while now, when I got interested in the mechanical keyboard side of things I thought it would be a good starting point, however the keys are all too close for my liking.

When researching the switch I noticed the Wiki was missing specific info on the mechanism so I thought that I would put some time into taking some pictures showing off the 'mechanism'.

MEI-Switch.jpg (640.12 KiB) Viewed 3836 times

MEI-Switch-Mech.jpg (531.98 KiB) Viewed 3836 times

As you can see, the switch basically has a little 'rubber band' when you depress the switch it bends outwards slightly forming a connection between the two metal wires of the switch using little conductive pads on the 'rubber band'.
The rubber band is actually made up from two sections, there is no spring inside the switch, the elasticity of the 'band' pushed the switch back up again.

I am not too fussed about getting involved editing the wiki, however happy to release the pictures under creative commons for use on the wiki.

[Daniel]

Thanks for posting those I wondered how they work, but didn't have time to disassemble one.

I will add the pictures to the wiki!

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Lol ... I wondered what that red thing was. Super cheap switch =)

Btw, if you want show keypress shots, you might want to use tweezers.

[gmjhowe]

Lol ... I wondered what that red thing was. Super cheap switch =)

Btw, if you want show keypress shots, you might want to use tweezers.

Heh, yeah, its like an over engineered membrane keyboard.

Tweezers sounds like a good bit of advice, will do so in future, thanks.

[Daniel]

Uploaded your pictures: http://deskthority.net/wiki/MEI_switch

I'm impressed by the rubber used for this switches. I'm not an expert for this but producing a rubber which will be bend a lot and still won't break must be quiet challenging.

[gmjhowe]

Uploaded your pictures: http://deskthority.net/wiki/MEI_switch

I'm impressed by the rubber used for this switches. I'm not an expert for this but producing a rubber which will be bend a lot and still won't break must be quiet challenging.

Agreed, this switch is off what was a well used machine, dating back a long while, a PE Nelson computer I think.
I would have expected a little cracking in the rubber etc. Having said that, it was the 'insert' key I removed, some of the other keys might have more sign of wear.