Cherry M8 Switch Keycap Information

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sixty
Gasbag Guru

12 Mar 2012, 22:13

So I was taking some new pictures for the wiki, inspired by theM8 datasheets that brother dragon posted here earlier last week.

The M8 was Cherry's first switch to use their now famed gold-point contacts. Just as with MX switches, Cherry also had an official line of keycaps to go with these. Below are a few of these.

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A selection of official Cherry M8 keycaps.
From left to right: Two-shot molded ABS (from G80-0203), ABS with clear window for LED and engraved font, ABS blank, ABS with LED hole, engraved

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Detail of G80-0203 1x1 sized key, similar molding artifacts to modern MX keycaps from Cherry.

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Detail of LED keycaps

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Detail of LED keycaps back. Note how the stem is trimmed at the bottom to provide enough space for LEDs in the open-housing design variant of the M8 switch.

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Detail of a 2x2 sized M8 series keycap. Note how the stabilizer stems are trimmed on the sides to allow the keycap to bottom out on the low-profile M8 switches with a closed square housing.

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A more modern variant of the default Cherry Corp spherical keycap. This has a higher profile than M8 keycaps and was already designed with the MX switch in mind.

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Comparison of all Cherry keycap profiles.

Trivia

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While the M8 spherical keycaps are compatible with modern Cherry MX switches, the stem on a MX swiitch is much too long, which can cause the keycap to wobble quite a bit while typing. To bypass this, Cherry produced a special design MX switch with a "M8 adapter" as a stem, which prevents the keycap from sliding wobbling. Photocredit special MX key: Brother Dragon/yab8433408 from the KBC forums.

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Cherry still produced the M8 keycaps upon request until 2010. Individual blank keycaps as the ones pictured above could be ordered with no MOQ, while double-shot-molded keycaps were available with a MOQ of 300 pieces. Production for both was stopped at the same time as the Cherry MX double-shot production.

The end. As always, feel free to use any pictures in reposts/translations on KBC, KBDMania, Geekhack or OTD.

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nathanscribe

12 Mar 2012, 22:58

Those caps are really nice.

rodtang

12 Mar 2012, 23:40

How are these to type on?

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Grond

12 Mar 2012, 23:50

This reminds me of one of my earliest finds...
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Maarten

13 Mar 2012, 08:44

I SO want a warp button on my computer..... The time button would complement it very well, do you know if those buttons combined will actually give you time-warp capabilities?

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Grond

13 Mar 2012, 10:38

I guess it's Control+Time+Warp. Alt+Time+Warp probably gets you in some dystopian alternate universe.

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yab8433408

13 Mar 2012, 13:28

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off

16 Mar 2012, 21:58

Grond wrote:This reminds me of one of my earliest finds...
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I want this.
and to. and disk. and copy. and fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
sweet arrangement indeed ;)

what board d'you nab 'em from, or how did you manage to cap those?
Amazing keys, congrats to the both of you... Any pics of those currently in use on your boards?

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Grond

16 Mar 2012, 22:20

I sold the keycaps to Gilgam some time ago! They came from a old video editing controller (circa 1983 I think). More details here: http://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?f= ... lit=abekas

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off

17 Mar 2012, 06:26

Thanks for digging up the link, interesting piece of ((at least to us) now useless) kit!
Might have to go search for one of those someday, having nasty fantasies concerning a teensy or similar actually utilizing at least a function-key row full of indicator lights...
Sixty, do you have yours installed on some sexy looking board and care to let us bask in awe? ^^

edit: wait, WHY did you (grond) sell yours?! <i know the low profile is kinda funky looking combined with modern ones, but I mean, the F-keys, they'd be bloody perfect for that (in my fantasy at least)>

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Grond

17 Mar 2012, 08:17

off wrote:edit: wait, WHY did you (grond) sell yours?! <i know the low profile is kinda funky looking combined with modern ones, but I mean, the F-keys, they'd be bloody perfect for that (in my fantasy at least)>
They do fit on modern MX switches if you're concerned about that. I thought there was a picture of them on my filco somewhere. However, the profile is extremely low, so that they barely emerge from the keyboard frame on the F-Row of a Filco. Also, there's no use for the windowed keys without leds underneath! So I decided to give them away.

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off

17 Mar 2012, 13:16

That pic http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/94/p1000709l.jpg is what prompted me to ask; looked like f-row material :) And yes, the no-led part would be fixable only through a teensy or other custom controller (afaik and i'm not quite an expert on keybs).. though yeah, they shouldn't become completely embedded into the frame at the same height. Copy Disk To Time Warp doesn't come without labour, thanks for sharing!
now off to pm gil to see what funkyness he's done with them :twisted:

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