USw LXBB03?

[groinksan]

I recently came across a package of switches. And, with the help of the wiki, I am able to identify the switch. It is a USx LXBB03.

http://deskthority.net/wiki/USw_LXBB03

According to the wiki, its origins are unknown, although they've only been found to be used in a specific Fluke keyboard. The slider is different in color only when compared with the imagery in the wiki, as the switch I have on-hand is a dark brown. So, it could be a different part number. To make sure this was indeed the right switch, I sacrificed one for science.

001.jpg (216.21 KiB) Viewed 2884 times

Deskthority describes the metal contacts as "praying hands," as it actually looks like two hand placed together. Unassembled, the contacts touch. In the slider, there is a white stick that runs across the inside. With the slider in its natural position, the stick is jammed between the two contacts, separating the contacts. When the slider is pressed down, the white stick goes down with it, thus allowing the two contacts to touch. And then, when the slider is pushed back up by the spring, then once again the stick separates the contacts.

It does make sense that the switch is used by electronic test equipment such as the Fluke, seeing I found the switches in a store that sells test equipment. Unfortunately, the people who run the store have no idea where the switches came from. They've been sitting in the store for over 30 years, and never moves. When I purchased a bag of them, we had to work out a price since they didn't even have a part number or price for them. The rule I've always practiced is to know the product better than the seller. In this case, he offered a price for one switch equivalent to a tact switch.

If the image is found to be worthy of being placed in the wiki, please do so.

[002]

Nice find, thanks for sharing.
Unfortunate that the store doesn't know anything about the origins, but you've at least revealed another slider colour. I wonder if there is any functional difference though. The contact leaves look to be the same, and although the spring in the image on the wiki is obscured, they seem to have the same amount of turns. The only other cosmetic difference I can see is that yours doesn't have a dimple on the bottom, though I doubt that is significant really.

[Nuum]

Nice, is the cross mount MX compatible?
I think it is a good idea to upload them to the wiki. You can upload them yourself, every DT member automatically gets a wiki account with the same user name and password.

[002]

If you do decide to upload yourself, please consider reading this guide.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Someone posted photos of a brown slider switch that resembled that one a while back. It should be in some DT topic somewhere.

Note that it cannot be LXBB03 as BB means black shell, black slider. A new colour requires a new code. R for Brown?

[Nuum]

You are right, there was a post about these before and if I remember correctly the person was searching for some spare parts to replace some of the faulty ones. Maybe you could help him/her out, when you find the thread.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I can't find that topic. I do think it was here at Deskthority, but apparently it didn't contain the terms "Y1700" or "Fluke" anywhere nor a link to the switch page.

Here's my question:

a) How long did it take groinksan to find the switch page on the wiki?

b) How long will it take for anyone to find the existing forum topic?

I maintain as always that restricting knowledge to forum topics makes it far too hard to ever find again, even when you know what you're looking for.

[Muirium]

So true. I only ever find forum topics again by remembering what daft off-topic thing came up!

If only wiki pages had a text field at the bottom where the wiki-shy of us (which is all too many of us, me included) could just write there, without having to source our claims and figure out where in the current article they should fit. That's the strength of forum threads: each post is discrete.

Perhaps what we could do is make a habit of adding good threads to the appropriate wiki pages, in the External links section for instance. If you're not against dozens of seemingly random looking links showing up there as I start bookmarking?

[Daniel Beardsmore]

You can do whatever you like. I've all but quit. It feels like I should be moving on anyway.

[002]

This the one?
http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/hp- ... t7951.html

[Nuum]

Yup, that's it, at least the one I had in mind.

[002]

This switch is now the USw LXBR01 based on established nomenclature
I've updated the wiki accordingly.

Just realised it will be funny if we ever find an unknown switch with a red slider/stem...maybe 'N' would have been better as a designation for brown...oh well -- can always change it later.

[groinksan]

Nice, is the cross mount MX compatible?
I think it is a good idea to upload them to the wiki. You can upload them yourself, every DT member automatically gets a wiki account with the same user name and password.

I've so far tested the cross mount with key caps from the Apple IIe and Macintosh Plus keyboards, both of which uses SMK linear switches. I believe the SMK switch mount is the same as the Cherry MX.

As for the wiki, I'll start reading up on the FAQs.

As for finding the switch via the wiki, it was pretty simple. I started off by going to the main wiki page, which then had the link for identifying switches. From there, I knew it was not a Cherry switch, so I started following the other links, which lead me to the USw page based on the photos.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

While looking at patents, the diagram for this one struck me:

http://www.google.com/patents/US4361743

The wording confirms it: the leaf shapes are specifically designed to provide a tactile feel, and a subtle click. It's a similar idea to LXBN01 above: there's a section where the leaves are parallel which, once cleared, should cause the leaves to snap closed.

As such, both these and LXBB03 (Sandy's) should be tactile and faintly clicky. Sandy indicates that they should be fairly smooth linear when new, but that the feel of his has degraded (to paraphrase bad Google Translate), whereas the design ties in with a Stackpole patent indicating that the leaf shape is specifically such as to be tactile. (Anyone heard from Sandy lately? It's been nearly a year since I last heard from him, though I've been dropping him regular e-mails to keep him in the loop with any discoveries that should interest him.)

I also didn't realise that the switches have to be drilled open like Futabas.

[terrycherry]

I have the same rare switch but yellow version of that.

And I don't get that USw LXBN01 is equal to USw LXBR01?(that refer to the brown switch from the topic)
Is that USw LXBN01 means the switch family name, and USw LXBR01 is one variant of the USw LXBN01 family switch?

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Just in case terrycherry is alive anywhere — these cream ones appear to be the Cherry MX mount version, so that would make them LM instead of LX. It would be nice to get these confirmed. I tried buying some ages ago, but they'd already sold out. I guess there were not many of them for sale.

(terry: USw LXBN01 means "unknown switch, metal leaf contacts, black shell, brown slider, number 1"; R is red, so brown had to be N instead. In fact, these are [wiki]Datanetics DC-60 series[/wiki] switches, but no documentation has been found for these cream ones.)