Cherry to Alps adapters

Muirium · 19 Jun 2015, 21:18

Muirium wrote: ↑
Muirium wrote: ↑Progress:

That's a mold being prepared for making these adapters in solid plastic!

In a PM:
rsbseb wrote:I know you like pictures. This one is of the adaptor mold. Actually it's just a tool path verification run in poplar with an oversized bit. As you can see its a 12 cavity mold off a central sprue. The tooling run will be done in metal with a very fine profiling bit.
Looks good to me! I asked him about material and when we can expect some prototypes to play with:
rsbseb wrote:They will be abs and should be available in about 2 or 3 weeks
Oh you better believe I have my fingers crossed for these to work nicely with SA! I, uh, may just have a few new caps I want to play with on Alps…

SL89 wrote: ↑Now all we need is some molded Stab Inserts for Costar

Aye. Of the appropriate height! That would be the difference between a nice proof of concept and a fully useable board.

SL89 · 19 Jun 2015, 21:51

I was talking regular size, but long ones to match yours make sense as well. I was speaking to someone else about how they print... functional, usable printing is a thing you know

Muirium · 19 Jun 2015, 22:02

Uh huh. I'll take it in solid ABS, if I have the choice, thanks!

Besides extra long stabiliser inserts (for use with the adapters this thread is all about) what else did you mean? Just new Alps stabs in general? Matias already sells them. At least as parts for their keyboards.

SL89 · 19 Jun 2015, 22:09

I meant regular, solid abs ones. Rsbseb and i were talking about them. I'm sending him some to check out soon.

Either way, this looks sick. Have you thought about maybe replacement stems for the switches that had MX on them instead of Alps?

Muirium · 19 Jun 2015, 22:11

Nah, that won't work any better than adapters. MX caps have a big round mount on them (the cylinder that wraps around the + shape in the middle) and Alps switches don't have a hole on top for it to descend when pressed. Like MX does. So you'd still be adding extra height to the switch to accommodate that missing volume.

Also: drop in adapters are a lot of fun in their own right. So quick to install! (And uninstall, if we get them right…) Not everyone wants to gut a hundred switches.

KeeganLanz · 28 Jul 2015, 20:21

Any updates on this? I would love to use the Cherry to Cherry adapters to accent the modifier keys

Muirium · 28 Jul 2015, 21:36

Rsbseb's on it. He's had some tooling issues, among other things, but progress is being made.

Wait, Cherry to Cherry adapters? Hmm. You might be the only person who wants those! The ones that have got all the attention and work so far are Alps switch to MX caps adapters.

FrostyToast · 28 Jul 2015, 22:39

Muirium wrote: ↑Rsbseb's on it. He's had some tooling issues, among other things, but progress is being made.

Wait, Cherry to Cherry adapters? Hmm. You might be the only person who wants those! The ones that have got all the attention and work so far are Alps switch to MX caps adapters.

The reason for having Cherry to Cherry adapters would be because the modifiers would likely use cherry mount stabs. You would need to compensate for the extra height of the alps adapters in order to make the mods work.

Muirium · 28 Jul 2015, 23:43

Hmm… I guess. But that's not what the man himself had in mind.

Mrinterface wrote: ↑

Kudos for the person who guesses the reason for the cherry to cherry mount....

After several failed guesses from the rest of us.

Mrinterface wrote: ↑The MX to MX-alike adapters are for my vintage home-made Memotech MTX Keyboard replacement...

I think Rsbseb is working on specific Alps > MX stabs adapters of some sort, too. Because stabs are indeed an unanswered question with these adapters. I just went stabless on my Monterey Minitouch. But really we need better.

And I think I had some measurements to pass along to him, now that I think of it.

rsbseb · 29 Jul 2015, 02:06

Muirium wrote: ↑
I think Rsbseb is working on specific Alps > MX stabs adapters of some sort, too. Because stabs are indeed an unanswered question with these adapters. I just went stabless on my Monterey Minitouch. But really we need better.

Elevated Stabilizers are definately part of of the deal -
http://deskthority.net/vendors-f52/alps ... 10959.html

Muirium wrote: ↑Rsbseb's on it. He's had some tooling issues, among other things, but progress is being made.

I just ordered replacement parts for my mill today so it will be a couple of weeks before I can finish the tooling for the stabs The adapter tooling is essentially done as seen in the picture below.

As for the "other things", they are health related. Don't worry I am getting better and I am moving forward. Keep in mind that these keyboard projects are not my bread and butter and right now I need some bread. Please be patient with me while I continue to recover and I spend some time paying the bills.

KeeganLanz · 29 Jul 2015, 05:40

Muirium wrote: ↑Rsbseb's on it. He's had some tooling issues, among other things, but progress is being made.

Wait, Cherry to Cherry adapters? Hmm. You might be the only person who wants those! The ones that have got all the attention and work so far are Alps switch to MX caps adapters.

I am quite new to the mechanical keyboard world, and raised modifier keys sound like a great way to improve my typing abilities

Muirium · 29 Jul 2015, 12:46

I doubt that. What keyboards have raised mods? None that I can name off the top of my head. You really want to adapt to something that doesn't exist?

My advice would be to get a good mech to start off with. And then do a whole lot of typing. I don't know any shortcuts around experience.

@rsbseb: Aye, will do. And in the meantime I'll get measuring Alps stabs.

DiaSin · 09 Aug 2015, 04:53

This is a thread I will be keeping an eye on. I have a modding project planned for my AT101W and it would simplify matters greatly if I could just buy a set of black cherry caps and use my current tan board instead of buying an entire black AT101W to do the project with.

The one thing that worries me is the stabilizers, as I don't think the AT101W uses the same kind as cherry boards, I haven't really looked into that yet since I didn't know that these adapters were a thing anywhere.

Here's a (very) rough mockup of what I have planned. I will use a few coats of camo green plasti-dip paint for the shell, a custom-cut vinyl logo, and then a couple of coats of clear plasti-dip on top.

Oh, for context, my gaming rig is in the military green Corsair Vengeance C70 case, hence the theme of the project.

Oh, on a side note.. I had actually seen a set of cherry caps once, on massdrop I think, that were gray with a large centered font, and a bit of a curve to them, like something from an old automatic typewriter, that would be perfect for my project. I haven't found them buyable anywhere after seeing them on massdrop a few months ago. If anyone knows the caps I am talking about and knows where I could get a set a link would be appreciated.

ramnes · 19 Nov 2015, 22:54

I'm just discovering than some Cherry to Alps adapters were already produced back in the days!

Source : https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=49639.0

Muirium · 19 Nov 2015, 23:18

Ha! What material are they? Hopefully ABS. A good, fairly tough but soft plastic is exactly what we want, too.

hypkx · 20 Nov 2015, 14:58

So you can get cherry to alps adapters before our own project start the production.
A bit pricy, but you can get them now

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ULTRATEK-HEARIN ... 6IUN4b5lqg

Blaise170 · 20 Nov 2015, 17:37

Wow that's a lot. If I knew someone who needed TTY I'd be willing to setup a deal but...

Muirium · 20 Nov 2015, 18:06

Hallo. Don't need compjter and other junks. Simply post only the key cap adapters to me. Thank you.

BlueNalgene · 10 Jan 2016, 03:26

So a post on GH reminded me about this project. I'm curious if there has been any progress on it.

As part of my Alps Party 60% group buy, I designed and produced some 3D printed parts with the same function. Mine have some different design choices, and while researching I took the idea to make the cherry side curved from this project.

The 3D printed parts have some major downsides to what I expect of an injection molded one. So keep up the good work!

scottc · 10 Jan 2016, 13:07

FWIW the Alps Party adapters seem to work pretty well for me. A very tight fit just like Mr Interface's, but not bad at all. As usual, the biggest problem is the extra height added by them, meaning that stabilised keys would need extra-long stab adapters (or different wires?) to work well.

Hypersphere · 10 Jan 2016, 14:59

@ramnes: Are those NEC switches?

andrewjoy · 12 Feb 2016, 11:20

Do you have an stl file of them so i can print some ?

stuplarosa · 16 Feb 2016, 20:29

Muirium wrote: ↑Rsbseb's on it. He's had some tooling issues, among other things, but progress is being made.

Wait, Cherry to Cherry adapters? Hmm. You might be the only person who wants those! The ones that have got all the attention and work so far are Alps switch to MX caps adapters.

I'm interested in the Cherry to Cherry adapters as well.

Not just one person...

ohaimark · 16 Feb 2016, 21:30

Hypersphere wrote: ↑@ramnes: Are those NEC switches?

I think they're Alps SKFL.

nateth · 25 May 2016, 18:31

Bump?! I'd love to get these adapters. Has anyone heard from rsbseb?

Muirium · 25 May 2016, 18:42

Not in a long, long time.

nateth · 30 May 2016, 10:11

So what would it take to start this back up? Find another vendor? Figure out how to make my own injection mold. I'd much prefer this than the other adapters on shapeways that have the gap between the MX and Alps mount.

krikor · 25 Jul 2016, 23:14

Hello,
Im looking for two things:

An MX to MX adapter to raise the height of the cap from 3.3mm or 0.13".

An OL mount on the base (Cruciform: 0.199”x0.199”x0.047” ) to MX mount on the top behind the shortest in height

Would it be possible, did anyone succeeded in making such thing?

best
K

Menuhin · 04 Oct 2016, 19:10

Wow, I think everyone trying out the ALPS switches are dreaming of having these adapters.
Please keep it up and post some updates!

krikor · 05 Oct 2016, 00:44

I finally made my own design, I hope it will be be alright, I had them printed on a laser machine.
here is the adapter OL mount on the base (about Cruciform: 0.199”x0.199”x0.047” ) to MX mount on the top behind the shortest in height.