Do BOX switches stretch PBT and break ABS keycaps?

[Myoth]

https://novelkeys.xyz/products/old-stock-box-switches

[abrahamstechnology]

Already? As soon as as kbdfans have it I'll get some.

Yes, I saw them on KBDFans.

[Wintermute1974]

Here is a guy who is shaving down the stems on his V1 Kailh BOX switches:

Seeing him work so closely to a nice set of keycaps made me break out in a sweat.

[rnet]

I just got a board with BOX Royals from Kbdfans and they've fixed the problem. My GMK keycaps fit snugly in them.

[Wintermute1974]

I just got a board with BOX Royals from Kbdfans and they've fixed the problem. My GMK keycaps fit snugly in them.

How can you be sure you have the new V2 stems? Are you not a little bit worried?

[Elrick]

My GMK keycaps fit snugly in them.

Any key-set can fit SNUGLY but when you leave it on them for three months or so, then try removing them you will then see whether or not the GMK set has split or cracked .

That's the funny thing with ALL BOX switches, they're real easy to put any key-set onto them and for you to use the keyboard, it's the removal where all the heartache begins....

[MightyJabba]

How can you be sure you have the new V2 stems? Are you not a little bit worried?

Yeah one of the insidious things about this problem is that you can't tell just by looking at them whether there is a problem, and the effects on the caps may not be evident until you try and remove them.

[chuckdee]

I thought the old one had little nubs on the cross. Is that not always the case?

[gateron]

Does Cherry MX Clears cause stress marks as well? On topclack they talk about it (start about 1h27m) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3CwM9hkygw

Yes, its coming from mike at novelkeys (which i dont trust on this), but huey said he has some as well, and someone else.
Anyway, i think it would be worthwhile to talk about since i actually have a bunch of mx clears that i was about to use for a build.

[hansichen]

MX Clears and stress marks belong to the category: "Bullshit that other manufacturers say". I have 3 Cherry sets that were sitting on MX Clears for over 20 years and they all look fine. I cannot feel a difference when taking them from a board either.

[Wodan]

MX Clears causing stress marks - on what caps?

GMK is well known for using MX clears in their industrial boards and this would mean the OG Skidata caps should have a few cases of stress marks. None of my five sets show any sign.

MX Clears causing stress marks on ePBT, SP, MaxKeys or other third party caps: bad keycap design

Cherry stems and Cherry caps are the reference. A shitty stem will bust Cherry caps. A shitty cap will get busted by Cherry stems. Sorry but that‘s how it works when you hop onto another company’s standard.

[nnc-tlb]

1) MX Clears are thicker than Blues, Browns, etc.
2) MX Clears are about as thick as the retooled #stemgate switches
3) nothing new, even wasdkeyboards put a extra warning note into my WASD V2 box equipped with MX Clears that keycaps will "fit very snugly" but more to protect the switches (because warranty?) not the keycaps (not included in my barebone). this was before #stemgate

wasd note

IMG_20181005_131508rr.jpg (405.93 KiB) Viewed 4040 times

[Muirium]

That falls nicely into Wodan’s definition of Bad Keycaps!

Everyone knows I’m seldom one to defend Cherry. But any other company playing inside Cherry’s standards is solely to blame when they fail to play well. That’s the game they’ve joined.

[hansichen]

Nobody ever questioned that mx clear stems are thicker than other mx switches. That's not a bug, it's a feature. Fact is that caps made within Cherry specs don't break nor show stress marks when put on mx clears.

[Muirium]

A feature? Why? What purpose does it serve? Why should one MX variant have thicker mounts?

I’m not switching sides in the current dispute — Cherry alone gets to define what “MX compatible” means — but I do wonder why they’re inconsistent with this one flavour.

[hansichen]

MX Clear switches were mainly used and designed for industrial usage. While Cherry used MX Blacks for their normal boards, POS boards and others were equiped with MX clear switches. Examples are the G80-319x series , Reuters G80-9009 and 3xxx board, Skidata boards etc. As the caps sit way tighter on the board the chances of loosing caps in everyday usage is lower than with other switches.