VIDEOTRON AW890D1 auto wipe & color super [unknown clicky switch]

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zrrion

21 Jan 2022, 10:26

when I got my Realforce 101 the seller also had this thing for auction and since I was the only bidder I easily got a hold of it. It's part of a class of keyboard/keyboard adjacent products related to video editing that all too often gets overlooked and there isn't a lot of info on it from what I can tell. Maybe someone who's into this sort of thing would know more about it and/or where to find info on it but I really didn't find all that much and what I did find was mostly auction sites selling unrelated items.

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The thing in incredibly well made. It's all metal enclosure is designed for rack mounting but it does have rubber feet just in case that's more your style. The non-push button controls are all very nice feeling with the joystick being especially nice to use.


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The switches themselves are interesting. They're clicky and click with a mechanism that I can't seem to figure out. I have maybe an idea how it works but no idea how to reassemble them such that they are clicky so my guess is flawed in some unknown way. The click is nice enough happening partway through the travel and occurring on the up and down stroke. They are scratchy though and the weighting is pretty heavy which is a major shame as they would likely be very interesting if they were at least reasonably weighted for typing. The TAKE key uses 2 linear switches with lighter springs POS style.

The keycap are also very interesting. They are relegendable, with a clear plastic top that clips over the rest of the cap. Additionally between the bottom part of the cap that clips onto the switch and the clear upper part of the cap sits what I assume is a fancy diode assembly for providing even lighting across the entire surface of the keycap. There are springs in the slider that serve as contacts which are pressed onto contacts in the LED module. Honestly the way the springs are used to power an in-switch LED reminds me of SKCCFB LED switches but a more refined version, or rather a more over engineered version of that idea. I imagine this is a fairly expensive way to achieve even back lighting but honestly I can't really think if a better way to achieve it, at least conceptually. The insert for the TAKE key does not appear to have LEDs of any sort in it and appears to just be a diffuser, likely an older design would have been illuminated with something a little more conventional.

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Here's a teardown of the switches with their guts splayed out for everyone to see. They have 9 pins, 2 separate 3 pin contact assemblies and the remaining 3 pins appear to be for the LED. The small torsion spring and rectangular piece of plastic appear to make up the clicker but I have little idea of how that would work in theory and even less an idea about how that looks in practice. From the logo on the switches my best guess is that they were made by Showa Denko, but I have not been able to identify a part number or anything of that sort.

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