Don't it Make my Brown Alps Blue

[Hypersphere]

This is about turning your Brown Alps Blue -- by swapping components rather than desoldering and resoldering.

Receptor board: Alps64 with stainless steel plate and SKCM Brown Alps.

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Brown Alps in the Alps64 with Stainless Steel Plate

Donor board: NTC 6151 with SKCM Blue Alps.

Process: Remove top housings, sliders, springs, and tactile/click leaves from receptor and donor switches. Ultrasonic cleaning of donor switch tops. No cleaning necessary for the other components. Replace the switch tops, sliders, tactile assembly, and springs from the Brown Alps with the corresponding parts from the Blue Alps switches.

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Alps64 with Blue Alps Components; Spacebar Slider is from a Matias Quiet Switch

Tools: Wire keycap puller (not shown). Small screwdriver -- for pressing wire stabilizers into clips and for applying an opposing force to stabilizer wires when replacing stabilized keycaps. Forceps (tweezers) -- for peeling 0.15 mm polyurethane foam from clear plastic backing -- the foam is placed under the spacebar stabilizer clips to deaden the sound of spacebar impact. Small powerful magnet -- for picking up springs and tactile/click leaves. Small LED flashlight -- for illuminating the undersides of stabilized keycaps to aid in placing the stabilizer wires. Plastic spudger -- for removing old self-stick foam from underneath spacebars. Trident tool -- for removing Alps switch tops. Toothpick -- for picking up and positioning springs.

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Tools

Rationale: My Alps64 with stainless steel plate and SKCM Brown Alps switches has amazing tactility but it can become tiring during long typing sessions. Although I bottom-out my keystrokes, I like to have a subtle click that coincides closely with actuation. I didn't want to desolder the switches, so I decided to do a top-mod to replace Brown Alps components with Blue Alps components. I will get more use out of the Alps64 than I would have gotten from the NTC 6151 because I much prefer the small form factor and ANSI layout of the Alps64. Moreover, the Alps64 is completely programmable and I have it set up to mimic the HHKB configuration.

Result: A transformed keyboard! The switches now sound and feel like Blue Alps. Indeed, they should be virtually identical to Blue Alps given that all the top-loaded components are from Blue Alps and the fact that Brown Alps have long switchplates.

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Finished Alps64 Keyboard with Stainless Steel Plate, TEX Aluminum Case, IBM 5140 Alphas, Matias Mods, and SP Esc

Don't it make my Brown Alps Blue? Yep, I think so! Typing on it now ....

[XMIT]

Trident tool!

https://grabcad.com/library/465042
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=79766.0

I'm going to make myself one!

I'll take those brown Alps bits if you don't want them. Expect a long PM from me in the next couple of days...

[Hypersphere]

Yes, the trident tool is very useful. For working on Alps switches, the tools I use the most are the trident tool, magnet, and toothpick. But I only use the toothpick for picking up and positioning return springs -- I don't use the toothpick for opening the switches. I also don't use forceps or tweezers for picking up springs or tactile/click leaves -- this could potentially damage the springs or leaves. The magnet really comes in handy for picking up springs and leaves -- it also makes a convenient holder for a spring, making it easier to slide the toothpick into the spring for conveying it to the switch.

I bought my trident tool from MrBishop over on GH. I don't know if he is still selling them, but he has made the CAD file available for anyone who wants to use it -- he only asks to be credited.

[Mattr567]

Yea they basically are Blue Alps. Bottom housings have the same switchplate and the parts are identical so your good. Assuming you put the SKCM Browns into the SKCM Blue bottom housings to create complete switches? What did you do with the Browns?

I have heard SKCM Brown can get a bit extreme in modern keyboards with diffrent material plates. I'm putting some into a SGI Granite I previously swapped with SKCM Orange. I could do what you did since the Oranges have grey plates but I decided to solder instead

[Hypersphere]

I haven't decided yet what to do with the components from the SKCM Brown Alps switches, but if I choose not to keep them, another DT member has requested first dibs. I am tempted to restore the keyboard back to Brown Alps, as the converted-to-Blue switches feel too light and a few of the keys now exhibit chattering, which they did not do previously. My hypothesis is that the tactile plate in the Browns provided tighter tolerances inside the switch, enabling consistent actuation of the contact leaf. If this is so, I might be able to alleviate the chattering by bending the tactile/click leaf and/or the contact leaf toward the center of the switch. (I've already tried canned air and non-lubricating contact cleaner -- this helped but it did not completely eliminate the problem). Other suggestions welcome!