Comparison of all 4 aruz colours

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zrrion

12 Mar 2022, 08:46

Got 2 Aruz boards today and both of them were linear.

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White and pale blue here, both linear. I was expecting the blue ones to be clicky like the other pale blue aruz I've had.

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linear blue on the left, clicky blue on the right. The difference between linear and clicky pale blues is probably too subtle to show well in shitty ebay pictures but I guess it's something to keep that in mind when looking at aruz boards I guess.

I also immediately lost the white aruz spring rip. The springs are compatible with alps so replacing it is not an issue.
Last edited by zrrion on 26 May 2023, 22:43, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
zrrion

26 May 2023, 22:42

Finally got a normal aruz switch and can compare all 4 known colours directly.

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Family photo, from left to right we have a standard Aruz clicky, this particular one is branded Himake on the bottom. Then we have a clicky light blue aruz with no branding, a linear pale blue arus, and a linear white aruz. the white one is significantly heavier than the other switches and the molding for the housing is sloppier, it doesn't fit together as well, it has a smoother texture, and a lot of the angular features on the other switches are very rounded. My suspicion is that this particular switch was made with salvaged molds by a 3rd party and not by the folks who made the other three switches.

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All of these aruz switches have very similar mold markings unlike other switches that exist in the nebulously defined "omron clone" category. D-trans, KPT, TEC, aruz, and omron switches are all designed basically the same way, with a top housing that clips onto the bottom housing on the sides and do double duty as part of the plate clips, the bottom housing holds all of the switch with the top housing mostly acting as a lid to hold the slider in place, and a slider that is fairly simple and alps-mount. So while these switches aren't 100% identical in terms of molding, they are more similar than other kinds of switches in this category and that similarity indicates they were likely produced by either the same company or using the same molds.
From the top and sides everything is where is should be and looks visually identical (the sloppy molding of the white switch notwithstanding) It's not until you get to the bottom that you notice any changes that aren't explained by mold wear- the 3 blue switches have the same 4 dots on the bottom housing while the white one is missing those dots. The H shaped indentation on the underside of the bottom housing is different across all 4 variations as well but mostly stays the same. Since blue aruz has been spotted with a few different sorts of branding on the bottom it makes sense that there would be variation here to some extent but the 4 dots are (to my understanding) related to the operation of the mold machine and would be consistent across switches made with the same molds/molds made for the same machine.

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And here we have a comparison of the internals of the 2 blue clickies. Other than slider colour and spring weighting they are largely the same. Contacts are the same, parts are interchangeable, and the click leaves are the same as well.

So there we go. 3 different switches that are difficult to tell apart unless they're next to each other and only 2 of which are clicky and one that's easy to tell apart and is linear. The white linear switch is probably not a legitimate aruz switch, but it is similar enough that the same tooling was likely involved and if you need aruz parts you could still use the white switches as donors without too much trouble. All 4 of them accommodate amber omron and yantai yellow click leaves perfectly well if you want to try that but I think the aruz leaves sound better. The reverse, aruz leaves in omrons/yantai housings does not work, they click once and the leaf is unable to fully reset for whatever reason.

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Polecat

27 May 2023, 03:51

Excellent, thank you for sharing this.

How consistent is the blue coloring among switches from the same keyboard?

User avatar
zrrion

27 May 2023, 07:26

As far as I know it is consistent. I only have the single standard blue Aruz switch though and have never had a board with them but on the other 2 blues they are consistent.

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