Identify this Switch!

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HaaTa
Master Kiibohd Hunter

26 Feb 2011, 03:42

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Oh, and nice keycaps:
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microsoft windows

26 Feb 2011, 03:53

Wow, those are some thick double shots there!

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runeazn

26 Feb 2011, 10:13

Seems like complicated black alps

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sixty
Gasbag Guru

26 Feb 2011, 10:46

runeazn wrote:Seems like complicated black alps
In your dreams. :D

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keyboardlover

26 Feb 2011, 13:56

runeazn wrote:Seems like complicated black alps
Rofl!

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daedalus
Buckler Of Springs

26 Feb 2011, 14:17

Honeywell Micro Switch... Could they be Hall Effect switches?
Seems like complicated black alps
Is that your professional opinion?

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HaaTa
Master Kiibohd Hunter

26 Feb 2011, 21:17

What's interesting, if you look at the circuit board (which is single layer).

Each switch has 4 solder points. 1 pin looks like a drive, 1 looks like a ground (as these two, the thick lines, are interconnected between switches, and finally get a pin each). The other solder points have their own pins.

I do have a controller for this, but it's not for anything close to standard... I'd probably have more luck hacking together my own controller.

If I'm not so sick tomorrow, I'll drop into work to use the lab so I can get some more info.

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Ascaii
The Beard

26 Feb 2011, 21:23

can you make a pic showing the connector for the ribbon cable please? im wondering if it is the same as on an industrial numpad pcb I found the other day.

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HaaTa
Master Kiibohd Hunter

26 Feb 2011, 23:07

Like this?

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The cable is made by 3M, the connectors are made by duPont. Looks sorta IDE/SCSI, but too lazy to count pins atm.

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sixty
Gasbag Guru

27 Feb 2011, 01:54

I have seen the exact same keycaps somewhere before, I just can't recall where.

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Julle

27 Feb 2011, 18:35

A search with the part number alone returns a list of aeroplane parts.
http://www.wbparts.com/item1/page.cfm/6453

When you search again on that site with the part number, it shows that the item in question is a switch. I don't know if that helps much anyway, but at least we know now that these may have been on old aeroplane flight management computers.

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HaaTa
Master Kiibohd Hunter

27 Feb 2011, 21:33

And the plot thickens...

If you look closely at the top view of the switches, one row is oriented differently (doesn't change how you put the keycaps on). Initially, I had disregarded this to stupidity of the engineers.

But on closer inspection of the PCB, I found more solder joints on that particular row (4, 8, 12, 16). One of them is an extra ground/drive (haven't determined which yet), and the other, dunno.


Thanks, Julle, I was getting some Aerospace stuff on my searches as well.

Since I actually have 2 of these boards :D, I think it's time to desolder, and take apart some switches.

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HaaTa
Master Kiibohd Hunter

27 Feb 2011, 23:00

NEWS FLASH

These are confirmed Hall Effect Switches.

Pics, when I can figure out how to get the switch fully apart.

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sixty
Gasbag Guru

28 Feb 2011, 03:10

Awesome! How do they feel? The linear hall-effect ones I tried were absolutely awesome. Then again, some others that some people tried apparently were terrible.

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HaaTa
Master Kiibohd Hunter

28 Feb 2011, 07:27

If I remember correctly, MX Blacks (old ones) are your favourite switch. You'd like these.

They feel, just a bit lighter than MX Blacks, but smooth, holy shit smooth. No lubrication whatsoever.
From my testing, I could probably even set these up as pressure sensors, if I get a controller good enough (the current one doesn't even use all of the switches...).

Pics :D

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Depressed:
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Pressed (you can see part of the magnet in this picture):
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Hall Effect Sensor:
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Controller:
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I tried to take the switch more apart but I couldn't find a way to get it apart (very well built), and there wasn't really a need, as the sensor just pulls out. And there's just the casing, slider, spring, and magnet left.

Bug: In Chromium (Linux Google Chrome), I keep getting page crashes, if I use the image tag button in the full editor and then press enter after inserting an image...

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sixty
Gasbag Guru

28 Feb 2011, 07:47

I get the same bug, I was thinking it was just random and not related to this site. I suppose not.

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Izza
Lurker Prime

02 Mar 2011, 07:54

sixty wrote:I have seen the exact same keycaps somewhere before, I just can't recall where.
Early LISP boards had the same keycaps I believe.

As for the switch... I've searched, and searched... nothing. Honeywell's site shows the part number on the sticker is valid, and lists it as a sensor, but labels it inactive.

Perhaps a call, or email, to someone at Honeywell, would be more informative?

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webwit
Wild Duck

02 Mar 2011, 11:54

Bingo. It did look familiar.

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bugfix

02 Mar 2011, 12:40

I like how there's always a cute cat in your pictures (or at least parts of a cat).

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webwit
Wild Duck

02 Mar 2011, 14:07

The cats fake an interest in keyboards, just waiting for the right opportunity to take over the boxes.
boxcat.jpg
boxcat.jpg (146.92 KiB) Viewed 9714 times

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sixty
Gasbag Guru

02 Mar 2011, 18:16

Thanks for pointing that out. Now I finally know where I had seen the switch before. Also yeah, that cat is awesome. Whats its name?

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HaaTa
Master Kiibohd Hunter

02 Mar 2011, 18:36

Currently I'm stupid busy with work, but yeah, I can get into touch with Honeywell. I'm still trying to verifying the exact kind of output I should be expecting from the sensors.

Based upon the controller chip specs, the Vcc Bias across the switches is ideally 5 V. On switch actuation, I get an 8 mV potential difference from ground on one of the detection pins.
Now this difference slowly increases from around 0 mV when depressed, so it should be able to do pressure sensing.

I've gotten some colleagues interested (I work for a hardware engineering firm), so I'll be able to figure out some way to get a decent signal from this thing.


Interesting webwit, what kind of switches are in the symbolic? Probably linear, but do you know how they actuate?

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webwit
Wild Duck

02 Mar 2011, 19:58

They are linear, but I don't know how they actuate, you deconstructed it more than I have. There is of course this.

Cat's name is Shota.

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sixty
Gasbag Guru

02 Mar 2011, 20:10

webwit wrote:They are linear, but I don't know how they actuate, you deconstructed it more than I have. There is of course this.

Cat's name is Shota.
I hope that you will one day convert one of these to work with a modern PC. You have all the materials you need!

v193r

04 Mar 2011, 17:27

those keycaps would survive a nuclear holocaust.

mikethebboy

07 Mar 2011, 08:09

Oh, my local library has these, they wont let me buy the board off of them though D:
nice keycaps btw

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webwit
Wild Duck

07 Mar 2011, 13:59

sixty wrote:
webwit wrote:They are linear, but I don't know how they actuate, you deconstructed it more than I have. There is of course this.

Cat's name is Shota.
I hope that you will one day convert one of these to work with a modern PC. You have all the materials you need!
Tried to convert it, but the cat refuses to interface.

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keyb_gr

08 Mar 2011, 15:16

webwit wrote:
sixty wrote:
webwit wrote:Cat's name is Shota.
I hope that you will one day convert one of these to work with a modern PC. You have all the materials you need!
Tried to convert it, but the cat refuses to interface.
Dude, you need one of these! :D

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed that.

strike015

08 Mar 2011, 16:08

oh man those key caps are build like a tank somehow i wish filco made theirs something like that

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Taeyoung

09 Mar 2011, 07:07

webwit wrote:The cats fake an interest in keyboards, just waiting for the right opportunity to take over the boxes.
boxcat.jpg
Wow, what a really cute cat!

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