Alps & Compatible Switches Pin Sizes

[ifohancroft]

To make sure the hotswap sockets fit Alps switches that may have some solder leftover, as well as new Matias switches, and possibly clones, it would be awesome if anyone who has Alps or any compatible switches can measure their pins (only the part that sticks out from the bottom of the housing) and provide me with: Switch type, whether it has solder residue on its pins and pins thickness, width and length. As big a sample size I can get, the better.

I am mostly curious if there is any variation with switch pin wider or narrower than 1.2mm or if any solder residue adds to the width of the pins or just to the thickness. As well as what thickness your pins are on the various switches under different conditions.

[hellothere]

... The width of the pins or just to the thickness ...

Isn't that the same thing?

I've got a loose orange Alps switch on my desk (doesn't everyone?). Used. While my opinion would be to use a socket that fits used switches, I think you'd have different widths on each switch.

Anyhow, if you consider north and south as the switch normally mounted, I'm taking an east-west measurement. The width of the first pin is .2mm at the base (i.e., the not soldered part) and .4 / .5mm at the tip (i.e., the soldered part). The other pin is .2mm at the base and at the tip. Mind you, I have a brand Z digital caliper and I might not have a clue about what I'm doing.

[ifohancroft]

Hmm, if there usually won't be variation between the top and bottom of the pin, then 0.2 and 0.4/0.5 is too big of a variation, perhaps switches would have to be cleaned before used with the sockets.

As for the width vs thickness - what you just measured seems to be the thickness. In this case, when I say width I mean side to side, and when I say thickness, I mean front to back (also thank you so much for taking the time to measure a switch!)

[hellothere]

Hmm, if there usually won't be variation between the top and bottom of the pin, then 0.2 and 0.4/0.5 is too big of a variation, perhaps switches would have to be cleaned before used with the sockets.

As for the width vs thickness - what you just measured seems to be the thickness. In this case, when I say width I mean side to side, and when I say thickness, I mean front to back (also thank you so much for taking the time to measure a switch!)

No prob. Happy to help, especially when it's that easy .

Just as a suggestion, post a pic and label what you want measured. You could probably steal the one from the Wiki and mark it up in MS Paint or Gimp. I'm not terribly good at taking pictures of something as small as a keyboard switch and I didn't have time to label ...

[SK-8K]

I think there are some NOS complicated and simplified Alps on Taobao.

[ifohancroft]

I think there are some NOS complicated and simplified Alps on Taobao.

Thank you! That's useful, however, I need to get back to Kailh today so by the time I get the switches it would be too late. Also, I can get the sizes of NOS switches from the datasheet. I am more interested in sizes of switches that have solder residue on them.

Hmm, if there usually won't be variation between the top and bottom of the pin, then 0.2 and 0.4/0.5 is too big of a variation, perhaps switches would have to be cleaned before used with the sockets.

As for the width vs thickness - what you just measured seems to be the thickness. In this case, when I say width I mean side to side, and when I say thickness, I mean front to back (also thank you so much for taking the time to measure a switch!)

No prob. Happy to help, especially when it's that easy .

Just as a suggestion, post a pic and label what you want measured. You could probably steal the one from the Wiki and mark it up in MS Paint or Gimp. I'm not terribly good at taking pictures of something as small as a keyboard switch and I didn't have time to label ...

Thank you! I'd look into finding a picture and marking what sizes I need.

[ifohancroft]

Hmm, if there usually won't be variation between the top and bottom of the pin, then 0.2 and 0.4/0.5 is too big of a variation, perhaps switches would have to be cleaned before used with the sockets.

As for the width vs thickness - what you just measured seems to be the thickness. In this case, when I say width I mean side to side, and when I say thickness, I mean front to back (also thank you so much for taking the time to measure a switch!)

No prob. Happy to help, especially when it's that easy .

Just as a suggestion, post a pic and label what you want measured. You could probably steal the one from the Wiki and mark it up in MS Paint or Gimp. I'm not terribly good at taking pictures of something as small as a keyboard switch and I didn't have time to label ...

Here is what I need measured marked with red and with green. Red is the thickness of the legs, Green is the width of the legs.

Alps_SKCLFQ_--_base_detail.jpg (227.66 KiB) Viewed 1613 times

While I mostly need that measured on Alps switches where the solder residue hasn't been cleaned, measuring it on all sorts of Alps switches (with and without residue, Alps clones/Alps compatible switches, etc) would also be helpful.

[SK-8K]

Keep in mind that Alps clones and simplified Alps usually have one of the legs a piece of thinner metal than the other (in some cases it is bent in a v shape).

[ifohancroft]

Keep in mind that Alps clones and simplified Alps usually have one of the legs a piece of thinner metal than the other (in some cases it is bent in a v shape).

Thank you!
While I am mostly targeting complicated Alps and Matias switches, I am keeping in-mind simplified Alps and Alps clones, as well as Alps with solder residue on them.

However, of course, I have to provide some specific dimensions to Kailh. I have provided those from the complicated Alps' datasheet and those from the Matias' datasheet (they are exactly the same) with the note that if it can fit slightly thicker legs as well (up to 0.2mm thicker than the datasheet dimension) it would be perfect.

When it comes to testing the sockets before the final order, I'll try to get my hands on as many Alps and Alps compatible switches and test them all for continuity while in the socket, but I can't guarantee that the sockets will fit everything.