deskthority

Suppose keycaps made for Cherry MX switches had stem mounts like the one pictured. Would they not fit onto a Topre switch? Even if the fit wasn't snug, due to differences between the MX mount diameter and the Topre slider inner diameter, an adapter "plug" (where the plug fits the Topre exactly and provides the MX cross as its top) could maybe be fabricated to compensate, no?

Thoughts?

I think it could work, I just feel like the topre-mx sliders are the better solution, as you can use any cherry MX set, rather than a select few that has the hybrid stem type.

I think it'd be a rattly mess. Topre caps don't just sit on the switch, they clip in. The mount on Topre caps is a little flexible. The two sides bend inwards a little as you install them on a board, and they clip neatly in place. Pulling the caps makes the mounts pop on the way out as well.

Just modding an MX stem would yield a much tougher column of plastic, which wouldn't do the mating thing properly. Instead, they'd sit, loose, in the Topre switch and rattle up and down when typing. Something like the NovaTouch but worse. And that flaw isn't inherent to the NovaTouch's hybrid stems, just its lousy implementation and tolerances.

MX caps don't just sit on their stems, either. The crucifix mount provides a lot of friction as you push the cap on. MX caps also "give" — Alps mount is the opposite, where the switch's slider takes the strain, with baaaaad effects! — but they don't do it in the same way as Topre, which relies on that snap instead of sheer pressure.

Yeah, but a special insert that mates with the Topre on the bottom and provides a cross on the top to take the MX cap might work, no? Kind of like the Alps-to-MX "adapter" insert idea. Unfortunately, I don't know the geometry of the Topre switch well enough to determine the feasibility or infeasibility of any of this, so I'm just speculating out loud here.

The point of clearing the vertical channel is to make way for the bits inside the Topre slider cylinder, not to mate with them. Though it seems as though the channel can sometimes be on the horizontal too with Topre switches, so probably both cross channels would have to be cleared open.

zslane wrote: no?

No. Not well enough to be worth the effort. Observe the Alps equivalent:





Rides damn high, does it not? Those Alps>MX adapters are still quite desirable because Montereys (as in my little board there) and some classic Alps are fine switches but lack great caps. That's not nearly as much a problem on Topre. Especially with the NovaTouch existing specifically for MX cap fiends like me.

Also: stabs. The NovaTouch addressed that challenge quite nicely. Adapters, well, we haven't yet.

That Alps->MX adapter looks too tall to me. I mean, that cross looks about twice as tall as the cross on an MX switch. Maybe if it weren't so tall, the keycaps wouldn't ride so high.

In any event, the kind of insert I am thinking of wouldn't extend above the Topre slider. It would basically turn a regular Topre switch into a hybrid switch like on the NovaTouch. The advantage being you'd be able to put MX caps on a RealForce without having to take it apart and replace all its switches (which, why?).

Yeah, stabilizers are another thing all together.