deskthority

I recently picked up an FK-8000 with Futaba clicky switches. I was surprised to find that the lock keys are Green alps instead of Yellow. The looked like SKCL based on the little tabs on the upper switch housing, but I desoldered the LED to take a look inside. Yes, SKCL. The date on the case is 3-1992. Here are some photos. Please forgive the dirt, I haven't had a chance to clean it up yet.







BTW, yes, I added it to the wiki.

Engicoder wrote: BTW, yes, I added it to the wiki.

Good work, thanks. How loud are those Futaba's compared to white Alps?

seebart wrote:

Engicoder wrote: BTW, yes, I added it to the wiki.

Good work, thanks. How loud are those Futaba's compared to white Alps?

A little louder, but very different. They are an odd switch. Tactile on the way down and clicky on the way up. They have a metallic click on release that reverberates quite a bit as the metal diaphragm returns to original shape. Very odd to have the click on release. It reminds me a lot of my ITT keyboard with Microswitch metal diaphragm switches. The noise is similar, but the ITT made the noise on both press and release.

EDIT: There is a very muffled click on press, but is drowned out by the release noise.

OK thanks for the info, that's pretty much what I read before. It's an odd switch like Omrons, but in a different way of course. Pretty rare too, I have not managed to find any to date.

1992, that's a very late one for green Alps. By that time it's three years off the MouseFan Alps timeline already (although I think some companies were still using what must've been leftover stock for lock lights on some boards). It's also the only instance I've ever heard of green Alps on a Focus.

Seebart, I guess the most common source for the is Focus boards, though I don't know of a model that ALWAYS had them. Many of them are also the even rarer Cherry-mount version. Even non-Futaba Focus boards with the calc often have the Futaba lock switch on them, although that uses a unique mount. I haven't tried them out either, but they do sound interesting.