Alps SKCL/M and SKBL/M parts compatibility?
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mcmaxmcmc
- Location: United States
- Main keyboard: Boring Box
- Main mouse: Endgame Gear XM1
- Favorite switch: Hirose Clears
- DT Pro Member: -
I was just curious, but which parts of Alps SKCL/M are compatible with SKBL/M and vise versa? This includes the stem and the housing also. I'm in no rush (not building anything with this information at the moment), and, again, I was just curious. If possible, please also compare the Alps' parts with the Matias' parts (or other clones) also. Thanks!
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Daniel Beardsmore
- Location: Hertfordshire, England
- Main keyboard: Filco Majestouch 1 (home)/Poker II backlit (work)
- Main mouse: MS IMO 1.1
- Favorite switch: Probably not whatever I wrote here
- DT Pro Member: -
- Contact:
So far as I am aware, only the slider, click leaf, tactile leaf and return spring can be swapped between SKCL/SKCM and SKBL/SKBM/Matias. SKBL/SKBM has bare contacts that require a redesigned shell to support them, and Matias switches use essentially the same design.
I've never tried to swap the contacts between Matias and SKBL/SKBM. Matias and SKBL/SKBM contacts are fragile and fiddly and it's a real pain just trying to get them back into the correct switch! That contact design is much more fiddly than most of the clone types.
Other clones are different again, with each clone style having a different shell design to hold the particular design of contacts used; see under [wiki]Four-tab clone[/wiki] for some of the various shapes and combinations of contacts used in the clone switches. Whether you can swap the contacts between equivalent types of Himake and Xiang Min for example, I don't know, but there should be some interchangeability between similar clone types (wide or narrow click leaf, wide or narrow stationary contact) from the same manufacturer.
The sliders seem to be compatible across all the different Alps and Alps clone switches (discounting damped switches, that is).
I've never tried to swap the contacts between Matias and SKBL/SKBM. Matias and SKBL/SKBM contacts are fragile and fiddly and it's a real pain just trying to get them back into the correct switch! That contact design is much more fiddly than most of the clone types.
Other clones are different again, with each clone style having a different shell design to hold the particular design of contacts used; see under [wiki]Four-tab clone[/wiki] for some of the various shapes and combinations of contacts used in the clone switches. Whether you can swap the contacts between equivalent types of Himake and Xiang Min for example, I don't know, but there should be some interchangeability between similar clone types (wide or narrow click leaf, wide or narrow stationary contact) from the same manufacturer.
The sliders seem to be compatible across all the different Alps and Alps clone switches (discounting damped switches, that is).