deskthority

http://www.flickr.com/photos/349667-ta4 ... %BDmxalps/

From http://kbtalking.cool3c.com/article/5515

Yep, it's an Alps clone switch designed to take Cherry MX keycaps!

Its a modified Himake/Hua-Jie AKF-S. I don't know what year this variant was made, and whether Himake would still remember making it. I'll ask anyway.

Matias! Are you listening? Do this.

So there are such things as Alps clones that take Cherry caps, and authentic Cherry MX switches that take Alps caps. Amnesia meets incest.

Alps: Geekcap Edition.

On a serious note, I suspect Matias won't want to retool for that, because they're very early in the life of their switch (and may not have even made the money back on the tooling yet). Also, wonder how stability of everything is affected by the change in the top of the switch.

It does not look as if that switch would be as stable as an Matias/Alps switch. Alps sliders have more sliding surface area.

Alps and Cherry sliders are approximately the same cross section size and shape at shell level. Cherry switches do have very small cutouts above and below the slider hole, presumably to give a bit of extra clearance for the keycap stem — I think you'd need to add the same to an Alps switch. Otherwise, I don't think you would need to do anything except put a cross on top of the slider instead of a peg with a slot.

The reason for Himake going for a circular top to the slider is a mystery, as there doesn't seem to be any point to it.

The mounts on the key caps are also round. The tools costs the same, not matter if round or square.

Would be interesting to know how these switches feel and how much they cost ...

They're a derivative of Himake/Hua-Jie AKF-S switches, so they'll feel like the SIIG MiniTouch "XM" or any other keyboard with Himake/Hua-Jie switches, i.e. "WTF? O_O"

I imagine Chinese and Taiwanese children are forced each morning to exercise with finger weights until they have stupidly muscular fingers, which is why they put such ridiculously stiff switches in all their keyboards. Ducky at least had the good sense to ask Xiang Min to reduce the force a bit, and the result was a perfectly usable switch.

My point was, though, the hole in the top of the switch that the slider passes through, is virtually the same size and shape (not counting the side notches) for both Cherry MX and Alps. However, I think it's ever so slightly too small for Cherry MX caps, and you'll see very small notches at the front and back of the hole on an MX switch to accommodate the keycap. I think that's why they had to retool the whole Alps clone switch, instead of simply putting a stem on the slider. For whatever reason, they decided to radically redesign it in the process. Hey, it's the Far East, they get off on redesigning things for no reason.