Boring twaddle for the day

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Xiang Min KSB/KSBF series and Hua-Jie AK series switches do not use the same internal metal parts!

I've just had my samples apart and scrutinised them, and the parts are not the same at all.

• Looking at the photos that alps.tw took from a Filco Zero FKB108ZJB, the stationary contact from the Zero resembles the one that Hua-Jie now use
• Xiang Min's stationary contact has a notch across the top, and along the bottom of the crossbar; for some reason this notch vanished from Hua-Jie's switches
• Xiang Min use two different shapes of movable contacts: one with a curved crossbar, and one with a straight crossbar; neither design is quite the same as Hua-Jie's as they don't have either of the two notches

Hua-Jie AK-CN2 (2) vs Xiang Min KSB-C with points to note:

Hua-Jie AK-CN2_2 vs Xiang Min KSB(F) curved.jpg (245.2 KiB) Viewed 863 times

The springs aren't the same, but I guess that was to be expected.

Hua-Jie AK-CN2 (2) vs Xiang Min KSB-C straight crossbar:

Hua-Jie AK-CN2_2 vs Xiang Min KSB(F) straight.jpg (189.29 KiB) Viewed 863 times

There seems to be no consistency about the crossbar shape. alps.tw's Zero switch had a curved crossbar, while Sandy's had a straight crossbar. Of my Ducky 2014 sample switches, the split is 3-2 in favour of straight for the linears, and 5–0 for the clickies. With Xiang Min's 2013 sample switches (2 of each type), clickies are straight crossbar, and linears are curved.

No photos of those: camera battery ran out. In the new year I need to get a new battery so that I can have two good ones. Interestingly, my off-brand one is still working well years later, and the official Pentax one only had a short useful life.