Drop Mech Keys Meetup Recap - Thanks for Visiting!
As you may have seen, we just hosted our first meetup in quite a while here at Drop HQ (Corsair HQ, but they seem to like us enough :) )! It was a blast to get to meet so many enthusiasts local to the bay area—it had been 10 years since I was last hanging out with keyboard nerds in the bay, at KeyCon 2014. We had a great time hosting everyone at the offices, checking out all the very nice boards y'all brought, and sharing some of our own projects/spaces! I knew it would be fun to host in the Game Room when I first saw it in person, but seeing it come to fruition was still so cool. Alright, I'll stop blabbering on now. xD Picture time! (Oh, real quick - there will be more of these! Stay tuned for more info and to catch the next one!)
May 15, 2024
So far, I've not noticed any clear difference on the home row with the keycaps in either orientation. Are there other switches you think I should find to test with?
This problem is why all high quality custom boards are built with the switches in the correct orientation (as cherry intended them to be used).
I will say I have to really, really pay attention to feel it though, and it doesn't affect the sound enough for it to bother me so it could very well be a non-issue for most people. Still, cool of you to point it out either way. I know there are a lot of purists in the community and depending on what types of switches they want to use in the board it might be an issue :)
Of course now that I'm aware of it I'll probably never not be able notice it again haha.
I probably wouldn't use silenced switches in that orientation with GMK caps though since it would probably make them clacky and defeat the purpose.
Personally I like the feel of the Halo switches more than the Hako. They feel just a smidge more tactile to me.
One could easily saw a keycap in half and photograph how the switch hits the cap. Sadly I don´t wish to ruin my GMK sets. Someone at massdrop will likely have some spare r3 GMK keycaps to cut open and photograph with full travel switches in all orientations with and without LEDs (even though LEDs are not a problem on this kb as they are surface mounted). @YanboWu @john.yu
edit: took a video from the side of an ansi enter key. A direct side angle would be better, but even from this angle you can see the switch housing rubbing against the inner wall of the keycap (Gmk plum in this case) https://youtu.be/PSg6zvLzOO0
https://www.massdrop.com/talk/3890/testing-cherry-profile-clearances