Just got my shipment in and did some quick keyboard science (sorry, no pictures). I swapped out the springs in two of these Yellow switches with a spring from a Cherry MX Clear and a spring from a Cherry MX (vintage)Black; my findings surprised me, given what I've read about these Yellows.
They didn't FEEL heavier than a black, and that proved to be accurate once I started stacking coins. The Cherry Blacks took a stack of quarters (10 or 11, I didn't count... it was all the quarters I had) plus 4 nickels to bottom the switch out, while the Clears took the whole stack plus only 2 nickels. The Yellows took the full stack of quarters minus 1 quarter, which shocked me since many other posts have shown very different results.
As I said, all other factors were the same (Gateron housing and stems in each case), so I'm not sure what's the deal. I can tell you that the Yellows springs appear to the naked eye to be the same thickness and material as the Clear springs, but are the same length as a Blue or Red spring (longer), which SHOULD cause them to be harder to bottom out. I wonder if disassembling the switches introduced some friction on the stem that would give this result... my work area is relatively clean and the stems never left the top of the housing, so I kinda doubt it.
Anyway, that's just my two cents on the Yellows, if anyone is debating getting some.
JustCallMeCrashThanks for the keyboard science, JustCallMeCrash (definitely get a thumbs up). Would you mind testing it with a couple of other switches with just the stock spring? I wonder if the variability in each build is the reason people have said it has a higher bottom out force. The ~82 grams (if it was 11 quarters) is spot on with the Cherry MX Black force diagram, so I'd believe everything else you've done.
It has been a long time since I've dealt with Hooke's law, so I can't remember any cases where what you say isn't true.
DavronSure thing. I believe I have (or can reconstruct) at least one of each type of switch that comes out of the Cherry factory... what would you like to see?
JustCallMeCrashI was really just curious if the yellow's bottom out force is the same across the batch you got with the yellow springs that it comes with.