A Few Obscure Keyboard Switch Modifications
Figure 1: Oh yeah, I meant it when I said obscure... There’s no doubt that mechanical keyboard switches have gotten increasingly better in their stock forms over the past half decade of releases. Despite switches now having tighter manufacturing tolerances, smoother factory lubing, and overall higher quality per dollar spent, aftermarket modifications of switches is still one of the most discussed topics by people freshly joining the hobby today. This hyper fixation on switch modding is due in no small part to the glut of keyboard content creators that produced videos, shorts, and all manner of content during the peak of COVID talking about the art and science behind lubing and filming for switches. For a while there, it almost seemed as if you had to have some content about lubing, filming, and/or ‘frankenswitching’ switches if you wanted to cut it as being a true keyboard content creator in the space. However, as people like this have flooded the internet with...
Oct 22, 2024
Figure 1: Not quite the monster movie that goes with 'frankenswitch', but ol' Dracula and his frankenswitches just fit the vibe too well to be left out of this article. Image credit to @o2_designs Even though I haven’t quite had a chance to cover frankenswitches much in writing, many people still like to ask me if I care about them, collect them, or even make them for my own keyboards. As to the first two questions, the answer is most certainly yes, though only ones of historical value and community-wide interest. Switches such as Holy Pandas, Ergo Clears, Gatistotles, Zykos, etc. are all inarguably important frankenswitches that have had an impact on the modern keyboard hobby and should absolutely be tried by any and all people who build a custom keyboard. Regarding the latter question, though, I don’t frankenswitch nearly as much as I used to back when I first joined the hobby. However, in the interest of providing a starting point for new people to look into making their own frankenswitches, here’s some components I would start out exploring, given all my switch knowledge that I have now, that might lead to some interesting results with enough messing around… Top Housings
After having officially narrowed down the effectively infinite list of frankenswitches out there to a few dozen potential combinations for you to start out with, I now officially push the onus on you to go out and explore. While it’s not likely that you’ll stumble across the next community-altering combination in switch components, there’s a very realistic chance you’ll come across a patchwork style switch which is not only unique to you and your tastes, but just may be your true endgame switch. However, if you’re still a bit interested in learning more about switches prior to dropping some money on frankenswitch components, consider checking out my other switch articles here on Drop such as ‘The Who’s Who of Switch Manufacturers’ or ‘Switch Marketing Terms: What to Know and What to Ignore’.