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notsunemiku
12
Keyboard Club Member
Feb 4, 2019
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Hey, first time poster; perhaps my verbosity problem will make up for my lack of participation. Anyway, I wanted to contribute since this matter seems to have some people hung up on whether their key caps are at risk by using these switches, so here it goes...
I recently picked up this hobby and, before I caught wind of the commotion concerning busted ABS, I happened to buy the revised Box Navies and Royals from Novelkeys in mid-November. All I knew at the time was that I wanted switches that were truly tactile, and the Boxes seemed to fit the bill, to avoid the more evident expression one might employ. The first set of caps I had on the Navies was one from GMK (Red Honey, to be exact), and they stayed on that board for at least two weeks before I read about any of this. I didn't notice anything significant when I removed them back then, but, for my present peace of mind, I wanted to try a more intentional test of reliability.
I picked up the white-on-black GMK set from one of the recent drops, installed them on a board outfitted with Royals, and let them sit there for two weeks. Before that, I had tried measuring each of the switches with calipers... but the calipers were not really designed for measuring things within such confined quarters as the stem inside of the box, so I largely took the readings I got with a grain of salt (all of the readings I did get were within the Cherry spec that was circulated on forums, though.) I then removed each key cap, visually inspected it for any cracks or other signs of obvious damage that one can see with the average, visually-corrected human eye, and put each cap onto the same spare Cherry MX Brown switch to test for relative snugness between the Brown switch and the Royal switches - largely, I was concerned with any of the caps feeling loose in such a way that I'd feel nervous about how secure they are on non-Box-outfitted boards, since that's the secondary concern to the obvious primary problem - broken plastic.
After checking all of the caps on the board, I could not find a single sign of damage, and, honestly, there were points at which the Brown felt more snug than some of the Royals that the caps were on. This was, of course, a huge relief to me - at this point, I feel at least reasonably confident that I can install GMK sets on the Royals I bought.
All of that said, I think there are some important points to stress here.
Without counting the GMK set that I unknowingly "tested" on Navies last year, this is one set of caps placed on one... well, okay, I'll admit how reckless I am - two separate orders of revised Royal switches. I didn't test multiple GMK sets on a wide array of Boxes, so there is a chance that I could be a lucky duck, although, if the revised Box specs are to be believed, I feel decently confident that this is not the case.
It's also valuable to bear in mind that quite a few people were burned by bad design. It's something we could all stand to remember when piling onto group buys - when bright-eyed optimism and wishful thinking get in the way of reason, this stuff happens. It by no means absolves Kailh since they broke a bunch of peoples' caps, but it was the first run of those switches. Buying into a product's first release sometimes means you end up being a blind tester for that product, which comes with its consequences.
Finally, it's not only important to dig in and research things when you're curious or concerned about them, but also to expose your findings to others. People like pixelpusher on GH were doing good work testing caps on revised switches, but the general attitude about the revised switches remained skeptical, at best, to the point where, despite those testing efforts, I was second guessing whether I could trust these switches with caps - the situation still remains nebulous for current owners of Box switches as to whether they are bums or not. If people really are still having these issues with the revised switches, then be vocal. If it isn't an issue... also be vocal! Every data point counts toward completing the bigger picture.
That's all I have for now and probably a while. The length of this will probably deter all but five people from reading, but I hope that this information helps or reassures at least one of those five people, anyway.
[Edit was to fix a redundancy issue that would drive me insane if I left it.]
(Edited)
leffen
23
Mar 25, 2019
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notsunemikuI am using Box Navies in a KBD19X with GMK WoB and have noticed no issues. In fact, the stabilizers (GMK stabs) feel a lot tighter than the switches, though that could be down to material and friction. I've taken some off to check periodically and have seen no damage at all. In other words, it does look like the issue is fixed, so I can corroborate.
(Edited)
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