Mechanical keyboard switch materials and housings are a critical component that radically impacts the feel, performance, and customization potential of a keyboard. The switch housing encases the stem and spring and other keyboard switch components that register key presses on a keyboard, and the material it’s constructed from determines the sound signature and smoothness of each key press.
Switch housings support the mechanical switches under each keycap and guide the key travel. They play a pivotal role in keyboard longevity as well, protecting the delicate switch components from dust and debris. Understanding switch housings is key for customizing a mechanical typing experience tailored to your preferences.
The parts of a keyboard switch include the stem, spring, contact leaves or metal leaves, and housing. The stem is the component that travels up and down when a key is pressed, allowing the switch to actuate. The spring provides the tactile feedback and resistance felt during a key press. The contact leaves or metal leaves complete the circuit and register the key press when the stem pushes them down. The housing encases all of these components, protecting them from dust and debris while guiding the stem’s travel. The materials used for each of these parts can significantly impact the feel, sound, and longevity of a mechanical keyboard switch.
Key Takeaways:
- The importance of switch housings in determining keyboard feel and performance
- Popular switch housing brands and materials
- Customizing and modding techniques
- Innovations in switch housing design and engineering
Table of Contents
The Basics of Keyboard Switch Materials and Housings
What is a Keyboard Switch Housing?
The switch housing is the external casing surrounding the switch on a mechanical keyboard. It is made up of two main parts – the top housing and bottom housing. The top housing holds the keycap and stem, while the bottom housing contains the contacts and spring which register presses. The two sections interlock to form the complete switch enclosure.
Switch housings have holes allowing the stem and spring to connect to the keycap on top and the keyboard PCB underneath. They also retain plate mounted keyboards’ switches within the plate. Overall, the housing guides smooth key presses, spring back, and protects the interior from debris interference.
The material and design of the switch housing can greatly affect the keyboard’s feel and sound. For example, some housings are made of different materials such as plastic or metal, which can impact the overall sound and feedback of the keyboard. Additionally, some switch housings are designed with features such as dampening to reduce noise and vibration.
In the world of mechanical keyboards, switch housings are an important aspect of the overall typing experience and can be customized and modified by keyboard enthusiasts to achieve a specific feel and sound.
Types of Keyboard Switches
The switch housing material impacts the keyboard switch type – whether it’s tactile, clicky or linear. Tactile switches have a bump you can feel during the keypress for confirmation. Clicky switches take this further with an audible click. Linear switches simply move straight down and up smoothly.
How the housing is engineered impacts these feels. Clicky switches integrate a jacket around the stem so it clicks against the housing on actuation. Tactile and linear rely on stem shaping and housing molding to shape the press. The material also changes the sound – metallic housing causes a deeper pitch than plastic.
How the housing is engineered impacts these feels. Clicky switches integrate a jacket around the stem so it clicks against the housing on actuation. Tactile and linear rely on stem shaping and housing molding to shape the press. The material also changes the sound – metallic housing causes a deeper pitch than plastic.
Mechanical keyboard switches black housing are popular for their versatility and durability. Kailh box style switch housings prioritize smooth gliding motion during key presses. The shape and mold of the housing impacts switch feel drastically – poor tolerances lead to friction scraping while tight precision molds enable buttery smooth travel. Switches don’t have to be clicky or tactile – linear switches like Cherry MX Reds rely on the housing to guide straight up/down stem movement. Switches tend to come in either pre-assembled or PCB mounted varieties based on housingIntegratio requirements.
The bottom of the switch housing secures into the keyboard plate to provide stability. It contains holes for the tactile stem legs to latch onto the bottom housing and register key presses on the circuit board. Unlike membrane keyboard rubber domes, mechanical switch housings allow for customization of sound, feel, travel and tactility through combining many switch components like stems and springs. Classic Alps switches utilized compressed rubber pads for tactility but modern mechanical switches rely on precision plastic molding techniques for the housing and stem design to produce clicks, bumps or unobstructed smooth linear stem travel.
Popular Brands and Their Switch Housings
Gateron Switch Housing
Gateron produces linear, tactile and clicky switch options crafted with high-quality plastic for durability and 11 years of specialized production expertise. Their SMD-LED housings allow per-key customized RGB lighting shine through for stunning effects.
They focused extensive research into molding techniques for exceptionally smooth linear switch performance, while ensuring tactile bump precision in specialized molds. Gateron’s designs allow great customization potential as well with lubing alterations and switch opening modifications.
Cherry MX and Their Legacy in Switch Housing
The heritage Cherry MX brand is known for the signature reliability and quality of their switch housings. Made in Germany, the high-precision molds and strict quality control ensure consistency in housing performance. They popularized many standards in mechanical keyboard switches.
Known for single-piece housings with tightly toleranced stems, Cherry MX switch housings glide smoothly and remain stable over decades of use. This makes them a popular choice when selecting switches for custom builds. From their vintage blacks to modern Silver speeds, the variety of Cherry switches demonstrate resilient housing design.
MX-Style Switch Housings
MX-style refers to switch housings cross-compatible with majority Cherry MX shaped stems, springs and parts. This allows interchanging different brand’s springs, stems and housings for customization. Popular MX-style brands include Gateron, Outemu, Kailh and Akko.
The benefit of retaining MX-style compatibility is the ability to freely customize a switch’s housing brand, stem type, spring weight and material. Mixing and matching components caters to specific preferences around smoothness, sound dampening, tactility and more. It also allows replacing broken switch parts easily without replacing the entire switch.
“Mechanical keyboard switch types from brands like Cherry MX are examined in this guide.”
Anatomy of a Switch Housing
Top and Bottom Housing
A switch housing contains two interlocking halves enclosing all switch components:
Top Housing:
- Located under the keycap containing the stem
- Made of plastic or metal
- Guides smooth stem return during key release
- Responsible for most sound dampening
Bottom Housing:
- Attaches housing to PCB and plate
- Holds contacts and spring in place
- Contains actuator hitting register contact
- Impacts keyboard feel and sound
The combination determines wobble, smoothness and customization capability. Their molding methods and consistency in production influences housing performance in tactility, sound and longevity over thousands of key presses.
The Switch Stem
The switch stem is the connector between the keycap and keyboard sensor. Its bottom is small and its top is broad. The wide top inserts into keycaps securely while the bottom contains rails guiding it through the switch housing. The stem moves down with key presses and its shaping activates mechanical keyboard customization.
Its movement interacts with the switch housing in several ways:
- Smooth/Tight Fit: The housing mold tolerances affect stem wobble
- Tactility: Housing interior molding creates tactile bump
- Sound: Stem rails can create noise against housing wall
- Durability: Matches housing material to prevent stem cracking
Getting this interaction right by matching stems and housings during custom builds is important for achieving goals around smoothness, tactility preferences and acoustic profiles per keyboard.
Customizing Keyboard Switch Housing
Lubing and Modding Switch Housing
Enthusiasts can alter switch housing performance drastically through:
Lubing Housing:
Applying lubricant like Krytox 205g0 reduces friction along stem pole and housing guide rails. This enhances smoothness of key presses, stabilizes wobbly stems and mutes sound. Light application avoids slowed return.
Housing Swaps:
Exchanging factory switch housing with preferred brands enhances feel. Example – swapping scratchy stock stabilizer housing for smoother aftermarket Durock/Everglide housings significantly improves stabilizer rattle and harmony with regular switch housing feel.
New Molds:
Innovations like Durock Shrimp Silent Linear switches utilize entirely new housing molds enhancing performance with tailor-made specifications inside, greatly improving stabilizer fit. This demonstrates the difference molding technique makes.
“Key actuation force is another customizable adjustment covered here.”
Building Your Keyboard: Selecting the Right Switch Housing
Points to consider when selecting ideal switch housings for custom mechanical keyboard build projects:
Sound Profile:
Metallic housings like oil kings produce deeper sound versus plastic ABS or POM housings with higher pitch. This allows matching personal sound preferences.
Smoothness:
Premium molds like JWK, Durock, Gateron Pro pursue exceptionally tight molding tolerances of 0.01mm for minimizing stem wobble inside the housing. This takes much skill and quality control.
Durability:
Look for quality standards in production to ensure durable, crack-resistant housings lasting over 50 million key presses without failing, while retaining responsiveness. Batch testing demonstrates attention here. Inside of a mechanical keyboard, durability also depends on the quality of the switches and keycaps. High-grade switches made from strong plastics and metals that are built to withstand millions of clicks without losing tactile feedback or failing are essential. Keycaps constructed from thick ABS or PBT plastic that resist fading and shining over time, even with heavy everyday use, also promote durability inside a mechanical keyboard.
Advanced Topics in Keyboard Switch Housings
Mechanical vs Traditional Switch Housing Differences
There are considerable differences between mechanical and traditional rubber dome switch housings:
Actuation:
Mechanical keyboards activate mid-key travel while dome keyboards actuate when fully pressed. This gives mechanical keyboards faster responsiveness for gaming.
Durability:
Quality mechanical housings support over 5x longer lifespans than membrane sheets lasting 30 million+ presses. Their molding and dedication to keyboard focus shows.
Feel:
From sharp tactile bumps to glassy smooth linear travel with no scraping, mechanical keyboard switch housings provide a luxury feel traditional membranes cannot match.
The Future of Keyboard Switch Housing Design
Emerging keyboard switch housing innovations demonstrate increasing dedication to customization and performance:
New Materials:
Transparent plastic and colored housings for unique aesthetics and efforts with liquid crystal polymer show pursuit of improved acoustics and smoothness.
Smart Interface:
Analog Hall effect keyboard technology utilizes magnets and sensors instead of physical switch contact. This allows advanced pressure sensitivity, tracking and actuation personalization through the housing.
Further Dedication:
Full focus into the specialty of high-performance switch housings as demonstrated by makers like Owlabs and Feker hints at a dedication to advancing expectations of the custom mechanical keyboard experience. Greater precision and quality control for small batch enthusiast grade housing production can be expected.
Finalize The Talk
This guide showcases how switch housings tie intricately into the quality, durability, customization and unique feel of high-performance mechanical keyboards. From sound profiles to ultra smooth linear presses and crisp tactile bumps, the engineering of the switch housing impacts every aspect of the typing experience.
As the mechanical keyboard market continues to grow, we see increasing dedication to advancing the standards and capabilities of switch housings. Leveraging custom molds, specialized materials like liquid crystal polymer plastics and tight quality control, makers cater to enthusiasts by fine-tuning specifications for accuracy, smoothness and acoustic perfection.
Understanding switch housing construction as showcased here allows keyboard hobbyists to better match preferences to part combinations during custom builds. Comprehending attributes like housing mold tolerances, materials used and key press principles empowers better decision making when selecting ideal mechanical keyboard components to achieve personalized typing feel and longevity goals.
The growth of group buy models and made-to-order product runs speaks to the expanding segment of demanding keyboard enthusiasts that recognize the importance of switch housing performance, beyond just the switches themselves, as a vital aspect of end-user experience. There is always room for improving keyboard responsiveness and feel through enhancing switch housing engineering.
Author Review
Comprehensive guide exploring the key aspects of mechanical keyboard switch housings, including the anatomy, customization, comparisons to traditional switches, and emerging innovations. Useful for keyboard enthusiasts looking to better understand switch housing components and how they impact the typing experience.
