8 Nov
2011
8 Nov
'11
2:54 p.m.
On 8 Nov 2011 at 14:17, Eric Smith wrote:
Possibly Keytronics-style capacitive switches could be
an option,
although I haven't looked into how well that will work using a routed
PCB without routing out voids. Then you could get different forces by
using different densities of foam.
It looks as if the standard keyboards are on a 1/5-1/6 key stagger
row to row. Non-alpha keys are always wider than alpha ones, so
simply moving the place where the keyswitch shaft is located relative
to the keycap should handle that. Eualizer bars for the wide keys,
of course, will be needed in any case.
If you want a good switch, use a magnetic reed switch. George Risk
is still in business (some of their PC keyboards are very nice
indeed):
http://www.grisk.com/pushbutton/series_kblp.html
Interestingly, GRI still makes the calibrated reed switch used on my
old RCA Spectra 70 keyboard from the 1960's.
--Chuck