Mechanical Keyboards

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Bent switch contacts [solved] (mander.xyz)

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Edit: thanks everyone, I’ve installed them and everything is fine!

Hey community!

I got some switches with bent contacts. I can easily bend them back into shape, but I’m afraid of them possibly snapping off inside the keyboard and running it. Am I overthinking it?

The backstory is I’be got a 3x 10 unit Outemu switch bags in the mail from AliExpress to try different varieties. They were not packed well so some of them came with bent contacts. So I’m also gauging whether buying a full set would be worth it.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Don't use previously-soldered switches in a hotswap, but otherwise it should be fine to unbend them. I use Outemu switches a lot and it just is what it is. They're cheap, so the metal is thin and the packaging is minimal, but I really like some of them, like the dustproof green.

One thing to note is that hot-swaps were not really invented with an eye towards frequent switch changes, and can get pulled off the PCB with rough or constant changes, particularly when putting them in, or the internal contacts can get bent (lumps of old solder on switch legs are particularly bad for this). If it's a pricy keyboard, I'd recommend installing switches with the PCB out of the board so you can support the socket from behind.