Keyboard Builders' Digest / Tips & Tricks
Tactile stems
Tactile stem comparison by jk_pens.
Published June 27, 2021
Opening up a bunch of tactile switches to make some frankenswitches, jk_pens used digital calipers to measure the stems.
Specifically, I measured the difference between the deepest "trough" in the tactile leg and the "peak". This represents the maximum distance the tactile leaf spring is depressed when the key is pressed.
A picture to help understand what is being measured: https://imgur.com/gallery/tn8nBUY
Perhaps unsurprisingly, both Cherry MX and Gateron browns came out at the bottom of the ranking by this measure.
On top of that, some experiments I did with swapping in more tactile stems confirm that the brown switches also have relatively weak tactile leaf springs. For example, a Polia stem in a Gateron brown is more tactile than the stock brown, but not as tactile as the same stem in a U4T housing.
Note that the differences in tactile leaf springs and other factors such as the shape of the tactile leg mean that this ranking by itself may not give you an accurate assessment of the overall tactility of any of these switches.
Published on Sun 27th Jun 2021. Featured in KBD #32 (source).
Related
Best-selling keyboard switches of March, 2025
In this month's overview of community-favorite mechanical switches, here are March's top picks, based on real sales data provided by vendors and manufacturers.
Winkeyless.KR 'Zeal' Clear Tactiles
Winkeyless.KR 'Zeal' Clear Tactile switches reviewed by ThereminGoat.
Best-selling keyboard switches of January, 2025
In this month's overview of community-favorite mechanical switches, here are January's top picks, based on real sales data provided by vendors and manufacturers.
Cherry MX turns 38
Cherry's genre-defining MX switches turn 38 years today.