. Bosch RAFI keyboard & Videodidact (RAFI RS 76 M)
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Daniel Beardsmore
- Location: Hertfordshire, England
- Main keyboard: Filco Majestouch 1 (home)/Poker II backlit (work)
- Main mouse: MS IMO 1.1
- Favorite switch: Probably not whatever I wrote here
- DT Pro Member: -
- Contact:
Your latching switch is broken.
I tried to get both of my illuminated switches apart, and in both cases I just ended up forcing out the retaining wall for the slide block. It's too hard to explain in words, but this should explain it:
What you show in the video is a damaged switch, where the slide block isn't held properly. It should slide laterally within that space, which yours isn't doing:
I didn't take corresponding photos of 76 M as the parts are ludicrously small. This for example is the stationary contact off the diode leg in those pink switches:
The follower spring in the latching switch is only 2.7 mm long, and I lost one forever after extensive searching. These are the most insanely small removable parts of any switch family on the planet.
The illuminated version should not be scratchy, and it is not when it's new. It's progressive rate with knee: like Cherry MX Clear and Tokai MM9, there's a sharp rise in force at actuation, and you can use this to avoid bottoming out. It's fairly interesting in itself; the down side is the increased bounce time from 5 ms to 10 ms. (Pedant notice: MX Clear is not progressive rate; Cherry's graph says yes, Jacob's graph says no.)
As these switches are so rarely reported on, I can't tell if yours are an exception, or whether they do age badly.
I don't know of any reason for them being so quiet; the RS 74 M switches in my Neve keyboard clang loudly. RS 76 M non-illuminated is downstroke damped using a small rubber ring.
I tried to get both of my illuminated switches apart, and in both cases I just ended up forcing out the retaining wall for the slide block. It's too hard to explain in words, but this should explain it:
- Slide block retainer.png (3.51 KiB) Viewed 1327 times
I didn't take corresponding photos of 76 M as the parts are ludicrously small. This for example is the stationary contact off the diode leg in those pink switches:
The follower spring in the latching switch is only 2.7 mm long, and I lost one forever after extensive searching. These are the most insanely small removable parts of any switch family on the planet.
The illuminated version should not be scratchy, and it is not when it's new. It's progressive rate with knee: like Cherry MX Clear and Tokai MM9, there's a sharp rise in force at actuation, and you can use this to avoid bottoming out. It's fairly interesting in itself; the down side is the increased bounce time from 5 ms to 10 ms. (Pedant notice: MX Clear is not progressive rate; Cherry's graph says yes, Jacob's graph says no.)
As these switches are so rarely reported on, I can't tell if yours are an exception, or whether they do age badly.
I don't know of any reason for them being so quiet; the RS 74 M switches in my Neve keyboard clang loudly. RS 76 M non-illuminated is downstroke damped using a small rubber ring.