When it arrived today it turned out to be incredibly interesting. About half of the key switches on the keyboard have gone totally linear. It is somewhat known that under certain conditions, Futaba MA switches can loose their click somewhat. In this case though, the click and tactile feel on half of the switches is entirely gone. They are so linear that if the other switches on the board were not still tactile and clicky, I would believe they were just linear to begin with.
Here is a demo of a clicky switch vs a linear switch. They in theory started off their life the same, and are even right next to each other on the board!
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwNkmK6O4KE[/youtube]
The strangeness does not end there though. Futaba MA switches are known for being incredibly smooth. I daily a Sejin EAT-1030 which also uses the same switches, and it is so smoother than IBM buckling spring, Blue alps, NEC blue ovals, and really anything else I have ever tried.
The MA switches in this SKM-1040 are absolutely terrible in feel. They are honestly the scratchiest switch that I could ever imagine. Each and every switch on the board feels like it has been lubed with coarse sand. Beyond just the scratchiness, they bind beyond belief. Pressing a key literally anywhere but exactly centered makes it bind to the point of not even being depressed properly. Even pressing a key right in the center isn't always a guarantee that it will not just get stuck.
Here is another demo showing just how bad the binding is on the SKM-1040 compared to the EAT-1030
[youtube]https://youtu.be/IdQQUonEgFI[/youtube]
I am really baffled by this because they look externally identical to the perfect feeling switches in my EAT-1030. The SKM-1040 is clearly well used and has a lot of dirt under the keycaps, but my EAT-1030 has been in daily use since 1990 and was rather dirty when I got it, and it still works perfectly.
The SKM-1040 also has the exact same very nice doubleshot keycaps as the EAT-1030 and they actually are far less yellow which makes me think it has had a slightly easier life, despite feeling horrible. There are only really 2 possible causes that I have been able to think of. The first is that moisture has gotten into the SKM-1040 and ruined the switches somehow. The second is that since the SKM-1040 is 2 years newer than the EAT-1030, the switches are internally different somehow.
I plan to desolder the switches and take them apart in an attempt to see why some of them have gone linear, why they all bind so badly, and if they can be fixed.
