alt Hacker NewsI want a keyboard switch with a weight on the end of a lever, typewriter or piano style. Or some other mechanism whereby the resistance would be constant or even reverse-linear-ish (from gravity and momentum), not linear (from a spring). But as far as I know no such thing exists. :(
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Findecanor • today at 10:35 AM
There do exist switches with an almost flat force-curve, but those I've seen have been very light. For example 30g Topre.
In the piano-/synth-keyboard world, this is accomplished by 'interlocked blades', consisting of two curved blades interconnected with notches for each key, allowing the curve of the pressure mechanism to be tuned according to the depth and scale of the notches.
Its always curious to me that this technology hasn't been adopted in the QWERTY keyboard field, although that may be due to patents .. as I understand it the piano keyboard manufacturers are very aggressive about protecting these patents, and its one of the reasons that all synth manufacturers get their keybed mechanisms from the same supplier (Fatar TP9S) .. though recent technology has moved on to use piezo-electric switches.
https://www.fatar.com/products/tp9s/
(Some other interesting details here: https://www.fatar.com/products/)