I love custom mechanical keyboards but is the wider community limiting itself by only sticking to MX switches? I know there are projects out there for custom topre, space invader, and alps. But with all the research the community has done, why hasn’t something truly unique come to market yet?
Using and reviving old switches is great but is there anyone working on making a new switch that isn’t affiliated with a large manufacturer like gateron or kailh?
The only new switch that’s independently made I can think of is Riskable’s void switch, which uses 3D printed switches that are actuated by magnets. Chyrosan22 did an review of them and they seem pretty cool given their customization, here’s a link https://youtu.be/iv6Rh8UNWlI. *Edit: fixed a small spelling error
Unfortunately, it seems to me that the r&d costs a ton and the tooling and process for MX is pretty well established at this point comparatively. Designing a whole new kind of switch would take a lot of testing and isn’t as easy to 3d print at home for prototyping as a keycap. I’m not a 3d printing or prototyping expert or even amateur, but from what I’ve seen from Matt3o (MT3 profile), pseudoku (various artisans), and rutomoda (RIFL, a fully 3dp keycap set), it seems like you need some serious work to print a keycap. Imagine the tolerances you’d need for a whole new switch system…
That being said, I’d love to see it. Whole new switch types, even innovation within MX for things like different types of clickies (like novelkeys just did), all would be great.