New Cherry MX Black Silent Switches Announced; No Longer Exclusive to Corsair

[Raevenlord]

Cherry GmbH, the German-American computer peripheral-device maker best known for its mechanical keyboard switches, has announced a new addition to their Silent line of switches. The new Silent Black switches join the company's Silent line-up of Silent Red, Silent RGB Red, and Silent RGB Black. Cherry MX Silent switches are not particularly new, but until now, they were limited to linear Red switches, and were used exclusively on Corsair products (such as the STRAFE RGB Keyboard). Now, though, Corsair's exclusivity has come to an end, leaving other companies free to implement the Silent switches onto their own keyboards.

The "silent" operation is achieved via a rubber pad which dampens the sound of both the switch bottoming out and the rebound noise. Otherwise, the switches' specifications are identical to those of their non-silent counterparts. It's also worth noting that both Red and Black switches are linear, meaning there's no extra click within the key travel. The Silent Black switches are specified for 60 cN +/- 20 cN actuation force (against the 40 cN of their Silent Red counterparts), 2mm +/-0.6 pretravel, 4mm /-0.4 actuator travel, <5 ms bounce time, and are rated at 50 million key presses.



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[silentbogo]

Nice.
Now the most important question: where do I get a 100 of them without breaking my wallet?

 

[atomicus]

Wonder when we'll see keyboards actually using these. Not too long I hope.

 

[anarekist]

i want to hear about this rubber pad? you guys know of an article/video anywhere where they take it apart? wondering if i can add my own rubber pad to some keys i have to get a similar affect.

 

[eidairaman1]

Weird im using Roccat Ryos MK Pro with Brown and dont hear 2 clicks. Honestly it sounds like typing on a rubber Dome switch keyboard.

Are these totally different than the black here?

http://www.roccat.org/en-US/Products/Gaming-Keyboards/Ryos-Series/Ryos-MK-Pro/

 

[AsRock]

Nice.
Now the most important question: where do I get a 100 of them without breaking my wallet?

Just buy the rubber rings or foam rings.

 

[silentbogo]

Just buy the rubber rings or foam rings.

I wish it was that easy...
For me the only option is to order a set of dampeners from China and wait 30+ days until it arrives.
Took me about as much to find any kind of replacement switches locally for my Zalman KB.
Maybe I can get by with regular rubber o-rings from the hardware store?

 

[phanbuey]

I wish it was that easy...
For me the only option is to order a set of dampeners from China and wait 30+ days until it arrives.
Took me about as much to find any kind of replacement switches locally for my Zalman KB.
Maybe I can get by with regular rubber o-rings from the hardware store?

Rosewill makes a set of orings for keyboards.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K73IBHE/?tag=tec06d-20

 

[AsRock]

I wish it was that easy...
For me the only option is to order a set of dampeners from China and wait 30+ days until it arrives.
Took me about as much to find any kind of replacement switches locally for my Zalman KB.
Maybe I can get by with regular rubber o-rings from the hardware store?

Well going be even longer if you don't . o rings i think are frigging rip off other wise. Foam o rings might give a even more silent key press but may give more of a done feel.

I thought about it too, how ever there can be little differences.

Rosewill makes a set of orings for keyboards.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K73IBHE/?tag=tec06d-20

I use their clear ones which cost even more lol, but they do the job well.

 

[manofthem]

I guess you need a linear switch to be silent, but I really like the tactile feel during typing and key presses. I'm eager to try these switches out for myself, but I just know know if I could make the switch.

Just buy the rubber rings or foam rings.

It kind of depends on which switch? The orings on my blues don't make a whole lot of difference, I think it's the actuation click though that can't be dampened.

 

[AsRock]

I guess you need a linear switch to be silent, but I really like the tactile feel during typing and key presses. I'm eager to try these switches out for myself, but I just know know if I could make the switch.



It kind of depends on which switch? The orings on my blues don't make a whole lot of difference, I think it's the actuation click though that can't be dampened.

Yes it is, getting rid of the click would defeat the point in having blues, o rings shorten and soften the key when fully pressed, they just stop plastic from hitting plastic.

With blues you can learn your self from fully pressing the key were with black \ browns and a like it's harder, which i find my self more often than not the key is fully pressed which o rings help for sure and i think foam ones would be even better due to being softer but how long they would last is another story.


Been thinking of experimenting making my own but meh, time it would take although you can get a large thin sheet of foam cheap. As long as that plastic don't hit it be all good. Although led keys might be a issue with foam, maybe white for best chance ?.

As a simple ebay search brings up a bunch
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2060353.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xthin+foam.TRS0&_nkw=thin+foam&_sacat=0