Cool. Alpacas are sold out so I’m left wondering if Marshmallows are recolored Alpacas.
I’m hoping that the Alpacas will be a stocked item for Prime Keyboards because it’s a great switch. It’s not as utterly smooth as the R2 Tangerines, but I love how they sound (and they are still a smooth ass switch). The only downside for me is that the spring is way too light making them more expensive than 55¢ a piece with a spring swap.
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I agree. One of the things I really like about tangerines besides the smoothness is the spring.
(I use the dark green stem). Tangerines are smoother, but the sound of alpacas is more to my liking. Very similar to the sound of creams when lubed. I have slightly heavier springs coming to put into my alpacas.
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I’m a sound man so that’s music to my years. w00t!
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What are the Alpcas stock spring rated at? Although I may be alright with whatever it is. For some weird reason I like my linears light, while most other switches I’ve always preferred medium heavy weighting. I really like the stock Gat yellow springs which are supposed to 50g bottom out force, but call BS on that. Maybe 50g actuation, but definitely not bottom out. The 65g TX springs I just put in my Clueboard feel decently lighter TBH.
Alpacas are smooth linear switches with gold plated 62g springs (bottom out).
62g it looks like. I’ve been raising spring weights from 55g bottom out so this works for me.
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Yeah I’m gonna give the stock springs a go when I get my hands on some too. I’m going the opposite direction weight wise myself. I’m really happy with the Gat yellow springs & these 65g TX springs in my Bealios (LOL) right now, but I got a batch of 60g, 55g, & 50g TX springs I want to try out with some linears soon.
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@pixelpusher I love the 67g Tangie’ spring as well. If they sounded the Alpacas, it would be a perfect linear.
@Rob27shred Gat yellows are 65g if my memory serves me right. The 65g TX springs feel a little bit heavier to me than Gat yellows, but not by a whole lot. I really like the the Gat black spring weight which for me falls between TX 65g and TX 70g springs.
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Yeah 65g bottom sound about right for gat yellows from feel IMO, which would make the actuation right around 50g. I think my yellows feel a bit heavier than the switches I got the TX 65g springs in is because, the yellows are lubed with GPL107 & the Bealios are lubed with 3204 on the housings GPL105 on the stems. The 107 gives a much more buttery feel, while the 105 allows for almost completely free movement IME.
Lube Kills Clack. Film at 11
A few months before my adventure into linears, I stopped lubing the switch housing because that saved a lot of time and lubing only the stem seemed just as smooth.
While lubing and filming the Black Ink v2s, I found that lubing the housing killed the signature clacking sound of the Inks. My current theory is that lubing the housing leaves some lube at the bottom of the slider rails which softens the sound of stem slider striking the bottom. I think over-lubing the stem will also have same effect.
In hindsight, this makes sense because lubing the top area of the stem slider is a trick I use to reduce loud return sound or rattles. And, in my case, lubing only switch stems did not dampen the bottom-out sound because I never lube under the stem sliders, just the top side, the area that hits the top housing rails. Maybe this is well know to others. I sure didn’t. Doh. Note that bag lubing is also likely to push the excess lube under the stem sliders.
In summary:
- Lube only the stem (no bag lubing!) if you want more clack.
- Lube both stem and housing if you want less clack.
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This, this, this. I stopped lubing the housing several builds ago, primarily out of a desire to reduce the amount of time I was spending lubing; I figured as long as I was lubing the contact points on the exterior of the slider (specifically, the four sides and the “ridge” around the slider top, excluding the legs if the switches are tactiles), that would be sufficient for preventing any direct housing-to-slider contact and promote smoothness. My subjective acoustic results are completely consistent with what you’re describing - but you’ve gone one step further with a hypothesis for the cause, and I’d bet you’re correct with that hypothesis.
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I always lube the housings for sound purposes. The bottom housing’s rails and stem hole (lightly) for the bottom out sound, and the stem arm wells in the top housing for the return dampening. Once you remove the clack, you can’t go back 
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Aha. A fellow sound aficionado to share tips and tales with! 
Here is another psycho-sound-feel related lesson I learned recently: I love the sound of Cherry MX Black housing but it feels scratchy. So I tested a psychological hack reusing the Trying new switches, lubes, or springs frugally trick:
- Use a hot-swap board to make experimentation easier.
- Use 10 to 20 Cherry MX Blacks (I replaced the stem with Kailh Pro Burgundy stems to double-down on the clack).
- Install them on the board in the order of frequency.
- Fill the rest with smoother linear switches. Spring weight should be similar. I went for the maximum smoothness, C3 Tangerine R2.
This was to test if variations in scratchiness reduce the perception of the same.
With test sample of one, I can only say YMMV but the result felt neither smooth nor scratchy in-use. Tested individually, I could tell but not when mixed up. It’s like my mind averaged the feel. Pretty interesting if true.
And how does it sound? Fantastic. Why didn’t the sound average out like the feel? I think it’s because great sound is more noticeable and memorable than borderline scratchy feel.
Take away idea is to consider adding some super-clacking switches like one would use spice in cooking to improve the taste. It doesn’t take many. Around ten or so should do it.
UPDATE: Beware that Spiced boards are addictive, making other boards feel boring in comparison. It’s more a fetish or perversion than a mod.
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Completely agree. Very similar experience with a new alpacas board with filmed 3204 lubed alpacas. Favorite linear over creams, inks, and tealios.
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I’m really digging the Alpacas in my hotswap board. They are filmed and lubed with 205g0 with 70g TX springs. I do like 3204 by far for sound, but 205g0 still sounds good and a thin layer feels like heaven. I can’t wait to hear how they sound in the all acrylic build.
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I’m using the term Spiced to describe a board with different switches sprinkled on frequently used keys.
Update on the Cherry MX Spiced Tangy board: Replaced 20 Cherry MXes with 10 Creams on ERTIOASDHN keys to get the best feel and sound out of the combo. Noice, even in an acrylic case.
Speaking of acrylic board, I’ve not yet discovered the joy of acrylic case (and plates) yet. The only acrylic board I have is Tofu and, while it looks really nice with underglow, it just doesn’t sound as good as aluminum case. I can sort of dig the vibration while typing and acrylic case seems to let the PCB flex more without center and bottom polls but I’m a sound man and acrylic sound is a dud-ish sound which, so far, detracts from the switch sound overall.
3204 lubed Alpacas: This peaks my interest. V2 Inks I got recently is nice but, amidst recent surge of new top liner switches, it doesn’t stand out and Alpacas looks more promising.
It’s actually crazy how fast new switches are being introduced now - it’s a lot to keep track of - although I guess a lot of these new linears coming from durock are just clones but in different colorways (correct me if I’m wrong)?
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I’m not the biggest fan of my frosted acrylic 5° case either, but the one I’m waiting on is a stacked, laser cut acrylic Alice layout board from switch couture. I have never had a stacked acrylic board nor know what it sounds like. I wonder if each layer will act like a drum head and amplify the switch sound…pure speculation.
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That used to be the case but now we’re seeing new products from Durock, Invyr, C3 as well as others, like super smooth switches like Alpaca, Marshmallow, UHMWPE stem/housing, and POM stabs. It’s not clear who initiated each ideas but none of them would’ve been possible unless JWK stepped up their game. I’m sure Gateron and Kailh will soon step up their games too. All good news for us.
I had an acrylic Alice based board, built with Zealios. Very Thocky.
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