Funky Frankenswitches

Learning and discussion Key switches
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Holy Dragon

  • Dragon Fruit housing & spring
  • Input Club Halo stem
  • Thin films & spring lubing recommended
  • Extra-short travel :pinching_hand:
  • Crisp top-bump :sparkles:
  • Light but loud :boom:

Smooth, short, and snappy. Lots of thock for little effort.

Mounted in a GK61 with cheap foam beneath the PCB, modded GMK stabs, and ABS MT3 keycaps.

I used thin polycarb Kebo films (TX seemed a little too thick), and donut-dipped the springs in 3204 - though in retrospect it might have been better to just bag-lube them in an oil like 105.

Edit: If you’re interested in doing a build with these, I recommend you check out this post about resolving teeter-totter on stabilized keys with short travel switches by @Walkerstop - it will save you some headache when it comes to the stabs.

Comparisons:

VS:

  • Stock Dragon Fruit: sharper & higher bump, snappier bottom-out

  • Ink Kangaroo (NK): pretty similar, but lighter bump & more smooth

  • Holy Panda: lighter bump, more smooth / clean operation

  • Heisenberg: lighter bump, less harsh, but nearly as clacky

  • Holy Boba: lighter bump, bottom-out more crisp / less softened

  • Lilac Tea: higher & heavier bump, a bit more harsh

  • Holy Dragons have shorter travel than all of these.

Flavor-text:

As much as I’m trying to get away from Holy-whatevers, and as obvious as it is to put Halo stems into every new housing, I really couldn’t not share this one.

They’ve got a great, thocky sound and enjoy above-average smoothness even with just leftover factory lube. (Lubing the spring is kind of a must, though - unless you enjoy light metallic rattle.) Holy Dragons have a very short travel, even when compared to most other switches using Halo stems. Actuation lines-up well with tactility despite the short throw.

Even though the tactility of this switch is very affirmative, actuation only requires a light touch. It’s basically impossible not to bottom-out with these, but it’s pretty mild thanks to that extra-short travel.

As a funny aside, I wanted to get a bit more creative with the name on this one, and thought to look up the proper name of the mythological Chinese celestial dragon kings. I thought that might be more fun than the obvious “Holy X” Halo stem naming convention. Well…

The linguistic phenomena of false friends being a thing, I wasn’t about to call these Lóng Wáng.

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