Funky Frankenswitches

Learning and discussion Key switches
505

I love the way long-pole stems like Pro Burgundys sound in Ink Bottoms.

The bane of many a favorite franken recipe - revised tooling.

My guess is that your 3-pin batch comes from an older manufacturing run than your 5-pin batch; Kailh Blacks have the same thing going on with their own stems.

I’ve got a thread going dedicated to cataloging changes like this;

There’s some photos in there that show similar changes with the Kailh Black stems.

This makes me wonder if the new Burg Pro stems are the same as the new Black stems; they used to be a hair longer but it would make financial sense for them to consolidate tooling for otherwise very similar designs. I’ve got a post on my site cataloging some of the differences between Kailh stems - mostly Creams but Burgundy Pros are included - here’s the caliper measurements:

  • Kailh Black (V1), Cream Dream, Nolive (V2): ~13.31mm (I think all these use the same tooling)

  • OG Cream (V1): 13.41mm

  • Launch Cream, Cream Arc (Updated Cream V2): 13.48mm

  • Kailh Pro Burgundy (V1): 13.65mm

  • Kailh Speed Navy: 13.69mm

It’s pretty normal for long-pole switch stems to peek-out above the top housing, especially with frankenswitches thanks to housings having different tube depths.

There’s another thread here on KeebTalk about the long-pole business with some comparison photos, including the Burgundy with some others:

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