Anyone know about these? It says “thermoplastic” bottom. Lol. Can’t be more vague than that.
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This is the first I have heard of them, but my guess would be INK material as I have seen Gateron refer to it as INK thermoplastic before. If that is the case these switches should be pretty nice & priced very well for using that material!
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So I bought two 9x9, acrylic switch tester plates from KPRepublic (I know, but the price was dirt cheap) and the switch openings are mostly too loose. Slight little tap with the tester upside down would cause half the switches to fall out of the plate.
Any ideas on possible remedies? Alternatively, if this is a lost cause, anyone have links to good quality switch testers that can hold a lot of switches?
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Not the prettiest, but you can tighten up the openings with tape - maybe carefully cut bits of clear packing tape if you don’t want to change the look too much.
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I appreciate the recommendation.
Sigh. I’m going to have to either embrace the full-on ugly with thick painter’s tape or look for different tester bases. Just tried tightening an opening with packing tape and needed to double up the layers to get any result (so 8 tiny pieces of tape per switch, 2 on each of the four sides).
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Would it be possible to have no-spring, hall-effect switch, using magnetic repulsion for the resistance? Does this already exist? I guess that this would come with some drawbacks and limitations, but just curious about this as a hypothetical.
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Mag-lev swithces?
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Certainly possible. Thomas “Chyrosran22” did a teardown of some 3D printed ones:
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There are many Morse keys featuring 2-way (up and down stroke) adjustable magnetic repulsion in lieu of springs.
Shown below the German 
made BaMaKeY TP-III.
“The ultimate 2% keyboard.” 
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Does anybody know of an aftermarket external solenoid assembly, either for sale or (preferably) plans?
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Are there any tactile silent switches that are not mushy at all?
Well… define “silent”
Frankly, it’s a bit of tradeoff between silence and mushiness. I’m probably not the best to offer advice in this area, since I tend to prefer the more silent and mushy side.
There was a thread here that has a lot of relevant discussion: Silent tactile switches
I would say that the Haimu Whisper or Wuque Studio Silent Tactile are good choices that are somewhat less mushy (but also less silent).
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Thanks, I’ll look into that 
Also second that thread, lots of good info from folks first-hand experiences.
In addition to the Whisper or WS Silent Tactile, I’d also look at Lichicx, specifically the Raw Silent Tactile (if you want RGB) or Invokeys Daydreamer.
TTC also has two good silent tactiles, the Silent Bluish-White and the Peanut Latte. The later is a Swagkeys exclusive, I think?
If you can stand the leaf-spring noise, Durock Shrimps or Blue Macaws are also on the non-mushy side.
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Thanks
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I’m looking at the mode case bottoms and wondering from a cost perspective, why a polycarbon bottom is more expensive than an aluminium one?
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AFAIA PC is much harder to machine (believe or not, I guess it lands in the almost too soft category) & has much higher rejection rates. I’m not 100% on that as I am not a machinist, but that is what I have always heard about CNCing plastic parts vs metal.
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Main thing with PC is its super easy to have chip welding. Which can mess up a surface super quick. Also, since plastic is soft its very easy to damage during handling.
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This is answering a different question, but I found @wjrii’s answer here to be relevant:
(It also backs up @Rob27shred’s point.)
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To add to this. Some plastics are fairly cheap, until you reach certain thicknesses. Delrin (POM) for example is pretty reasonable. That is till you start talking about a 1.5" thickness or higher. And some engineered plastics are just stupid expensive no matter what size.
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