Default:Key Travel For Various Switches

ripster

One of the most important parts of keyboard feel is the amount of distance your fingers have to travel before the switch bottoms out, or key travel. It might be logical to assume that after all these years that keyboard manufacturers would have standardized on key travel.

Nope.

A typical rubber dome varies all over the place. "Full Travel" for a rubber dome goes up to around 3.5mm. This is a SmarTrex but is essentially a Unicomp Rubber Dome Version of their Customizer (they call it Enhanced Quiet Touch). Now measuring it I get .12" or 3mm.

Must rubber domes are in the 2mm range. Scissor switches (laptop style keyboards) are even less.

Logitech tried with their DiNovo Edge a 3.2mm travel scissor switch they named, "PerfectStroke".

Unfortunately it is only in the Edge (expensive) and the Navigator (Navigator is a keyboard with REAL nkey problems. W-A-Spacebar does not work so you can't hop like a bunny in FPS games). My assumption is Logitech is probably jumping on the Chiclet scissor switch bandwagon like everybody else.

ALPS White Clicky Complicated

Surprisingly an ALPS keyboard is not technically a "full travel" keyboard if you assume for a second the IBM Model M is "standard". The ALPS full size switches (nicknamed Bigfoot) AND the low profile switches (SKFR/linear and SKFS/click) both are specified at 3.5mm (source is Sandy55).

This is true as well for the ALPS White NonClicky Complicated switches (the rubber dampened model sometimes referred to as "Creams" although in most cases the stems are white).

Now does this mean you will bottom out statistically more on ALPS? Probably depends on your typing technique but the less travel you have the more likely it is to bottom out. EDIT: It appears Simplified Type 1 (Fukkas) may have 4.0mm travel according to this ABS M1 datasheet.

As you can see there is a tad bit of variation in manufacturing tolerances so often manufacturers give a range of values in their specifications. For example Cherry MX engineers have a specification of 4.0 +/- .5mm.

German Engineering however remains impressive.

As an experiment I cut the little "nipple" off the bottom of the switch to see if I could increase the key travel. Did not change a thing.

Topre specifies their switches at 4mm. Source.

Quote:

35, 45, and 55gram sensitivity, 4mm travel Topre Electrostatic Capacitive Key Switches

Looks about right.

How about the King Of Keyboards? This was a bit difficult to measure but I think it's safe to say IBM is a full travel switch. Probably specified at 4mm but I'm getting measurement error.

I don't have any Beam Spring or Vintage computers lying around but I assume they vary all over the place. For example on my Apple M0110 with the old style linear ALPS it has approximately a 3.5mm travel.

My IBM Selectric Typewriter on the other hand has 6mm travel. There may be a reason why millions of secretaries could type for hours on those.

Now where it will get interesting is what happens in the future. More and more people are getting used to low travel scissor switches that have key travel in the 2mm range.

At the same time there is a limit.

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