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PSA: Found a hidden gem for switch testers at a local electronics surplus shop in Portland
I was killing time last Saturday and wandered into this dusty electronics surplus place called Surplus Gizmos near the convention center. They had bins full of old mechanical switch samples from some 90s telecom gear, like Alps SKCM and vintage Cherry MX. I grabbed a handful of 30 different switches for just $8 total, way cheaper than those $30 switch tester kits online. The tactile feel on those old brown Alps was way more crisp than any modern clone I've tried, honestly. Has anyone else scored weird switches from random surplus stores like this, or is Portland just a weird lucky spot for that sort of thing?
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luna_jackson2828d ago
That whole "tactile feel on those old brown Alps" bit hit me hard. A buddy of mine, not into keyboards at all, wandered into an Amvets in Ohio last year and found a box of NOS vintage Cherry MX clears for like ten bucks because the staff thought they were just "weird old computer parts." He ended up using them in a build and swore the tactile bump was way more pronounced than anything on the market today, but he also said the housings were super delicate and two of them cracked when he tried to desolder them. Your Portland score sounds way more reliable, honestly, especially for the price.
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reed.ray28d ago
Nah wait, TWO of them cracked just from desoldering? That's wild. I've heard vintage MX clears are brittle but that's next level. I've desoldered all kinds of janky old boards and never had a switch body actually split on me. Makes me wonder if those were stored in some weird hottish warehouse or something that made the plastic extra fragile. Your buddy's lucky only two broke though, could've been way worse trying to salvage the rest.
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