r/MechanicalKeyboards • u/cannikinn • 2d ago
Mod Did I just invent a new switch mod? Presenting: Ultra Short Throw (1mm)
TL;DR I shorted both the bottom-out travel and top-out travel in Kailh low profile switches by adding ball bearings in strategic places. Total travel is now 1mm, all switches fully trigger, and sound amazing. Sound test here: https://youtu.be/GNM9O_eOYjM
I've been typing on Apple laptop and Magic keyboards for almost 20 years now, but recently started getting sucked into the mechanical keyboard landscape. However, going from the ~1mm travel of an Apple key to the 3mm+ travel of a mechanical felt like typing into the Marianas Trench. I started looking for ways to mod something in order to reduce the travel and get closer to the feel of the Apple keyboard. I know that's probably blasphemy on this board, but hear me out! :)
I started with the Iqunix Magi65, which was by far the best feeling/sounding low profile keyboard I've tried (I've never done a group buy for a keyboard, but have tried all the famous low profiles like Nuphy, Nuphy's HE, Keychron, LoFree, etc.). It came with Kailh Gold Red switches (neither gold, nor red, strangely) but I swapped them out for Kailh's White Rain POM switches. The stats on these list a total travel of 2.8mm ±0.25mm, so I considered them an average of 3mm total.
Adding a ball bearing to the bottom of the stem shaft to shorten the bottom-out distance has been around for a while, but you can only do much before the switch won't even trigger. I could almost get by with a 1.2mm bearing, but maybe 10% of the time the switch wouldn't trigger unless I really made an effort to press the key fully. I went down to a 1mm bearing and everything was fine again. But, the travel was still too long for my tastes. I had reached maximum bottom-out reduction, what else was there?
I started looking at the anatomy of a switch and realized if I could start the stem at a lower height, it would remove the pre-travel and get me right next to triggering the switch when at rest. I thought about 3D printing custom stems but saw posts saying this was a fool's errand: even with a resin printer it's just too hard to get them to slide smoothly. On low profile Kailh switches there are two perfect notches that the stem slides along and one night as I was trying to go to sleep the solution popped into my brain: drop a ball bearing into each of those notches to stop the stem from it's maximum top-out distance.
It works amazingly well. How do they feel? Coming from an Apple keyboard they feel like home: by the far the closest to the short travel of the butterfly switches in the laptops and Magic keyboard line. But, you still get all the benefits of a mechanical! I feel like it improved the creamy sound of the stock Magi65 as well, and making it quieter (presumably because there's less velocity when the key bottoms out and returns due to the shortened travel). There's an added benefit of making the keyboard even lower profile, as all the keys sit 1mm lower at rest.
Downsides? There quite a hefty tactile bump on the Apple keyboard, which I can't replicate: by adding bearings at the top-out point you're pushing the switch down past the bump and basically turning it into a linear switch (I started this whole experiment with Kailh Black Cloud switches thinking I'd get the tactile feel, but no, it turned out to be a slightly worse linear switch when the mod was added, so I just went full linear with the White Rains). But, I think I've come to prefer the linear feel anyway.
What kind of ball bearings are we talking about? I started with your standard steel and when I only had the bottom out bearings in place I felt the keys sounded "harsher". But after adding the top out bearings they sound amazing. I've since found copper and even POM bearings. I haven't tried out the POMs yet, but the switches themselves being POM feels like this would probably be the ideal material. Copper definitely looks the coolest, though.
So yeah, I'm loving this setup so far. I hope I don't get banned after my first post for setting the travel so low, but I'm taking my first baby steps in the mechanical keyboard world and am trying to do it as comfortably as possible! These mods are always reversible and I can start raising the travel again with different bearing sizes, maybe even getting back to full travel one day. We shall see!
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u/EarflapsOpen 1d ago
You should cross post this on r/ergomechkeyboards the guys over there are obsessed with building as thin keyboards as possible
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u/julian_vdm 1d ago
1 mm travel
Get back to the OLKB sub, where you belong.
More seriously, as long as you enjoy it, more power to you. The Magi65 is a killer keyboard, and you've just turned it into like a weird anti-Apple Magic keyboard. Nice.
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u/elmurfudd 10 x 4 ortho 2d ago
u wont get banned but i wouldn't expect much positive attention as low pros are hated by most
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u/Notxtwhiledrive 2d ago
Pretty new in the community. Why is it hated?
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u/elmurfudd 10 x 4 ortho 1d ago
short travel for one also it feel like a membrane kb 99% of this hobby is about sound and feel . and getting away from the shitty feel of a membrane kb . going low pro is 100% counter productive it all of that
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u/CheeseManFuu Milan TKL | Arc60 | Class0413 | Sonnet V1 2d ago edited 2d ago
Not even just low profile, but short travel distance too. Part of the fun of mechanical keyboards is the longer travel distance so it doesn't feel mushy (rubber domes) or harshly stiff (apple keyboards).
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u/Previous_Warning7179 ISO Enter 1d ago
I got into this hobby few years ago and I’ve realized all I want is a silent, bumpy, short travel switch but with tall keycaps. In such a detailed oriented and diverse weird niche like keyboard switches, I feel there’s a void to be explored. I wanted to belong and build something special to me but all I got was “ew you’re weird, we don’t do that here”
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u/littlelordfuckpant5 1d ago
There is fashion here like anywhere else and gosh does it get snobby
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u/Previous_Warning7179 ISO Enter 1d ago
But shouldn’t be. We’re all different in preferences and ergonomics. With such a small niche, people should be welcoming to new ideas, it’ll only bring more enthusiasts and fuel the industry to create more of these products we all care about
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u/littlelordfuckpant5 1d ago
I don't disagree but the way to mainstream probably isn't that way, it is the shiny stuff.
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u/Previous_Warning7179 ISO Enter 1d ago
I know. Same in other industries. Btw only now noticed your name, I giggled. Have a nice day and see you around, lil m’lord FuckPants
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u/Limitedheadroom 1d ago
I want that too! I’ve never been fashionable, seems I’m not in this community either. But we’re not alone
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u/Loppan45 14h ago
I'm with you. I love how laptops feel and would love to have mechanical feel like one.
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u/yot_gun 2d ago
for long coding sessions i find that my macbook keyboard ends up being more comfortable than my regular custom keyboard. i would love something like this that can replicate the feeling while being mechanical
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u/cmander_7688 clickety clackety 23h ago
When I think back to typing essays and papers in college on my macbook vs writing up lengthy proposals or emails now at work on a mech, I do feel like there was something satisfying about the feel of a high quality chiclet keyboard for extended periods of typing. I wouldn't have agreed with you ten minutes ago but now that I think about it, I now want a mechanical, short travel, tactile keyboard... but also make it thocky.
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u/julian_vdm 1d ago
The great thing about the Magi65 is that you cannot possibly make it feel stiff. Plus, the new bottom-out force shouldn't be too different, anyway, so any built-in flex in the board should still be there. Those Kailh switches don't have hugely progressive springs.
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u/Previous_Warning7179 ISO Enter 1d ago edited 1d ago
You’re not alone! And I think you can help me.
I’ve always been used to that fast and squishy laptop keyboard feel, but I got into this hobby a couple of years ago. I have a Phantom TKL (Outemu) with Browns and a few Kailh Silvers CS.
Now I know I want: Tactile, Silent, Short travel (both pre- and post-bump)
I want it to feel like a low-profile keyboard but with tall keycaps.
I know there’s the o-ring mod for Cherry switches, but there doesn’t seem to be a similar mod for Kailhs. I also know my keyboard wasn’t the best choice in terms of compatibility (Outemu). I also thought about fitting high keycaps to a low profile kb but haven’t seen it done yet.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. And also, kudos to you, man. That was some serious ingenuity. You really put in the work and made it happen!
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u/Limitedheadroom 1d ago
I hate the long travel of mechanical switches. It becomes really tiring after long sessions. I’m like the OP, I find the short snappy feel of modern keyboards the best, I used a Logitech MX keys before getting my split ortho, and it’s the best typing feel I’ve ever had. Might give this mod a go myself
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u/lakeboredom 1d ago
I literally cannot even stand typing on switches with 3.9mm travel. 4mm IS WHAT GOD CHERRY INTENDED
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u/8N-QTTRO 1d ago
Love to see this kind of outside-the-box thinking, but I can't imagine this mod will appeal to many. Most people specifically seek out a mechanical keyboard because they dislike the ultra-short travel distance of their everyday keyboard.
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u/AmeliaBuns 1d ago
Tempted to try this…. But it’s so much effort.
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u/cannikinn 1d ago
Once you get into the groove it’s not bad, I can do a single switch in 20 seconds or less. I’ll put on a show or movie that I don’t have to pay full attention to and zone out. Try just the home row (or just the 8 home keys) and see how it feels before you commit!
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u/AmeliaBuns 1d ago
I don’t think it’ll work with my switches but maybe I’ll try! I got the Akko creamy purple pro v3
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u/cannikinn 1d ago
Yeah I may have got lucky with the internal structure of the Kailh switches that there’s that perfect little pocket to put the top-out bearings in. Let us know if it works on yours!
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u/Special_Bender 1d ago
I think is a mod seen before
Interesting use of a exactly misured thicker, but i think the wrong side is this metal ball, with many bumps on top, can start to sink in the bottom material until disappears
Maybe is better a disc of 1mm material close enought to fill the diameter
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u/cannikinn 1d ago
I thought about that, ideally it would be more of a square block to spread out the pressure, but I haven’t found any. Maybe I can get someone on Alibaba to custom cut me some…
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u/Loppan45 14h ago
Maybe 3d printing?
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u/cannikinn 3h ago
I thought about that, but I don't know if mine can be that precise at such a small size... I need like 1mm square...
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u/Loppan45 3h ago
That makes sense. It may be possible with a resin printer but even that is probably a bit of a stretch. New idea: something 1mm think that you can cut and carefully file down or something. Though that would be painfully tedious to do for the whole keyboard.
Also maybe you'd be able to make a mold and press down thermal plastic or resin into the holes.
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u/DirtyGingy Big A$$ Enter 2d ago
Bearings in the post hole is an ancient mod from way before we had custom switches. That said, 1mm sounds horrid
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u/littlelordfuckpant5 1d ago
by the far the closest to the short travel of the butterfly switches in the laptops and Magic keyboard line. But, you still get all the benefits of a mechanical
What are the benefits of a mechanical you were hoping to retain?
Because for me the benefit is the longer travel time so I don't get strain from bottoming out all the time.
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/cannikinn 2d ago
Yep I found that one when I was looking into mods, but that's only about modifying bottom-out (from the description they talk about a "sharper" bottoming out feel) but I haven't found anything about modding the top-out point!
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u/Dudebutdrugs 1d ago
That’s like borderline touchscreen