Cherry’s new mechanical switch is based on an 11 year old forum post.

For the happily obsessed mechanical keyboard enthusiast, there are no trifles on the road to the perfect switch. Perfect key feel is worth studying the characteristics of a switch, or even pairing the parts of one mechanical switch with another to create the perfect Frankenswitch, as they’ve been called. One particular mod has garnered so much attention since it was posted on the forum 11 years ago that Cherry has turned it into a real product.

Cherry, the inventor of mechanical switches, announced the Cherry MX Ergo Clear this week, describing it as a transition between Brown and Clear tactile switches. All three switches have a total travel of 4mm and actuate at 2mm, but the Ergo Clears require about 55g of force to actuate, with the required force dropping to about 40g at the switch’s operating point. Clean, on the other hand, require 65g before dropping to 55g, while browns require around 55g and 45g, respectively.

The idea for the Ergo Clear came from a post on the Geekhack mechanical keyboard forum. A user named “mtl”said that Clears felt too heavy, “especially on the keys around the outer perimeter”of the keyboard. Mtl decided to create its own switch by combining the spring of a lighter (60g actuation force) Cherry MX Black linear switch with a clear stem, creating “a switch that is easier to press than Cherry Clear and more tactile than Cherry Brown,”said at the time. MTL.

A Cherry spokesperson told Ars Technica that the spring in the MX Ergo Clears is “similar”to that of the MX Black derailleur, but with an “updated design.”

Cherry’s announcement doesn’t say if the MX Ergo Clear uses the same switch as the Cherry Black switch (we’ve reached out for comment and will let you know if we hear back). However, the end result should be in the same vein.

Cherry even pre-lubed the MX Ergo Clear switches, citing a PTFE sprayable dry lubricant that MTL says they dipped their Franken switch springs and derailleurs in to reduce scratches.

Cherry, however, has chosen a general purpose grease from Krytox called GPL 205 GRADE 0 Grease, a common mechanical switch grease, especially for linear switches. Cherry’s so-called “high precision automated process”is probably more efficient than the mtl dipping process used 11 years ago. In addition, Cherry claims that this process helps deliver the switch’s claimed 50 million click durability. Self-hacked Frankenswitches do not claim such durability.

Cherry has announced RGB and non-RGB versions of the 3-pin and 5-pin MX Ergo Clears (four versions in total).

The Power of the Enthusiast Community

Cherry said it launched the MX Ergo Clear primarily “to reach out to the DIY community.”The German company has called the new switches “the first special edition community switch from Cherry MX”, leaving the door open for new designs born from the creative mind of the mechanical keyboard community.

As with products like Holy Panda (a Frankenswitch switch invented by an enthusiast known as Quakemz, which Drop now markets as a product and inspired Glorious Panda switches), the launch of the MX Ergo Clears highlights the power of the community when it comes to enthusiasts. Product level launch. One post from years ago claims nearly 6,000 reads and spawned other Geekhack threads with thousands of interactions, as well as countless conversations in the mechanical keyboard community and, this week, a proposal from the original mechanical switch maker.

Cherry is not the first vendor to make an “official”mtl-inspired switch. As The Verge points out, Zeal PC, which says it “comes from Geekhack”, originally marketed the design as the Zealio V1 and now as the Zealio V1 Redux. And there are many hobbyists who paved the way for Frankenstein to Ergo Clear without the help of a corporation.

But since Cherry has introduced the switch as an official design, we can reportedly expect it to appear in off-the-shelf keyboards (Cherry didn’t list models or brands) and official distributors backed by Cherry-level build quality and durability.