Mechanical Keyboards / Mechanical Key Switches

Back in my day, if you wanted to make a mechanical keyboard, you had to solder in expensive key switches onto your PCB - and woe to the person who decided they wanted to change their linear keys instead of clicky ones! Bah humbug, kids these days have no idea, what with their fancy Kailh Choc Switch Sockets - they know nothing of suffering! With these sockets,...

Back in my day, if you wanted to make a mechanical keyboard, you had to solder in expensive Cherry MX switches onto your PCB - and woe to the person who decided they wanted to change their linear keys instead of clicky ones! Bah humbug, kids these days have no idea, what with their fancy Kailh Switch Sockets - they know nothing of suffering! With these sockets,...

For crafting your very own custom keyboard, a Kailh Blue Linear mechanical key switches is deeee-luxe! With smooth actuation and Cherry MX compatibility, they're lovely when you want a clicky tactile keystroke with a snappy feel and an audible click when pressed. Type: Clicky tactile. Operating force: 50 gf (+/-10 gf). Tactile force: 60 gf (+/-10 gf). Pretravel: 1.8...

For crafting your very own custom keyboard, these Kailh White Linear mechanical key switches are deeee-luxe! With smooth actuation and Cherry MX compatibility, they're lovely when you want a clicky tactile keystroke with a snappy feel and an audible click when pressed. Type: Clicky tactile. Operating force: 50 gf (+/-10 gf). Tactile force: 55 gf (+/-10 gf)....

The only thing better than a nice mechanical key, is one that also can glow any color of the rainbow - and that's what the Adafruit NeoKey Breakout will let you do! This little 0.75" x 0.95" PCB can fit one Kailh CHOC or compatible switch and make it easy to use with a breadboard or perfboard. The breakout has a Kailh CHOC socket, which means you can plug in any...

For crafting your very own custom keyboard, these Kailh Brown Linear mechanical key switches are deeee-luxe! With smooth actuation and Cherry MX compatibility, they're lovely when you want a tactile keystroke - it's not clicky like the white-stem keys, more like a little 'bump' when pressing. Quiet Tactile / 'Bump' type. Operating force: 50 gf (+/-10 gf). Tactile...

For crafting your custom keyboard, these "Half Height" Low Profile MX key switches are compatible with standard MX layouts and solder-free sockets but are significantly shorter, for a slimmer build. Compared to standard "Cherry MX" compatible switches, which have 10mm above-board height, these have 7mm - but still have the 4mm actuator height. (The 'half height'...

For crafting your very own custom keyboard, these Kailh Red Linear mechanical key switches are deeee-luxe! With smooth actuation and Cherry MX compatibility, they're lovely when you want a smooth linear keystroke: Type Linear. Operating force: 45 gf (+/-10 gf). Pretravel: 1.8 mm (+/- 0.3 mm). Total travel: 3.6 mm (+/- 0.3 mm). Reset point: 1.8 mm. Comes in a pack of...

For crafting your very own custom keyboard, these Kailh Red Linear mechanical key switches are deeee-luxe! With smooth actuation and Cherry MX compatibility, they're lovely when you want a smooth linear keystroke: Type Linear. Operating force: 45 gf (+/-10 gf). Pretravel: 1.8 mm (+/- 0.3 mm). Total travel: 3.6 mm (+/- 0.3 mm). Reset point: 1.8 mm. Comes in a pack of...

For crafting your very own custom keyboard, these Kailh Choc Low Profile Clicky White mechanical key switches are super slim, with ultra-low profile compared to MX compatible switches! Please note these are NOT MX COMPATIBLE! They cannot be used in 'MX' sockets or PCBs or keycaps, the pin arrangement is totally different. That said, they are much lower profile, and...

For crafting your very own custom keyboard, a Kailh Black Linear mechanical key switch is deeee-luxe! With smooth actuation and Cherry MX compatibility, they're lovely when you want a linear tactile keystroke with a snappy feel and an audible click when pressed. Type: Clicky tactile. Operating force: 50 gf (+/-10 gf). Tactile force: 60 gf (+/-15 gf). Pretravel: 1.9...

For crafting your very own custom keyboard, these Kailh Clicky Jade mechanical key switches are deeee-luxe! With smooth actuation and Cherry MX compatibility, they're lovely when you want a 'thick' and satisfying clicky tactile keystroke with a snappy feel and an audible click when pressed. Type: Clicky Tactile. Operating force: 50 ±15gf. Tactile force: 75...

For crafting your very own custom keyboard, these Cherry MX mechanical key switches are deeee-luxe! This tester gives you one of each, mounted onto a nice plastic cut-out, so you can quickly try all 4. Clicky? Tactile? Linear? What do those terms really mean...you'll know instantly when you poke each key. You get one of each: Clicky Tactile BlueInitial force: 25 gf...

For crafting your very own custom keyboard, these Kailh Black Linear mechanical key switches are deeee-luxe! With smooth actuation and Cherry MX compatibility, they're lovely when you want a smooth linear keystroke with a slightly higher operating force than the Reds. Type Linear. Operating force: 60 gf (+/-10 gf). Pretravel: 1.8 mm (+/- 0.3 mm). Total travel: 3.6 mm...

For crafting your very own custom keyboard, these Kailh Black Linear mechanical key switches are deeee-luxe! With smooth actuation and Cherry MX compatibility, they're lovely when you want a smooth linear keystroke with a slightly higher operating force than the Reds. Type Linear. Operating force: 60 gf (+/-10 gf). Pretravel: 1.8 mm (+/- 0.3 mm). Total travel: 3.6 mm...

For crafting your very own custom keyboard, these Kailh Choc Low Profile Linear Red mechanical key switches are super slim, with ultra-low profile compared to MX compatible switches! Please note these are NOT MX COMPATIBLE! They cannot be used in 'MX' sockets or PCBs or keycaps, the pin arrangement is totally different. That said, they are much lower profile, and...

For crafting your very own custom keyboard, these Kailh Clicky Navy Blue mechanical key switches are deeee-luxe! With smooth actuation and Cherry MX compatibility, they're lovely when you want a 'thick' and satisfying clicky tactile, with high tactile force keystroke with a snappy feel and an audible click when pressed. Type: Clicky Tactile. Operating force: 60...

For crafting your very own custom keyboard, these Kailh mechanical key switches are deeee-luxe! This tester gives you one of each, mounted onto a nice plastic cut-out, so you can quickly try all 4. You get one of each: Clicky Tactile WhiteOperating force: 50 gf (+/-10 gf). Tactile force: 55 gf (+/-10 gf). Pretravel: 1.8 mm (+/- 0.3 mm). Pressure point: 1.7 mm. Total...

If you have one of our etched glow-through keycaps, this adorable, bite-sized Key Switch Keychain is the perfect accessory to show it off. It's basically a satisfying clicky tactile key switch, with a green LED and a CR1220 battery. Press the button to connect the LED to the battery and ka-pow! Your keycap lights up. Way easier than doing a custom DIY keyboard build,...

If you have one of our etched glow-through keycaps, this adorable, bite-sized Key Switch Keychain is the perfect accessory to show it off. It's basically a satisfying clicky tactile key switch, with a red LED and a CR1220 battery. Press the button to connect the LED to the battery and ka-pow! Your keycap lights up. Way easier than doing a custom DIY keyboard build,...

If you have one of our etched glow-through keycaps, this adorable, bite-sized Key Switch Keychain is the perfect accessory to show it off. It's basically a satisfying clicky tactile key switch, with a white LED and a CR1220 battery. Press the button to connect the LED to the battery and ka-pow! Your keycap lights up. Way easier than doing a custom DIY keyboard build,...

If you have one of our etched glow-through keycaps, this adorable, bite-sized Key Switch Keychain is the perfect accessory to show it off. It's basically a satisfying clicky tactile key switch, with a blue LED and a CR1220 battery. Press the button to connect the LED to the battery and ka-pow! Your keycap lights up. Way easier than doing a custom DIY keyboard build,...

The Kailh Big Switch Series comes to Adafruit! These switches are 4 times bigger on each side than a normal MX switch. That comes up to 64 times bigger in volume. Yet, these switches are fully functional. Use as a fidget toy, or solder into a NeoKey trinkey to make the largest Escape key known to humankind. Comes as a large single key switch with keycap. Type:...

Kailh Big Switch Series comes to Adafruit! These switches are 4 times bigger on each side than a normal MX switch. That comes up to 64 times bigger in volume. Yet, these switches are fully functional. Use as a fidget toy, or solder into a NeoKey trinkey to make the largest Escape key known to humankind. Comes as a large single key switch with keycap. Type: Tactile....

The Kailh Big Switch Series comes to Adafruit! These switches are 4 times bigger on each side than a normal MX switch. That comes up to 64 times bigger in volume. Yet, these switches are fully functional. Use as a fidget toy, or solder into a NeoKey trinkey to make the largest Escape key known to humankind. Comes as a large single key switch with keycap. Type:...

For crafting your very own custom keyboard, these Kailh mechanical key switches are deeee-luxe! Come in a pack of 10 switches, plenty to make a small keyboard, or grab a few packs to build a full keyboard. Use these with our NeoKey boards, such as the Socket Breakout and the FeatherWing.They work great with mechanical key sockets if you want to avoid soldering.We...

If you have one of our etched glow-through keycaps, this adorable, bite-sized Key Switch Keychain is the perfect accessory to show it off. It's basically a satisfying clicky tactile key switch, with an LED and a CR1220 battery. Press the button to connect the LED to the battery and ka-pow! Your keycap lights up. Way easier than doing a custom DIY keyboard build, and...