Frankenswitch

Frankenswitch (or Frankenswitching) is a mod where the switch parts are swapped out for a part from different switches. This is often done to improve the feel and sound of the switch but it can also be done for their aesthetic.

The NK cream switches are known for their “self-lubricating” properties¹⁾ due to the switches being fully comprised of POM. However, due to the nature of POM, the friction between two POM surfaces creates a sensation in the community called “Stick-Slip”²⁾ where the slider gets stuck in the housing momentarily before an increase of force is applied to move the switch again. To alleviate this, people tried to use parts of the switch separately in order to not have the same POM material for both the housing and stem.

Examples of Frankenswitches that use the Cream stem are:
“Creampacas” which uses the JWK Alpaca housing with a Cream stem.
“Creamsicle” which uses the TKC Tangerine housing with a Cream stem.
“Creameron” which uses the Gateron Ink Black housing with a Cream stem.

Alternatively, people found out the stem from Kailh Red and Kailh Black are comparable to the NK Cream³⁾. However, there is no evidence that the stem uses the same material or not. But it is a cheaper and more widely available way to create the Frankenswitch listed above. This in turn created many variations of the Frankenswitches listed above with Kailh Red and Kailh Black stem instead.

Examples of Frankenswitches that use the Cream housing are: are:
“Paco” which uses the Kailhua Halo stem with a Cream housing.
“Butter Cream”^{4) 5)} which uses the Gateron Yellow stem with a Cream housing.
“Macchiato/Krelbos”⁶⁾ which uses the Cherry Silent Red stem with a Cream housing.

Cherry switches have been regarded for their unique sound but with a major flaw of being scratchy. A way people tried to alleviate this is by swapping out the Cherry stem with a stem from another manufacturer. The earliest examples of these switches are the “Bumblebee”⁷⁾ which uses the Gateron Yellow stem and the “Vintage Burgundy”^{8) 9)} which uses the Kailhua Burgundy stem. However, this practice has faded out for other modding tricks such as the use of break-ins and diamond polishing.

This Frankenswitch tries to solve the same problem as the one listed above, which is the scratchiness of Cherry MX switches. In this case, the Cherry Silent switch is both scratchy and louder to due the Cherry Housing. To alleviate this, people often swap the silent stem of a cherry for different manufacturer housing instead. The most popular Frankenswitch at the time is called the “MX Zilent” which uses a Linear Zeal housing found switches like Tealios with the Cherry Silent stem. This gave the switch a smoother and cleaner sound compared to the original.

This Frankenswitch tries to keep the smoothness of a modern switch and the sound of a Cherry switch. To achieve this, people utilize only the top housing of Cherry switches. The reason is that people argue that the unique Cherry sound is mostly from the “Top out” sound of the switch. Top out is when the switch is released and hits the top of the housing. Having the top housing of a cherry switch in a Frankenswitch supposedly makes the top out sound more like Cherry's.

One of the most popular examples is the “Black Cherry Pie” switch. Which is a “Creampaca” switch from the NK Cream Stem section but replacing the top housing with Cherry's instead. Other notable switches are “Choreo” which is “Creameron” with Cherry top housing and the Holy Panda Frankenswitch, Zyko.

The practice of replacing the housing comes from the notion that the switch top housing mold and material can change the sound. This can be traced back to Cherry Nixies where people believed that the Milky top housing gave out a deeper sound. Same as the people preferring Gateron Milky Top instead of the normal black top due to believing that the sound of the former is deeper.

The tradition of replacing switch top housing later change to use other switches than just Cherry switches however. After the popularity of “Black Cherry Pie” people tried many combinations with many different switch top housing including the aforementioned Gateron Milky top housing. Most attempts of this mod are usually to deepen the Top out sound of their respective switch. Notable examples include: “Cthulhu” switch which is a “Creameron” with Gateron Milky Top housing and the Holy Panda Frankenswitch, Byko.

When the ZealPC Zealios switch was first released, the housing of the switch was lackluster due to it being loose causing housing noise. People were putting the Zealios stem inside Cherry housing in order to remove flaws of the original housing, thus creating the “Cherrios” switch. Note that this was when the main manufacturers were Cherry, Gateron, and Kailh. And things such as switch films do not exist as of yet. Later, people started using the Invyr Panda housing instead, creating the “Zanda” switch. The “Zanda” was then preceded by the very own Zealios V2 which has better housing and a more tactile leaf spring which was a direct competitor to the Holy Panda Frankenswitch, quote “All Zealio V2 have reduced wobble that's less than Holy Pandas, while managing to be even more tactile with a bigger, smoother bump as well. Bump starts at the very top of the keypress, no pre-travel.”¹¹⁾ Even after the new housing mold, some people still made “Cherrios” switch with the Zealios V2 stem due to some people preferring the weaker tactility.