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Datacomp ALPS Type

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Overview

DatacompALPS Type” is a series of keyswitches derived from Forward Electronics SKBL/SKBM. The precise history is unclear, but Forward Electronics supplied (depending on whose version of the story is correct) either the plans for the tooling, or the life-expired tooling itself. The Datacomp switches appear to be largely identical to SKBL/SKBM, but they use Cherry’s colours instead of Alps’s colours.

The precise history of the switches is unclear. Currently it seems that they were in production by early 2012. Tai-Hao were commissioned to produce a run of one thousand keyboards in 2012 using Datacomp switches; these keyboards shipped between March and November 2012, and this would have meant that the switches would have reached their factory in February 2012. The purchase records for the switches are no longer available to corroborate this information. In January 2013, Joel from Mechanical Keyboards mentioned “new ALPS clones” that he’d seen at Computex in Taiwan (presumably June 2012), giving another indication that the switches were available in 2012. Photos of the Datacomp booth at Computex 2011 show packaged keyboards marked as using the “Full travel Datacomp mechanical keyswitch”, although this claim alone is insufficient as some brands (Nan Tan Computer and Strong Man) appear to have passed off other manufacturers’ switches as their own products. The switches were exhibited at Computex 2014 but the photos are all lost.

It appears that the switches did not appear on Datacomp’s website until around 2018. (In 2017 the Switch page read “No products currently!” and prior to 2017 there seems to have been no mention of them at all.)

Branding

Datacomp ALPS Type switches are branded only on the bottom, with the “F D” of Forward Electronics replaced by a partial Datacomp logo (the oval plus the letter “D”):

View full-size image
Datacomp branding on the base of the switch

Models

All ALPS Type switches have SKBM part numbers: the distinction between SKBL (linear) and SKBM (tactile) was not maintained. Datacomp completely refused to respond (over a period of years); the part numbers were provided by KBParadise, who have used all of these switch types in their keyboards.

The table below lists the Datacomp ALPS Type switches alongside the corresponding Forward Electronics (FD) models.

Part Type Force Colour FD model FD colour FD force
SKBMFA000DS Click 60±25 gf Blue SKBMFA Clear/grey/black¹ 70±25 gf
SKBMFB000DS Tactile 60±25 gf Brown SKBMFB Black² 70 gf
SKBMFC000DS Linear 55±25 gf Red SKBLFE Yellow 60±25 gf

Total travel is 3.5±0.5 mm, and total lifetime is 20 million cycles. This is double the rated lifetime of SKBL/SKBM.

Note that the images on Datacomp’s site are incorrect: the 3D illustrations show all three types with a tactile leaf, and the cutaway illustrations show the clicky type with a tactile leaf.

Notes

  1. Officially, Forward Electronics SKBMFA is clear (“white”, but non-pigmented), but black and grey click types are known, and there has never been any indication of how they differ.
  2. No official colour for Forward Electronics SKBMFB was ever identified, but they have always been found to be black.

Documentation

Sources