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Forward Electronics SKBL/SKBM Series

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Overview

SKBL/SKBM is a series of keyboard switches manufactured by Forward Electronics. Initially these switches were Alps-branded; following the dissolution of the joint venture between Alps and Forward Electronics, the switches were rebranded “F D” for Forward Electronics.

These switches have been known historically under several names: “simplified Alps”, “Simplified Alps Type I” and “Fukka”. “Fukka” is simply a terrible misreading of 福華 “Fuhua”. The “simplified” notion arises from the SKBL/SKBM using a much simpler contact design than SKCL-SKCM.

Production of these switches ended when the tooling wore out. The tooling was subsequently sold to Datacomp who rebuilt it and put the switches back into production under their own brand as Datacomp ALPS Type, using Cherry’s colour scheme and part numbers based on yet inconsistent with Alps practice. Matias switches were instigated as a direct response to threat of production of SKBL/SKBM being terminated.

Documentation

The SKBLFE000A and SKBMFA000A drawing PDFs were previously available on the Forward Electronics website. The PDFs were produced in 2003, while the drawing dates are “SEP,11,’99” and “91.07.16” respectively. The latter could be assumed to denote 2002-07-16 in the Minguo calendar, although Forward Electronics reported that SKBL/SKBM Series was introduced in 1991, which would match the drawing date if it were in the Gregorian calendar. This would suggest that the tactile model was introduced some years after the linear model.

The specifications SKBL-E01 and SKBM-E01 were provided by a former customer, and both date to 1995, which is the point in time that these switches seem to have appeared on the market. The PDFs were updated in 2007 and 2006 respectively, presumably when the Alps logo was replaced by the Forward Electronics logo.