The mechanical keyboard can be said to be a good helper for office games. With its popularity, many people now have a mechanical keyboard on their desktop. However, many mechanical keyboards have built-in steel plates, and even some keyboards are made of metal throughout the body. Of course, there are also products with or without lighter steel plates.
What Is The Use Of Steel Plates For Mechanical Keyboards?
Currently, most of the mid to high-end mechanical keyboards on the market are basically designed with steel plates, while Cherry’s original mechanical keyboards were basically designed with steel free panels in the early stages. However, with the change in design concepts over the past few years, they have gradually added steel plate designs to their own keyboards.
First of all, let’s take a look at the differences between mechanical keyboards with and without steel plates in the use and fixation of shaft bodies.
The shaft body used on Cherry’s original mechanical keyboard is somewhat different from the Cherry shaft we refer to daily. On the fixed column of the shaft base, there are one large, two small, and three black fixed columns at the bottom of the shaft body used by Cherry’s original shaft. The mechanical shaft switch provided by Cherry to other manufacturers only has a large fixed column at the bottom. From the above figure, we can see the differences between the two. On the left is the Cherry original keyboard shaft, and on the right is the OEM (OEM) shaft. The PCB boards and manufacturing processes used for these two shafts are different.
Part of the reason why Cherry’s original keyboard does not use steel plates is because the original PCB has 6 layers, and the material used exceeds most of the main boards. The fixed shaft is very reliable, with strong rebound but not stiff. Therefore, Cherry abandoned the built-in steel plate in the early stage in order to give users a more realistic mechanical keyboard feel, and also has its own design principles.
The mechanical keyboard with steel plates also has its own unique feel, and many users also love the mechanical keyboard with steel plates. They feel that a mechanical keyboard with a certain weight is very textured and relatively stable to use. After pressing the buttons on the mechanical keyboard with steel plates, there is a clear feedback feeling when touching the bottom, and even a faint metallic sound can be heard when touching the steel plates.
Mechanical keyboards without steel plates have a softer feel, and the sound of keystrokes is slightly smaller than mechanical keyboards with steel plates. Due to being directly fixed to the PCB board, the keys are dispersed by the PCB board after touching the bottom, without the strong feedback feeling brought by the steel plate, so the feel of the keys is slightly soft. This type of keyboard can directly experience the key feeling brought by the shaft body.
Why Do Membrane Keyboards Need Steel Plates?
In addition to mechanical keyboards, some membrane keyboards also have steel plates installed inside them. The working principle of membrane keyboards is completely different from that of mechanical keyboards, so what is the significance of installing steel plates?
The working principle of a thin film keyboard is relatively simple. Among the three layers of circuit film under the rubber bowl, the middle layer is an insulating layer, but there is an opening at the contact point between the upper and lower sides, which is usually used to ensure that the upper and lower layers of circuit boards are disconnected. When you press the key cap with your fingers, the column under the bottom of the keyboard will press down on the silicone wrist, and when the silicone wrist is pressed down to the bottom, it will make the upper layer of circuit board contact with the lower layer of circuit board, sending a signal.
The overall structure of the membrane keyboard is relatively fragile, and such mechanisms are often very vulnerable to damage. Therefore, the original membrane keyboard was installed with steel plates inside, which not only has a certain amount of weight in the feel, but also can play a certain protective role. A slight touch of the keyboard with your hand can cause a clicking sound and severe distortion. As a result, the thin film circuit inside the keyboard may break and be damaged.
So if there is no steel plate inside the mechanical keyboard, will it be the same as the membrane keyboard?
The answer is no, even if the mechanical keyboard does not have steel plates, its own strength is also great. First of all, it has an advantage in thickness. The PCB board also has a certain hardness, which can prevent damage to the mechanical keyboard. Moreover, due to internal reasons, the reinforcing ribs of the mechanical keyboard can pad the PCB up, which also enhances the internal core area of the mechanical keyboard to avoid certain damage.
For ordinary thin film keyboards, the cost is not high. If a steel plate is installed to protect the keyboard, the manufacturer may not be able to bear the cost. However, thin film keyboards installed with steel plates are basically priced at over 200 yuan. At this time, it is possible to consider buying an entry-level mechanical keyboard.
The question of steel plates for mechanical keyboards is actually very simple. If you like the mechanical feel of steel plates, then the mechanical keyboards with built-in steel plates are the best. If you like mechanical keyboards without steel plates, then mechanical keyboards without steel plates are the most suitable for you. There is no good or bad between the two, only personal preferences.