Anyone have any input on these? I have a mechanical keyboard with cherry browns and it’s awesome, so I’m wondering if it’s also great on fightsticks.
Well, every button you buy is going to have a mechanical switch of some kind(none use rubber domes), but I’m going to assume you are talking about the GameFinger HBFS-30 buttons that use keyboard switches. I don’t have personal experience with them, but I’d imagine it would work well. From what I know, they do come with Cherry Reds by default, which feel quite different from Cherry Browns, but you can swap the switches out if you want a different feel.
Honestly, the buttons aren’t too expensive, so you could order a set to try them out if you’re curious.
From [Game finger’s website
Would tactile feedback work for you?
Hard to say, as the MX switches are originally intended for keyboards and Keyboard enthusiast, programmers,PC gamers and typist all have different ideas which switch is better.
As MX switches apply to the HBFS, that is a whole new ball game. All I can suggest is you test them out and try for your self.
They work nice for fighters if you wan’t a pseudo-american button feel. They are relatively light (close to sanwa in feel) and have a soft bump above the actuation point, which makes things somewhat tricky as you may think you have activated the button upon the tactile feel, but you actually have to travel a tad farther from the bump to actuate the switch.
Again as the people who posted before said, you’d probably be best buying a few buttons and a variety of switches and see how they interact with the button. I did the same with red, black, blue, brown, green, and clear MX switches and ended up using clear for a more defined tactile bump for my own preference. If you like browns, you may also like blues and clears.
On a side note, aren’t browns 45 cN (or gF… screw units)?
just found this. i had a write up of it before but its nice to see it in action.
They’re pretty expensive for buttons, especially once you start adding different switches. I’ve got a set with the stock reds. I like them better, however I like Ultimarc’s gold leaf buttons more. They are screw in, short, and concave!
I tried out some mechanical buttons on a Razor keyboard and I can’t imagine using them for buttons. I think I’m always going to prefer the snappy tactile feel of basic switches.
Thats what I originally thought when the original HBFS-30’s came out. But with a variety of Cherry MX switches it actually makes for a really nice button that has the capability to change to your preference with the correct switch inside. Clear or even Grey tactile bump for my music games (mainly since OBS-M Assemblies are expensive due to having to import them), blacks or blues for FGs, or just green as my general favorite.
I think it has more to do with the type of bump or whatever you want to call it. I see from the illustrations how they add the bump in, it’s not quite the same. I like how a basic snap action switch has that snappy feeling to it, it returns to neutral so well, gives me the clicky sound I want on top of that. Yeah, those OBS-M assemblies are stupidly expensive, and they don’t fit on Seimitsu G series of buttons. But that will change soon.
Modding project? Oooh sounds fun. Jasen said he was heading to japan so I sent him a msg on facebook to see if he could get some OBS-As.
Back to Cherry MX, black lacks the bump and is very reminiscent of a seimitsu ps-14-k from my own experience. The bump is mainly felt in certain greys, clears, and browns (from greatest to least bump). Blues and greens have a nice click to them but not as loud as a sanwa click, seimitsu clack, or other “click” noises since the terminals making contact are so small. I want to remove the pads on my HBFS but that would kill the point of a silent switch.
Looking back stupid sanwa had to get the silent craze going. I don’t mind it at all but then what I’m still confused about is that even though they removed one source of noise they cant remove noise from an actuator making contact with the gate or things like that.
You can, but you’d kill the feel of the stick and would have to replace the silencing solution once it wears off.
The G series BSAS (Basic Snap Action Switch) mod I’m doing I’m thinking of releasing under the BSD license and saying if you print it you can sell it. I don’t think there is enough interest in something like that to get an actual backing for that, either. Plus, it’s not like it would be very original compared to the OBS-A anyway.
I see. I guess there really isn’t going to be a true silent solution, not that it matters since arcade parts were originally meant to be used in a loud environment.
When it comes down to it I like a the switches from OBS-Ms better than clears since the distinction of the press is more well defined than a Cherry clear. In most cases since the click is not as loud on a cherry green or blue in comparison to a D44x or even those stupid e-switches when you use them in the OBS-M. So i guess for me the HBFS is the only substitute unless I somehow bribe my CAD teacher to let me 3d print some mock OBS-Ms… but that would be a bit of effort to make the design. The only real thing I’ve printed relevant to arcades is an actuator which I managed to convince to my teacher that it was a part for a CO2 dragster.
Well, I’ll have a CAD file for a design that can go into G switches, which you can maybe bribe your teacher to print. Hopefully that helps 
Oh, I forgot, I wanted to look into acoustic foam solutions to line sticks with. You could probably cut a lot of noise down with it since it would dampen most of the sound bouncing around the inside of a case.
You do realize that you can use switches without the “bump” right?
I was considering lining my arcade stick with dynamat or dynatape. Used to use that in my car tuning phase.
If you guys need 3D printing or scanning you can hit me up. I have a buddy with a performance automotive shop and they recently acquired both and are undercutting most online services. You can check them out yourself. The shop is called D3 Performance Engineering. They currently build some of the fastest street cars in Texas (and the nation).
Who is this directed at? If me, then I think you have the wrong guy I like my tactile switches, I just prefer the “snap” of a basic switch over a MX switch.
These should be available in Red, Brown, and Blue. I haven’t seen a black and Corsair only shows those three as being available.
I own a WASD keyboard with black switches.