Inside a tactile key switch.
What happens inside a mechanical keyboard switch?
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What happens inside a mechanical keyboard switch?
Fit the housing, spring, stem, contacts and keycap
The keycap moves a guided stem against a return spring. A shaped ramp bends a contact leaf, creating the tactile bump, then lets the gold contacts meet before the stem reaches its bottom stop.
Schematic Cherry MX Brown style switch: nominal 2 mm pre-travel and 4 mm total travel. The displayed force curve is an illustrative tactile profile, not a measured factory curve; contact bounce and manufacturing tolerances are omitted.
Close the contact at 2 mm or more with a freely returning stem.
Find when pressing the key closes its contact.