What Springs Should I Buy?

Choosing the perfect spring weight can be a tough balancing act. It's important to remember a good weight should be comfortable and allow you to type without making mistakes.

To keep things simple, there are two factors to consider when shopping for aftermarket keyboard springs: weight and length. It's important to understand how each variable can influence the overall feeling of your switch because they both change different aspects of the switch-feel and typing experience.

To help you visualize it, have a look at the Force Graphs provided by TX Keyboards for their springs. 

What Influences the Spring-Feel?

Weight:

Choose a weight based on how heavy you want the switch to feel at the end.

Aftermarket springs are always sold based on the bottom-out weight. This value is measured in grams and will tell you how much force is required to completely compress the spring. 

Length:

Choose a length based on how heavy you want the switch to feel at the start.

The Length of your spring will decide what your switch will feel like at the beginning of the press and for most of the travel. 

To get a general idea of what to expect, look at the graphs provided on this page and compare where each length starts. You will notice these numbers are quite different.

For example, looking at the 62g Graph, 22mm starts at above 50g while 14mm starts at below 30g. Even though they both bottom-out at the same weight, they will feel very different when used in a keyboard.

Currently, in the keyboard hobby, longer springs are trendy and popular. All modern switches are produced with a longer spring because many customers enjoy the comfy, consistent feeling. 

Exploring Short and Long Spring Lengths

As these lengths are at the opposite ends of the spectrum, contrasting them will help you understand the influences they have on the overall feeling of your switch. 
If you don't want something too short or too long, then something towards the middle will be a nice balance. 

Shorter Springs:

Short springs feel very light, even up to 65g they will still feel much lighter than M, L, XL and UXL springs of the same weight. The increasing heaviness is subtle, so at lower weights it's harder to notice this effect.

Suggestions:
- Buy these if you want a very light feeling keystroke that is very, very easy to press. 
- Choose a slightly heavier bottom out weight to balance out the lack of resistance.  

Longer Springs :

Keystrokes feel firm and stiff with lots of upwards resistance because the spring is compressed when put inside a switch; longer the spring, the more it will "push" upwards.

This feeling does not change and stays consistent from start to finish and through-out the press. Don’t expect these springs to get much heavier as you approach bottom-out and they may even “feel lighter” as you press harder to overcome the upwards resistance of the initial few millimeters of the keypress.

Think of it like popping bubble wrap; the resistance you feel is only at the beginning and once the plastic bubble bursts your fingers continue to move due to the momentum.  
Once you press hard enough to overcome the upwards resistance you will reach bottom out, effortlessly. 

The longer the spring, the more exaggerated this consistent feeling will be.

Suggestions:
- Buy these if you want to feel the resistance at the top of the switch as you press downwards. 
- Choose a slightly lighter bottom out weight to balance out the initial resistance.|

Additional Notes

While the information on this page can help you choose an aftermarket spring, there are other factors not mentioned but do have an effect on the way your switch feels.

Examples: 

-    Springs will feel different in linear or tactile switches 
-    Springs will feel different with thick or thin keycaps 
-    It takes some time to adjust to different spring weights

When it comes to spring weight, 62g is by far the most popular and best-selling in the community. Use 62g as the benchmark when deciding if you want to type on something light or heavy. 

You might feel more adventurous once you're experienced but for most, staying around 62g is their ideal preference and the best choice.

Visual 1 - Range of spring weights on a scale