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tux1968

Sorry for being thick, but I just can't work out what you mean by suggestion #5. What does it mean to use the supported switch footprint? How could you use an unsupported one? What does it mean to connect your ground planes? What do you mean by additional holes (compared to what)?

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I think OP is referring to the "PCB mount" version of the cherry keyswitches which has two extra supporting plastic pins. The other "plate mounted" version doesn't have them. Nothing about the PCB mount version prevents you from using a plate but it requires two extra holes per switch.

https://support.wasdkeyboards.com/hc/en-us/articles/11500927...

Yes, without these pins the switch can twist. Making them a mess to align without a plate. With those extra holes not only can you use the circuit board without a plate, you can also use any pcb mount switch you may have laying around, or have bought in bulk.

As for the ground plane [0], you usually want this uniformly connected despite the grid routing of the matrix. But since there is no connection on the plastic pins you can use these holes for that instead of making a bunch of other connections.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_plane#Printed_circuit_b...

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