There is a lot of tribal knowledge in the mechanical keyboard community about stabilizers that everyone assumes you know already, so we hope this post laid out the information for you in a clear and easy-to-read format. The stabilizers are pre-clipped which makes them rest on the PCB in a more stable fashion and improve the typing experience. Each key will have one stabilizer bar, two inserts, and two housings. The stabilizer bar keeps both sides of the key from tilting when typing. The stabilizer bars come in several different sizes based on which key it is for, but we’ll get into that later. Different Mounting Styles for Cherry Stabilizers Now that we’ve gone over the three main stabilizer types, let’s take a closer look at the Cherry style stabilizers as they are the most common and the go-to stabilizer if you’re building a keyboard. Bid farewell to additional clipping with these pre-clipped stabilisers. The screw-in design guarantees a secure fit, saving you precious time and effort, and adding to your keyboard's overall stability.

The V2 revisions of these stabilisers include a new wire hook, to help prevent wire popping during operational use and maintenance.Screw-in stabilizers are usually a better option than snap-in as they vibrate less and are more secure. The only situation where we would recommend this stabilizer type is if you can’t find a keyboard with screw-in stabilizers. We highly recommend the screw-in stabilizer type if you plan on building a keyboard. Snap-In Stabilizers Cherry style stabilizers are the most common stabilizers out there. They are the preferred stabilizer type as they are easy to mod and have a lot of different options when it comes to mounting styles, colors, and material types.

The stabilizers attach by clipping/snapping into the metal plate. This style of connection is not the most secure and adds to the overall amount of shaking and rattling. The set comes with all the necessary components, including two housing units, a gold-plated steel wire, and two washers. With options in 2U, 6.25U, and 7U, these stabilisers are an ideal match for every keyboard size. Everglide stabilizers come with a gold-plated stabilizer bar and clear housing, very similar to the ZealPC stabilizers. They are also pre-clipped, come in the screw-in style, and are a decent price.There are a few different stabilizer types out there, Cherry style, Costar, and Optical. They are each significantly different, so we’ll explain what makes them unique. Cherry Style Stabilizers For the smaller layouts, the stabilizers required can vary based on the layout of the keyboard, so there is no exact amount. A Closer Look at Cherry Style Stabilizers

If you are willing to put a little extra work in, your Cherry stabilizers can benefit from some custom modifications, the most common being band aid, clip, and lube. The PCB also tends to vibrate less than the metal plate, which makes it a better mounting location for the stabilizer. Screw-in stabilizers are typically only found on custom-made keyboards and not on pre-built keyboards, which makes them less common, but highly sought after. Costar stabilizers: they’re rather old, and only found in vintage mechanical keyboards or newer, very few in between keyboards that no-one wants you to go all DIY on. Costar stabilizers are hard to handle, tune, and install—rumor has it they rattle worse than a snake. Optical stabilizers are typically only found on keyboards with optical switches, and have a funky design (such as the Razer Huntsman Mini). They have small clips that insert into the keycap that you snap into the stabilizer bar under the plate of the keyboard.

What Advantages do the Durock V2 Stabilizers Have Over Other Screw-ins?

As mentioned before, snap-in stabilizers can pop out the PCB when trying to remove the keycaps, where screw-in stabilizers do not have this problem. Different Brands that Make Cherry Style Stabilizers In this guide, we’ll be focusing primarily on the Cherry stabilizer type when explaining all of the different options available. It’s possible to get Cherry style stabilizers in screw-in, snap-in, or plate-mounted variations. Buying stabilizers isn’t too complicated, especially now that Cherry-style stabilizers are the norm. However, there are still a few features and compatibility issues you should be aware of. So let’s review them here to ensure you get the right stabs for your keyboard. Screw-In vs. Snap-In vs. Plate Mount Stabilizers