Intermittently "lazy" or "laggy" key switch – should I replace? (Model 01)

I have a Model 01 and the space key has become, as best I can describe, “lazy”. When I type semi-quickly, I often end up with the first letter of a word tacked onto the end of the previous word (but the space still happens after the letter).

So e.g. instead of this is a lazy switch, I might get this is al azy switch.

I’ve tried cleaning it with alcohol several times (this works great for chattering/repeating switches), but that hasn’t helped.

Is the correct fix for this to replace the switch? Is there possibly some software/firmware tweak that might help here?

How certain are you that you’re not simply tapping the keys in the wrong order sometimes?

As certain as I can be, bolstered by the fact that I’ve been using this keyboard for a couple of years but this particular problem only very recently started (vs chatter, which has been a frequent, albeit fixable, issue).

I’m trying to think of a software problem that could cause this, but coming up empty. Does it happen with keys that are typed with both hands, or just keys on one side of the keyboard?

I have only noticed it with the space key, no others.

I mean the other key that you press, not the space key. Does the space key only get “delayed” relative to other keys on the same side of the keyboard, the opposite side, or both?

Ah, thank you for clarifying!

I just did a test, and determined that it gets delayed relative to keys from both
sides of the keyboard. E.g. it was delayed when the next key was a d, t, u, p, s, l.

Update: I plugged in another right-hand side of another Model 01 I have, and I am experiencing the same problem with it. This makes me think the issue is not a problem with the keyswitch, but is instead either an issue with my firmware, or my typing technique. I’ll poke around with my config and see if I can make any improvements that way.

Just returning later to note that I suspect my problem was an unwanted interaction with GitHub - dexterleng/vimac: Productive macOS keyboard-driven navigation, in case anyone runs across this in the future.

can you elaborate? what happened? did you fix it?

Closing the Vimac app seems to fix the problem.