Essentially, the Gateron Yellow stem seems to be ever so slightly smaller than the Kailh Cream stem, which means there’s a lot of reduction in stick-slip in the first place. However, when I really mashed the key around looking for stick-slip, there was barely any at all! Even filmed, where stick-slip is the most prevalent in Creams, there was practically nothing. However… They sound like crap. Like, they sound cheap as hell. It may be because of the bare PCB on top of a wooden case, I don’t know, but there was nothing good sounding about them. Lube would/will obviously paper over the cheap sound, as it does with all switches, but it’s just really apparent and not something I’m super confident in.
When it comes to sound, though, I think that I am going to try and take another shot at these when I build with MKUltra foam - I’ll lube and film one of them and see what the difference in sound is. For all I know, they could come out sounding super duper quiet! For what I’ve got here, have a video of me mashing at them with a screwdriver:
As you can see in the photo above, Q is an unfilmed stock Cream, O is a filmed Cream, W is a Buttercream, and T is a filmed Buttercream.
The results of all this? As of yet, inconclusive. But I hope that I’ve helped put in another piece of the “why are Creams so finicky?” puzzle.
TL;DR: feels slightly different, no stick-slip, sounds terrible
Cool findings. Sound is the best feature of Creams so I doubt I’ll ever try Buttercreams myself.
Frankly, sticking is not really an issue for me during regular typing. I tend to fidget with ctrl-super-alt keys on the left side when I’m thinking hard and sticking happens only then.
Oh no, I agree. The stick-slip in my (admittedly limited) time on this board has been very little, with me only noticing it on my (HHKB) backspace a little bit, but the rest of it surprisingly smooth. I actually really like the feel of these stock, from using almost exclusively Browns and other clicky switches, this is such a nice change. Once I’ve gotten these broken in a bit more, I’m probably going to swap out the springs (these are a just a hair too heavy and bouncy for a linear for my tastes) and then give them a nice, loving coating with either 3204 or 205g0 - hell, maybe even both.
For me, Cream sticking is most easily reproduced on 1.5U or 1.75U keys. With only one stem and no stabilizer, these keycap can tilt a lot. Just pressing on the left or right edge of the keycap will do it.
Kailh Buttercreams is the greatest name though lol. Seems I missed out on a lot, I’m definitely going to try and do something similar to don - swap out the cream stem for UHMWPE whenever those come in. I’m not familiar with the cream stem/bsun thing though, was there a video of those?
No video. I had a stem from a Cream that broke (Cream housing is on the brittle side, similar to OG Panda and GSUS housings) so I tried in a BSUN housing and its sound was surprisingly as clacky as the Burgundy Pro stem but smoother.
Not a best of the hybrids level stuff but more making do with what I have that started with having a big pile of unused BSUN housings from my Ergo-Clear days.
Hey everyone!
A little self intro. Long time lurker of this fun rabbit hole of a thread. I started out on a pok3r with cherry mx red about 3 years ago. Join the last recent drop’s holy pandas gb and got into customs boards. I enjoy the hp’s tactile bump but the black inks hype pulled me back in and now I am back in linear land again.
Anyways, I have a few question about gat yellows. One of the switches I am interested in. Wanted to try out their springs too.
From my understanding of gat yellows. Milky top with black bottom or full milky has a possible top housing problems with a lot of key cap sets? It doesn’t matter if it comes from kbdfans, cannonkeys, or novelkeys right?
While clear tops/black bottom are consider better sound preference and smoother according to walker’s switch comparison video. Kbdfans seems to be the only place to have them stocked.
Has anyone also tried their all clear housing smd yellows?
Guys, GPL 107 is a unbelievably amazing lube for linears I think. I’m still in the process of lubing up my Gat Yellows, but the ones I got done feel fricking amazingly smooth. It’s not the switches themselves either as my batch was slightly scratchy stock (like when you can hear it more than feel it, but know it’s there).
I had originally planned on just using the GPL 107 for the springs till I saw it’s consistency. It’s not straight up fluid like most other GPL orders & VPF1514, it’s a true oil & has a good viscosity to it! So I said why not give it a shot on at least one with all 107. Well all I can say at this point is one of these stock parts Gat yellows (clear top/black bottom) lubed with 107 easily feel & sound better than the Gat Yellows I used Cherry tops with, lubed with GPL 205G0 housing/stem & Kin’s springs oil for them in my Sweet16, which I was very very happy with TBH.
Gotta finish the stems & top housings of my last 35, then I can throw them in my Instant60 (gonna go with a brass plate for now) & see for real how well this batch came out. So I’ll report back in a little bit when I got it all put together & typed some on it, but I think we may have hit on a great lube with GPL107. I think it would work well for tactiles too, but more research will be needed there. Get back to you all in hr or so!
I haven’t tried milky nor all-clear Gat. Yellow so can’t help in that regard. As I mentioned somewhere in this thread, I don’t have a high regard for Gat. Yellow other than its spring. If the spring is the only thing you’re interested in, I think there are springs in the market that is said to be close to what Gat. Yellow has.
As for me, I use Catweewee 55g in all the linears I have except Tealios which I use as is.
It really is seeming like a good lube so far. I still gotta finish those switches yet since I had to go help a buddy last night, but I’m gonna finish them in a little & let you guys know how it feels on a whole board at some point today.
Finally got it finished & WOW does GPL107 do a treat for linear switches! These Gat yellows are more silent than silent switches & buttery smooth! You do gotta be careful with applying it just like 205G0 essentially, but well worth the trouble IMO!
I would give it a shot. I haven’t used 105 myself yet, but if it has more of oily consistency than fluid consistency like the 107 does, I could see it having similar results. In fact it should be a little easier to work with than the 107 cause I found that to be very similar to working with 205G0. If you do let us know how it goes, now that I’ve worked with 107 I’d really like to give 105 & 106 a shot since I think a little more fluid of a product would be perfect.
Ok, good to know GPL 10X mixes are a no go for Creams, but seeming really good for other linears that are not all POM. Thanks for doing it for us! On another note the more I type on my Gat Yellow build the more I am falling in love with them. I can type so fast with them, the lower weighting doesn’t bother me nearly as much as I thought it would, & the silence… Oh the glorious silence. This board is dead seriously quieter than my NIU mini rocking MX Zilents (Stealio housings not real Zeal housings though). I guess I can say I get it now & have been sucked into linear land. Thanks guys, another favourite type of switch… like I really needed that!
JK, you know I love you all!
Nearly three years into my linear journey, and I find myself using unmodded retooled blacks and enjoying them the most. Wonder how long this “go to” linear option will stay at the top of my list.
