Basically what Rob27shred said. I used Tribosys 3203, and my method is to lube the lower housings anywhere where plastic would touch plastic. For springs I lube both ends, and also the outside circumference of the inner column of the lower housing. I do not lube my kiwi stems, nor do I apply films on kiwis. For my personal tastes, I find that I do not need them. But as with all things, YMMV.
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I’ve danced around the block with a fair number of switches, everything from vintage cherry blacks to box halo switches to navy chocs. But the lubed and filmed 55g boba U4 just keeps drawing me back in. they have the plockyness of a silenced HHKB, with more consistent switch feel on repeat presses, and a more stiff barrier at the top of the travel. Even after trying some silent linears, these switches seem to be my favorite.
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I’ve gotta try some of those, only heard good things and would be fun to compare to my other silent switches/topre board.
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Stock: Koalas 67g for the smooth feel, and dense/bassy sound without modding.
Modded: Everglide Jade green. Needs some lube and film to remove housing rattle and make sound deeper.
#tactileforever
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Cherry clears, simple
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Coming back after trying a few more things, I have to say my single favorite switch right now is the Holy Boba.
At least for my tastes, the sound and feel are both exceptional - and the neutral, semi-translucent plastic of the housing plays nice with pretty much any build. Unlubed there’s a bit of leaf scratch, but I count that as a small price to pay for the other qualities on offer here.
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Did you have to sacrifice silent u4-s, or is there any other way to get boba housings?
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In my case, I did use Boba U4’s to start with. I actually like those stems better in Ink housings, so it worked out.
I think you can get the housings from Gazzew himself, but I don’t recall any vendor offering them without the stems & springs. I do think there’s been at least one group-buy.
It also sounds like Gazzew’s own take on this will be coming out soon - even though this is easily one of my favorite frankenswitches, I wouldn’t mind one bit to see it made redundant by something you can just buy as a complete one at a lower total cost. As-is, these and my other favorite frankenswitches (the U4 stems in Ink housings) are almost goofy expensive if you’re buying complete switches just to make them.
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But would/do a Ink stems work well in the Boba houseing?
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a Ink stem in boba housing would be a linear switch and not a holy boba (tactile switch with halo stem).
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already made now some experience with lubing? I still can’t decide between 3203 and 3204.
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Afraid not. Many stems just won’t fit / move freely in the top part of the Boba housing with its unusually tight tolerance. I’ve tried Silent Inks and Ink Yellows with Bobas; the silents don’t function at all, and the Yellows are almost there but still have too much friction for me. (The tiniest bit more tolerance would make them amazingly stable linears.)
For silents, the Gazzew / Outemu ones fit, of course - but so do Cherry silent stems. For non-silents, Kailh Pro stems work well with them (likely other Kailhs as well, but I haven’t confirmed this explicitly).
@Scriba - At some point next year, I’ll be systematically documenting the sound and feel of my collection, which is mostly un-lubed right now. Once I have all that information collected, I’ll be going back through to lube and re-document most of them. That’s likely months away, though - so I’ll go ahead and say that between the two, I’d probably go for 3203 for Holy Bobas.
Here is a great comparison by @cijanzen covering the two lubricants and why a person might choose one or the other as well as over-viewing some technique, with some good discussion in the thread about others’ experiences with the lubes.
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Linear: Ink Blacks - just great stock switch in terms of smoothness, wobble, sound (and therefore) overall feel. I haven’t tried all linear switches, but honestly my first gateron black ink board was so good I don’t feel I need to continue searching.
This is a revealing switch. What I mean by that is that it showed me how wobbly and un-smooth my other linears were. I’ve stopped looking for other linear switches. That’s how good I think these are.
Tactile: Classic cherry ergo-clears and Zealio V1 (discontinued, such a shame).
Ergo-clears (and clears in general) have the best force curve for tactile switches in my opinion. Many mechboard enthusiasts, especially newcomers, don’t mind bottoming out when typing. But until you’ve typed extensively without bottoming out, you won’t realise how great that feel is. I’m convinced this obsession the community has over the Holy Panda force curve is because it’s easier to feel what’s going on in the press. It takes longer to appreciate the clear/ergo-clear feel, and so fewer people ‘get it’ - a little like the difference between loud, hard-hitting rock vs considered, delicate jazz.
I think it is a testament to how truly compelling ergo-clears feel that despite the obvious flaw (tight af stem) they are still an extremely popular modded switch.
Zealio v1s were an attempt at a pre-modded ergo-clear. I still actually prefer the feel of ergo-clears, but the stem tightness just bothers me, so the original Zealios were a great alternative. On a pedantic side note, it bothers me that ZealPC has adopted the classic quote (zealios are the way to your feelios) into a marketing slogun, when that quote was originally about the original V1 switch, which is a completely different switch.
Clicky: Matias Clicky! Not the quiet, dampened ones, the full-on clicky Matias switches. What’s great about them is how the sound and feel coordinate in such a tactile way. The actuation and click don’t coordinate at exactly the same time, like in Model M buckling spring switches, but it’s pretty close and the typing experience is great as a result: I make fewer typing mistakes on these switches as a result. If I knew I was going to type an extended essay on the weekend, this is the board I’d want to take with me. Shame that more new PCBs don’t support Matias/ALPS.
Matias clickies are your favorite? Have you tried blue alps?
I have not @ddrfraser1 - loudness is one of many reasons why I don’t use clicky switches, so even if I found something much better than Matias Clicky (eg Blue ALPS), I wouldn’t be motivated to build a second board out of them (I hardly get to use this clicky board due to their loudness).
Having said that, I would love to try blue ALPS at some point - hopefully when social gatherings become a thing again…
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I don’t think that people didn’t get ergo clears; I mean, they were essentially the Holy Panda of their time. In fact the Holy Panda followed the same progression that the MX Clear did (Brown -> Clear), from less tactility to more. Honestly though the popularity with both probably had more to do with them being different from the norm. Now that V2 Zealios are the norm, people pine for the V1’s even though they were quicky discarded for their successors. The hobby’s trends are highly cyclical (mostly due to our love of consumption and fickle nature). My money is on rigid plates and light tactiles being in the spotlight by 2022.
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You can get the Bobas in parts from u/hbheroinbob on reddit. Here is his pinned post where he has his current inventory stated.
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sweats nervously in 55g boba U4 with alu plate
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Lol. I think I’m going to put my Bobas in my HMKB 75 when it arrives to soften that steel plate. It’s o-ring mounted, but I doubt that will matter at all.
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Lol. This is pretty much me, except light tactiles in plastic plates. I dug out my Zealios V1s and have been enjoying them quite a bit.
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