Better than regular zilents? I found zilents pretty disappointing to type on feel wise.
Thatās pretty awesome - Iād kind of written-off my mx silent blacks, but I might just have to do some fiddling with them now.
Edit: @ddrfraser1 - these would be linear, as opposed to regular tactile Zilents. I wasnāt much a fan of those, either.
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I have never liked silent switches at all. Iāve tried and tried. Iāve built 4 boards with variations. I have a board with v1 zilents and one with v2 zilents. I tried to tell myself they were nice. But I still donāt like them. I had a board with red silent cherry reds. Yuck. Sandpaper switches. I also tried silent sky swithces. Not for meā¦ at all. I will say, the tacit switch with films and lube could have great potential, but I havenāt done that on a full board yet.
However, MX zilent (silent mx stem in a zeal housing) with lube and films might be one of my favorite switches of all time. And MX silent stems in a durock housing give the same feel. In my U80 they almost have a topre sound (silenced).
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Hopping on this thread now as I start to mess around with Halo True housings, any notable leads on something new?
Iāve been doing a lot of wacky things trying to mess around - even have almost 300 unholy panda parts on the way to me from someone on discord.
One interesting thing (that might be heinous) is that I took a halo true spring and snipped off the top part where it coils tightly together - I realize this shortens the travel but it also changes the weighting of the switchā¦I wonder if a longer pole would compensate for the reduced travel distance.
If anyone feels like brainstorming ideas hit me up!
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Interesting! Kindly share your results. Whatās your lube preference and application technique? Are you going with tried-and-true or something more exotic?
I almost always lube the springs, either bag lube with 105, or donut dip with a 105/205g0 blend depending on how bad the spring crunch/ping is
Although recently Iāve been messing around with different blends
For linears, probably 205g0 normally (rails, bottom housing base, stem pole, all four sides of the stem & the top housing just a tad)
If I have extra time, I love to do 1-2 coats of RO-59tmkt and then a thin coat of 205g0
For tactiles, I go a bit lighter and use something like 3203, or 1-2 coats of RO-59 for preserved tactility - I tend to go kind of thin, just enough to get rid of any scratchiness in the switch
Clicky switches barely get any lube, at the very least itās some spring lubing and thatās about it!
What about you?
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Ahoy - yes, indeed. Iāve got a bucket of Halo housings myself, and have been trying all sorts of things with them. So far my favorite frankenswitch to make with them (that I somehow havenāt posted about here yet) is the Unholy Silent Sky.
- Halo housing
- Halo Clear spring preferred, but anything with similar weighting is good
- Outemu Silent Sky Tactile stem - v2.2, āTaoā revision may also work, but the newer U4 stem is more suitable for Panda / T1 / similar housings and doesnāt play as nice with the Halo housings.
- Spring lubing recommended - I actually bag-lubed mine with bike lube for giggles, but it worked fantastically if you like the smell of bike chainā¦
What you end up with is a very snappy and tactile switch that makes very little noise, and that retains the Halo housingās light-pipe for maximum are-gee bees.
I havenāt confirmed it personally, but if you like the sound of these but want to retain a satisfying clackity-clack, the non-silent Outemu Sky Tactile stems should do the trick. (Sometimes also called āForestā depending on the seller.)
The best place to get these is from u/hbheroinbob on reddit. Not sure why he doesnāt keep a website, but maybe he doesnāt want too much traffic. Anyway, he works directly with Outemu to develop and improve their boutique line, and also acts as a state-side distributor.
You can buy stems by themselves from him, and sometimes heāll even include extra goodies depending on what you order. I also highly recommend his grease blends - but it sounds like youāve already got your lube game pretty dialed. Might be worth experimenting with, tho.
Outemu boutique stuff does sometimes show up on the odd vendorās site, but they donāt stay in stock long and pricing tends to be wonky. You can also order them on AliExpress if you like waiting so long you forget that youāve ordered anything by the time it arrives.
I donāt think thereās ever anything wrong about experimenting with things youāre curious about - itās one of my favorite aspects of this hobby. Itās like old school Monster Rancher but irl and with keebs. Anyway -
The longer pole on stems like Creams or Kailh Pros will reduce travel, though not in a way that would directly compensate for a shorter spring - though it may improve the feel of a trimmed spring by giving it less of a chance to get weird at the bottom of the travel.
Unless the spring is short enough that it isnāt pushing the stem all the way home, trimming a bit off shouldnāt reduce travel. If the spring is short enough not to push the stem all the way home (which is a pretty good possibility considering how short True springs are anyway), I think that would lead to some potential negative aspects in feel and consistency - even if you were perfectly consistent with the spring trimming.
I canāt know because I havenāt tried it - but Iām imagining that trimming a bit off of one side of a True spring will lead to an even more progressive weighting curve - that is, I think it will start off pretty light and then get heavy very quickly as the stem is depressed. Think of those poor unfortunate old Hondas bouncing and jiggling around the road because they have cut springs and no other adjustments.
So - I think trying it on a switch or two is a very valid experiment that might even yield some real useful information - though I wouldnāt recommend doing it to more than a few.
Thanks for the really good questions - ha!
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Lots of info, love it! Thanks for the reply, I realized I meant longer pole, not shorter pole - but thatās to be expected when youāre typing that up at 4 in the morning lol.
I have a handful of Gazzews stems that Iāve also been trying out - the silent tactile sounds and feels pretty great in the halo true housing.
Iāll probably end up picking some more up later as well as some of his blends.
I had a pretty similar worry about trimming the spring, it seems like a mod that would be fairly inconsistent and probably not very beneficial so I only did it with one of the springs and have it quarantined in itās own ziplock bag.
Iāll update with any new results/findings and potential sound tests!
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ooh nice! I can just barely see the cartoon-esque halo lighting around the bag 
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Tried out halo stems with different housings today!
I tested what halo stems sound/felt like in:
- T1 Housings
- Gazzewās Boba Housing
- Zealios Housing
Here are the stems compared to each other:
As you can see, and as expected the stems vary a bit in length, so youād expect that the housings might be designed differently for the given stem.
Hereās how the halo stem looks when bottomed out in each housing.
They ended up sounding pretty different! I should note that they all have 62g stock springs!
Final Thoughts
In terms of feel, they all have a similar bump however:
The T1 housing feels sharp and almost has a click to it, I can only assume thatās the pole hitting the bottom. If itās pushed slowly, you can feel the smoothness of the post bump travel, but when used normally it almost gets lost in everything.
The Boba housing doesnāt have the same sharpness and thereās barely that clicking sound I described, it almost feels muted. I donāt want to say mushy, but itās a smooth travel after the bump.
The Zealios housing is kind of in the middle, itās a bit muted/mushy with a bit of the clicking noise but really seems to have the characteristics of both the previous housings.
I shared this process in realtime on the Switchmodders discord and probably going to make a post on the subreddit as well to get it all in one place. Let me know if anyone has any ideas or thoughts!
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Hmm, anyone have any suggestions for housing choices for my Phoenix stems?
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Here are some reviews of a couple of YOK Panda derivatives I have been testing: namely Holy Pandas (2 weights), and MX Brown Pandas. All lubed with 205g0.
This is an extension of what I am doing in this thread, but since these are frankenswitches, I am describing them here.
BROWN PANDAS
MX Brown stem, YOK Trash Panda housing, 60 gr YOK Trash Panda spring. 205g0.
I assembled these as a joke. They are referred to derisively on other forums. Not sure if Iāve ever heard of a build with them.
I put together a couple of these without lube. I was kind of pleasantly surprised by these, as they are very poppy, but not excessively so.
But they lack refinement. Theyāre tactile, but some of it is just present and wasted. And that tactility makes a kind of grinding noise when typing.
They also wobble, but itās not terrible.
But it has potential. The Panda housing amplifies the MX Brownās weak tactility. The 60 gr YOK spring is a good weight, very robust. So I sent some to a builder.
Lubing with 205g0 brings significant improvement. The sound becomes less grindy, more clacky, and deeper. The switch loses some of the excess tactility, but becomes smoother. Itās still way louder than something like Ergo Clears, however.
The tactility is different than with Holy Pandas. With my heavily-lubed HP samples, you can feel that Halo True stem. Thereās a thick resistance, and it just kind of totally collapses from there. With Brown Pandas, the tactility is more granular, like you would expect from MX Browns. The HPs are more authoritative, the Brown Pandas are poppier.
Maybe the thing to do is use the POM Panda housings for these, as it is probably quieter. And the 60 gr YOK spring is a bit too much for the MX Brown stem. I would like to try 58 gr Spirit springs, once they become available in Canada. [55 gr feels too light for Browns, IMHO.] I donāt know what you would call an MX Brown POM Panda with Spirit springs, but it could be an interesting switch.
HOLY PANDAS
Halo True stems, YOK Trash Panda housings. 68 gr and 63.5 gr Spirit springs. Lubed with 205g0. Lubed fairly substantially, to round out the bump and create a ābig Brownā feel.
Thereās nothing I can tell you about these that you donāt already know. I have 2 with 68 gr Spirit springs, and 4 with 63.5 gr Spirit springs.
I donāt enjoy the 68 gr HPs, since I donāt enjoy the 68 gr Spirit springs. I only used them because 68 gr is a popular weight for them.
Some people say that 67-68 gr and higher give better tactility for the HPs, but it isnāt worth it to me. Thereās greater force and resistance, yes. But the stiff 68 gr spring [the 68g Spirit is particularly stiff] takes over the switch, drawing away attention from its characteristics. At least to me. I frown when typing on 68 gr HPs, just as I do with 68 gr Ergo Clears and OUTEMU Skies.
The 63.5 gr HPs, thoughā¦ Very nice. Like the 68s, these are lubed to soften the tactility somewhat, making them into ābigger Browns.ā The spring weight is good. As others have noted, 63.5 is well-suited to the Pandas. Itās light, but doesnāt lose as much tactility as some other springs. As always, the HPs go well with GMK keycaps and metal enclosures.
The 63.5s are light and pleasant enough that I wonder what 65 gr TX HPs would be like. There is a catch in the upstroke on the 63.5 when released slowly, which almost disappears on the 68. But itās there, if you are looking for it.
These 63.5 HPs kind of feel like what I would imagine the more tactile mechanical switches of old felt like. A larger tactile area, a more ātwo-stageā process, from high-tactility to almost none. Loud clacking noise.
I will not be using these in a build, however. You all know how HPs bottom-out. I think itās harsh. And the sound, while amusing, is way too loud. Maybe those POM Pandas are the way to go? I could never use this in a quiet room. In a noisy, air-conditioned room, these would be great. Maybe a factory-floor.
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Jumping in with my low res frankenswitch, itās not much but itās mine. Created after messing around during a lube session, probably my all time fave switch now and I canāt wait to make more:
Top: clear housing (new)
Bottom: milky housing (heavily used)
Stem: gat clear (heavily used)
Spring: 60g stainless (new)
Lube: 205g0
Film: Deskkeys White
Overall feel is very similar to most standard, lubed linears like a Cherry Black or Gat Yellow. This switch does feels significantly more refined and is a pleasure to type on. The 60g springs make it poppy but not too strenuous to type on and the sounds is very nice to my ears. Why not just go with a Gat Yellow and save time/money/finger cramps? Itās not about the destination but itās how you get there.
Iāll say this, itās an unexpected and unnecessarily expensive exercise but it improves the Gat Clear experience significantly. One that I had on one of my very first boards years and years ago so itās nice to revisit it but in a very refined way.
One caveat though, the first batch I made of these used very heavily broken in stems and milky bases. They were desoldered from and old board I used daily for about 3 years. Iām sure that plays a role in their smoothness and overall feel, which I have to say is excellent. Iām going to try them again with new stock and see how it feels.
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Has anyone tried Everglide Jade / Zealio V1 stems in a T1 housing?
I put some Jade stems [and springs] in ordinary T1 housings, and it made an interesting switch.
It feels directly like a cross between a Jade and a T1. You can definitely feel the Jade stem [which is a different tactility than the T1], but also the T1 housing [which is much more tactile than the Everglide housing.]
The Everglide spring didnāt always co-operate, though, and sometimes I had to use the 65 gr T1 spring. But I think the Everglide spring is better for this switch.
This is all very interesting, because I thought Everglide housings might be the same as T1. Some people did comparisons, and one was even posted here:
However, I think the Jades are much less tactile than T1s, and Jade stem in T1 housings is more tactile than Jade stem in Everglide housing. So I doubt the two housings are identical.
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Interesting!
Itās possible that the plastic bits are the same for the housing while the contact leaves are different. A good portion of what a housing imparts on a switch comes from the leaf.
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Soo, I made me some Tiger Inkās (Ink Yellow stem Ink Silent house + yellow switch films)
And after soldering (ofc) when I plug it in the keys start registering all over the place. 
All it takes to activate is to wobble the stemā¦
But not all of them is like this. Can this be the infamous Lose Ink Leafs that interfere?
This is a new one for me - Iāve had leaves make sounds from being loose but Iāve not had phantom actuation all over the place. I donāt think loose leaves would cause this, as the stems are typically holding the contacts apart until pushed down. Very curious indeed. Without taking a magnifying glass to your board itās hard to say whatās going on. Hard to imagine itās the stems since you went linear --> linear but maybe the legs on the yellow stem are super mild vs how the silentās leaves are set up?
Well, now that Iāve got to try them I would like to say I hateāem. Itās possible that I have created a 1mm speed switch, that together with Durock 55g springs and MT3 caps makes it not so fun.
I heard that the Psyko frankenswitch also breaks, can it be something like that?