So, after 3 full weeks of GMK Aero on box red switches, no caps were cracked or stressed. I took them off and carefully examined each and every one. On to experiment No.2
I’ve placed my Aero set on box pale blues. I’ll give it a week or two and report back. I did not hear any cracking when I installed the caps.
23 days after putting GMK Aero on retooled box pale blues:
No signs of stress marks and no cracks. I’m using a 65% board, so we don’t have a full 104 test. This process is tiresome, but at least the results have been positive so far.
Now I am trying Hako Clears (retooled). I’ll report back in a few weeks 
2 weeks on Hako Clear switches and no stress marks or cracks. Looks like a good report card for retooled box switches.
I also have a stem shaver prototype for old switches that I’m testing out. Seems to do the trick so far, but I’ll need more time to keep the caps on the old, shaved switches to see if they crack.
Have you been using the same GMK Aero on your retooled box pale blues as well as the retooled hako clears?
Yes. Not the most scientific test but I’ve been using the same GMK set for 3 sets of box switches now. Box red, box pale blue and Hako clear (all retooled). I’ll probably try with my Led Zep set on the next round.
The Aero set does still fit well on regular mx stems though. So, I do not believe it has been stretched out. In fact, I just put the Aero set on some mx clears and they are super tight as expected.
Any ideas on rescuing cracked gmk stems?
Any problems with Novelias? Still kind if worried to use mine .
I think all Novelias are the retooled IIRC. I believe Mike at NK reordered them as the original batch hadn’t arrived when this drama broke
People have floated the idea of welding/melting the walls together with a diluted acetone solution.
Hmm, surprised the community haven’t come up with a solution yet
Any news on stem shavers etc?
First prod run of the Cruciformer (stem shaver) is in the works. I suspect GB isn’t too far off.
Check the IC thread that @snarfel linked, first batch is machined, we’re setting up pre-order soon™ to go live this week.
FWIW I’ve been using retooled Box Jades on my first build for a couple of weeks now. I don’t have any way to properly measure the stems, but I’ve been using a set of Maxkey SA BC to mixed results. I recently had a stabilizer pop out so I had to disassemble my entire board. Looking at the keycaps I didn’t see any signs of stretching or cracking on any of the caps save for two. One was on my function key, and I’m writing it off as a result of my 1yo slapping the shit out of that area on my keyboard. The other that showed some stretching was my Primecaps artisan, but on the other hand that cap didn’t fit all that snug in the first place. It still has enough of a hold to keep the cap on the board even if I hold the board upside down and shake it, but I can pull it off with my fingers without much hassle at all.
So I guess my takeaway from this is that the caps can still be stretched when put under an abnormal amount of pressure, or if they’re made out of different materials like my artisan is. For the most part though it seems the issue has been resolved save for a few outliers. I’ll keep you all posted on my results once I get another keycap set to test. I also plan on trying out some Box Royals in the near future, so I’ll be sure to post once I get those in.
Hi guys,
Has anyone encountered problems with the retooled BOX switches after an extended period of using / typing on them?
No issues here. I have had my carbon set on box pinks for quite a while
no issues, been using jades, pinks, whites, and royals on and off since they were retooled with all sorts of different materials and profiles. No issues to report.
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Just wanted to chime in to say that I also haven’t had any issues with a GMK set on my box pinks. Still looking forward to getting a shaver just to be extra certain I don’t end up having issues down the road, but the problem seems to be resolved as best I can tell.
Ive had SP Mitolet on r2 box royals for probably 6 months now, and have seen no issues. The first few months I checked keycaps randomly a few times a week and have yet to see any damage.