No pictures yet, but this week I have some Novelkeys Dry switches to lube up, and throw on some Deskeys switch films. Pretty excited for this switch combo; and planning to throw both of them into a nice TKL 
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do JWK switches really need films that bad? Kailh seems to have a lock on housing gap with the creams
I’m not terribly bothered by wobble for the most part, and personally I don’t think most switches need films; but I did want to try the new deskeys switch films for the sake of trying them out 
They are quite loose and make a pretty bad rattle on the switch return without films. I haven’t found a JWK made switch yet that didn’t need films.
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thats rather dissapointing, is the smoothness so superior to other, tighter housed linears that its a worthy tradeoff? I’ve never tried JWK’s but I have tried creams and vint blacks and understand the joy of a filmed and lubed vintage black
Films…
Halo housings…
Unholy Pandas w/ Halo True progressive (fast curve?) springs bag-lubed with teflon Tri-flow
Edit: these are light to actuate but heavy to bottom-out; something like 52g / 100g. Definitely not my normal fare, though I do think I’m enjoying these springs more with the linear stems vs the Halo ones.
Edit: sound test.
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Would you say the monstargear lube station a must have?
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I guess it depends on how often you find yourself lubing / working on switches. It definitely made this session faster and less messy than my last!
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Just spent all evening building my friend’s keeb and this is all I can think of.
What I see:
What comes to my mind:
Kiwis with Panda springs and Gazzew’s first run of silent linear stems. Might as well call them Ninja Turtles:
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Dude, you’re super smart. That’s awesome.
Today’s chore: converting the Gateron blue optical switches in my X-Bows Nature to Jailhouse Blues. (Apologies for the truly awful image quality - my phone’s camera’s pretty crap at the best of times, without asking it to do macro work!)
I found a forum post which recommended 1/8" 6.5oz dental bands for this - so bought a pack of those. Maybe that size works for Cherry blues, but they’re way too thick for my switches - however I’ve found that by stretching them over a piece of wood I can cut them in half with a stanley knife with a surprising level of accuracy - so I guess I’m effectively using 3.25oz bands for this.
By opening the band with tweezers I can get it over the stem and between the stem and click jacket without having to separate the two, which makes the job way easier than it would otherwise be.
When it goes smoothly (!) it takes just under a minute per switch to dismantle, install the band and reassemble.
What I did find was that the key removal tool that came with the keyboard is next to useless - the tines aren’t long enough to squeeze the clips on the keys. A proper IC removal tool works a treat though.
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Re-filming the Ninja Turtles with some clear polycarb TX films to replace the black silicone Deskeys gaskets, which I’ll be saving for Halo housing switches.
Edit: Done!
Much better.
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As the Welsh say, lush.
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I am trying the Holy Boba’s too on my numpad keys, so far so good, trying to dial in my preferred spring & weight. What springs are you using for these?
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My checklist for the week:
- 3 customer keyboard builds
- lubing a batch of switches for myself
- building my Yohane-TKL
- rebuilding my Zephyr
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Currently using the stock 62g Boba springs with them. I’m loving the switch overall so far, but I do think I’d like a little more bounce-back for a bump as strong as the Boba housings provide - I have a few slightly heavier ones I might try.
The Holy Bobas are super crisp and snappy, but the softer housing makes the bottom-out less harsh than a Holy Panda. I currently have the HB’s paired with some ABS MT3 keycaps and the sound is really lovely - even with the switches totally dry aside from the trace leftover stock lube on the Halo stems. Nice, tight operation without noticeable rattle. So far my favorite switch to use with these thick ABS caps.
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Knipex sells diagonal cutters, that have a wire, that is intended to retain the bit that is being cut off. In my experience, they work great for clipping stabs, but fall short when it comes to clipping led leads, because of how small the led leads are. Also, mine is an older design, then what is on Knipex’s site.
Enjoy
Edit: correction. Mine is a Wiha. If I were to order again, I’d probably go with the Knipex brand. I’ve used several of their cutters and they are built like tanks. Both are made in Germany.
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