I’ve just got interest in lubing the switches of Topre RGB. But I wonder if thick lubricants are good? Topre switch’s slider is pretty big, so I assume that thick lubricants are usually used for stabs can be used well for those sliders.
The thick lubricants that I’m talking about is Krytox GPL 205 GRADE 0 and Krytox GPL 205 GRADE 2.
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Yes thick lubes applied very thin & sparingly on the sliders/housings is just fine for Topre. You do have to be extra careful though as even slightly overlubing with either of those will result in very sluggish keyfeel. You may want to try doing just the slider or just the housing at first, as one will lube the other at friction points with use & there is less chance of getting sluggish keys that way IME (goes for MX switches too).
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How about the Tribosys 3204? Nathan of Taeha Types used this medium thick lubricant for his HHKB and I saw that he lubed the housing a lot, it seemed that he didn’t care much about overlubing? Is it because of Tribosys 3204?
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Yes, 3204 & 3203 are much, much more forgiving with overlubing. In fact if you haven’t bought a lube for it yet I would suggest going with 3204. Even with that though I’d still recommend using as thin as a layer as you can get. Because when you do that you end up with a very consistent batch of switches. Even with 3204 if you do some slider/housings heavier than others they will feel a little inconsistent with each other. The big upshot of 3204 or 3203 is that even when you overdo it, the switch will still move freely. With GPL 205 G0, overdo it & your switches will move in slow motion for real. 205 G2 is even thicker & really should be thinned out with some GPL 10X oil to make a Krytox thick mix or blend.
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I see. Thank for your explanation.
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I have my topre boards lubed with 3024, but have an hhkb type s incoming that I plan to try 3mL 205 GRADE 0 Switch Lubricant | Switchmod Keyboards on it.
Do you think in term of smoothness I will tell the difference between 3024 and 205G0 ?
Thanks
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Absolutely, as long as long as you apply the 205 G0 correctly. The 205 G0 Krelbit gets looks to be around the same consistency of 3204, but don’t be fooled by that. The viscosity is definitely a little bit higher & the product is much, much stickier. If you haven’t worked with it before I’d recommend doing a few sacrificial MX switches with it just to get the feel. Even then you may want to experiment with lubing just the sliders or housings on the HHKB, before you coat both just to see how it feels.
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Krelbit’s 205g0 is not very suitable for Topre, as I’ve had the stickiness of the lube interfere with the domes, which is not good. 3204 is not a bad choice for Topre at all!
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I used 3204 on the pcb under the springs to remove ping on fc660/980c … Did not seem to affect the pcb or domes.
I also only applied lube on the inside rails of the housings, a little with a small painting brush.
But I’m very tempted for the g205 if it’s even smoother 
It’s so sticky, it pulls the dome apart from the PCB. Would not recommend.
Also, make sure you get the names of lubricants right! 3204 and 3024 could be very different chemicals.
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Hah, indeed, thanks for pointing out.
I used Tribosys 3204
Ok good look pointing that out. I’ve heard of people using 205 G0 for Topre, but have never used it myself for that.
Agreed to be careful with 205, I put it on my hhkb thinking it was 3204, put too much, especially on the mods, and it was not good, some of the keys took like a full second to come back up.
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hah, but I guess you can just wipe it off right ?
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Yeah, It took some cleaning to get it feeling good again
so what’s the way to apply it then ?
Maybe using less viscous Krytox greases could be a possibility. 204 grade 0 or even 204 grade 00 (both of which I coincidentally sell within Australia).
As far as Krytox goes, 204 to 207 are the more viscous greases, while 200 to 203 are the less viscous ones. I’m pretty sure that going for a lower grade would make them less sticky.
This is just guesswork and not advice from experience, as I’ve never seen a Topre board in person.
I used a 50/50 mix of 205g0 and 105 on the slider legs and a little around the inside of the housing ring and it worked a treat.
No key stickyness, nice and smooth, and a mild improvement in sound.
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It sounds like the mixture of TXKeyboard 
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Hi, can I lube topre with 105 and 205 mixed? I think it is similar to 3204?
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