Lumia Switches ... wait what?

Learning and discussion Key switches
1

Lumia Switches from iLumkb:

An EVA-01 colorway “Holy Panda” like tactile switch with tight tolerances and…

Oil-soaked stems…?

Hol’ up.

Call me nuts but this seems like an seriously bad idea.

They’re saying the oil helps to lubricate and act as a sort of seal for the housing. That sounds fine and all, but soaking the whole stem in oil gets it on the mount - and that’s bad news. Not only will it make caps come off too easily, it will contaminate those caps so that they then transfer that oil to any other stem they’re mounted to. Ask me how I know…

Aside from the head-scratching oil-soak decision, these seem an otherwise mildly interesting switch - I’m always keen to see different companies’ attempts to chase “Holy Panda” tactility, which so far range from near-clone to not even close.

Seen here, the stems air-drying after being soaked in oil:

But yeah… Unless I’m missing something, fully oil-soaked stems are a flat non-starter, and I’m really trying to figure out what they’re thinking. :stuck_out_tongue:

2 Likes
2

Don’t worry, I’m sure the guys working the floor in that factory are wondering the same thing :laughing:

2 Likes
3

well they uh definitely made uh a choice i guess

3 Likes
4

I wonder if the ink will transfer from the newspapers to the switch stems. Tactile with a brief news bite.

3 Likes
5

we said factory lube was inconsistent, but this isn’t what we were hoping for.

3 Likes
6

You know when you get theater popcorn and it’s way too buttery?

Or when you make it at home, but someone decides to melt an entire stick of butter as popcorn dip?

That’s the Lumia stem as far as I can tell.

3 Likes
7

I’ve got some of these shipping to me so hopefully I can provide some info once they arrive.

5 Likes
8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtgYTaQ3-nk

4 Likes
9

I tub lube all of my switch stems, so basically the same process. Every surface of the stem has 205 or 3204 on it, including the mount. I wipe them a bit at the end, but I’m pretty sure they all still have lube when the caps go on. I’ve never had caps come off or feel loose.

You do have to be careful and make sure they always have caps or a cover on the switches to keep dust from accumulating. I guess that’s a downside. I keep my unused boards in cases usually, so that’s not an issue for me.

4 Likes
10

@pixelpusher brings up a good point. This not a super crazy concept.

I think what is more weird is that every switch needs a gimmick now-a-days. Be it this, special factory lube (looking at you Frog switches), or trace amounts of adamantium plastic.

3 Likes
11

HOLD UP! I gotta get an IC going

5 Likes
12

This isn’t totally out of left field as there is a lot of people who tub lube their linear stems. Although I for sure wouldn’t be happy getting switches from the factory like that, so agree on you saying “what are they thinking?”. :thinking:

2 Likes
13

I wonder if it might depend on the keycap (stem) as well - I do have some stabilized caps that got some dielectric grease traces in there, and unless you hit it right in the middle, the other side will slip right off. I’ve had it happen with Ducky’s double shot PBT, some rando pudding caps, as well as ABS MT3.

While I was testing UHMWPE stems, though, I did notice that it made differences between cap stems easier to feel, in terms of how they grip the switch stems - GMK’s almost have a soft “click” into place that lets you know they’re fully on the stem, where most just kind of slide on until they hit something - and I wonder if that has any effect at all on lube contamination tolerance.

Edit: I pulled out pretty much all the slippy caps I mentioned there, and I have mixed news.

The good news is I don’t think lubricant contamination in the stem is the issue with my slippy caps, so maybe these Lumias aren’t quite as oddball as I first thought.

The bad news is, on closer inspection, I have quite a few damaged cap stems. Thinking back, I think I know exactly how this happened. Aside from the MT3 keys which were damaged by some sneaky V1 BOX switches mixed in with newer ones, I think the rest were done-in by my early over-use of plastic-wrap shims.

One of my first keebs had Costar stabs, and I was trying to lube them, and got it everywhere. That did make the individual inserts not grip the cap as well - we’re talking totally coated in dielectric grease here - so instead of doing the smart thing and cleaning them and re-lubing more carefully, I used bits of plastic wrap to tighten the fit. I think this actually worked fine for the dainty Costar stab inserts, but I used the same thing with Cherry style ones later, and likely with too much material - which I think is what damaged all those caps.

Oof. Well - if that experience helps some other folks avoid it in the future, it was worth it.

3 Likes