Switch Films Explained

Ooooh! Which colours did you get? Some may say it doesn’t really matter, but all keeb aesthetics matter :eyes:

Haha oh it matters but for my purposes I just got the clear ones. In this case I didn’t want to add any contrast and they wouldn’t match close enough otherwise.

Well I hope they work well for what you’re doing with them! Which switches are you stickering first?

Going to try them on healios and creams and see how much they are affected. I got 300 though so I can do a whole bunch when necessary.

I’ve heard from my friend that they’re well-needed on the Creams if you’re cracking them open to spring-swap/lube, so that’s a good choice. Are you going to lube the Creams themselves, or just the spring and leave the stem/sliders?

I’ve lubed the springs with 106 and have been using 205g0 with great success. The springs and stem are a lot quieter but I do see a bit of movement in the housing so I’m hoping the films will tighten everything up a bit!

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I need to get my hands on some 106, a lot of people have been using it with their springs and loving it. Since the Creams’ housing is POM and self-lubricating, I was under the impression that externally-applied lube wouldn’t stay on for very long. I’m hoping that’s not the case, as I’m a bit of a chronic luber and enjoy the acoustic/sound of it.

Anyway, don’t want to deviate too far from the subject title. Walkerstop definitely does the Lord’s work with all of his review videos.

Dude fair warning… Your mileage may vary, but to me the films are kinda of a pain to deal with on creams!

I applied them to my Cream switches (and they really help), the thing that’s annoying is the legs/teeth of the cream switch tops are so soft and flexible that the switch film is almost able to push the legs open enough to make the top come off… The film is almost like a built in switch top opener! :rofl:

I was able to fully snap them closed, but they seem to be handing on just barely. Fortunately, I am putting them into a fixed plate that doesn’t support switch top opening, so the plate will hold the teeth securely shut. Dang though, pretty funny!

I guess the POM that Cream tops are made of is significantly more flexy and soft than other switch tops I’m used to!

I don’t think I would use these particular films on cream switches if you’re doing a plateless build or you’re using a plate that supports switch top opening. You might find some of your switches coming apart during use or changing keycaps. If you have a nice fixed plate with no switch top opening you’ll be fine.

There might be other less stiff films you could use on creams to avoid this problem.

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Thanks for the advice! Fortunately they’ll be going into a fixed layout PCB with no switch-Top removal cutouts so if you found it helps than I’ll bear with the finicky nature of it. I’m actually just watching Wodan’s review of the switch films at this very moment!

Do you think that switch stickers, as opposed to films, would benefit Creams any?

Probably but i haven’t tried

My Creamy (Geekmaker, not NovelKeys) switches have stickers on them, and before they were mounted some of them were having the top pop off, but even in a plate that supports top opening they seem really snug, so I think you should be okay. Thought I’d give a word of warning to make sure you give them a good squeeze shut before mounting and soldering.

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Thanks for the info, where’d you get the stickers? I may try some of those

I had to buy 90 of the Creamy switches to get them, but after using them for a week they’ve turned out to be utter shit so I’ll be de-soldering them and putting in some Holy GSUS instead.

Even with the switch stickers they feel rattly and are still kinda wobbly.

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Something a few people have noticed is that some switches seem to have tight tops when they are new, but after being opened with a switch opener to lube the switch or swap the springs or whatever, then re-assembled, the top is no longer tight… It seems the teeth of the switch top can get stretched or bent a little so that the top no longer fits as tightly.

I experienced exactly that when I lubed my Zelios V2: the top housing was tight when new and loose once opened, I filmed all the switches.

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