Cherry retooled black is the most rewarding switch after polishing IMO.
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Good luck!!! 
I feel like I’m going to quote that someday in some random discussion and get weird looks
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Just tested repolished blacks and they’re are now consistently smooth. So previously-lubed switches need to be cleaned thoroughly before polishing. I’m going to defer polishing the set of Cream switches I have because cleaning switches without ultrasonic cleaner is a lot of hassle.
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Just realized I could’ve used Water Pik to clean switches after polishing.
It’s not as thorough and needs some soaking period (I use baking soda and liquid soap in warm water) to loosen the paste but should be faster than brushing.
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Waterpik is a great idea! I cannot believe the number of times dental stuff has made its way into keyboard conversations LOL.
I was using a kitchen sink sprayer somewhat successfully but water would go everywhere and still required brushing.
I gave in and ordered an ultrasonic cleaner from Amazon that ManOfInterests mentioned in, Prime Day Deals for Keyboard Peoples - #3 by Manofinterests. It is tracking at a decent price of $47, https://camelcamelcamel.com/. Should be coming in tomorrow. I will report back on how it works on the diamond paste residue.
Also will need to find some other uses to justify having it. Maybe using it on eye glasses or something so I don’t feel like I am “wasting” money. If anyone has anything ideas let me know.
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The diamond paste 0.5um came. I’ve applied it to a custom switch, made of Cherry bottom, Gateron stem and milk top, and TX long 65g spring.
I’ve done the left half of my Lily58. I will keep the paste on for the next few days and do a lot of typing tests on Monkeytype.
With some nice Cherry WoB, the scratch feeling is not very present. Doesn’t feel bad at all. And the TX spring make it very nice linear feeling out of the box.
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You have Lily58 too, eh? 
Bummer it doesn’t support VIA yet.
The vibrated switches I have been working on are starting to come out inconsistent and slightly scratchy. I think my first couple must have been on better stock switches which threw me off going down this method. I do not recommend the vibrating method.
@donpark was kind enough to test some of my switches and compare them against stock and his method. His findings were:
Vibrated switches - they are better than stock but still somewhat scratchy. I think switches need to be rotated as they’re vibrated.
Vibrated and breakin-machined - these are very similar to my manually polished switches. They’re not as smooth as JWK Mauve, NK Dry, or Tangerine but IMO they’re about as smooth as Cream.
As far as the ultra sonic. The one I ordered was like 1 inch too small for eye glasses so I will exchange it for another one. It doesn’t do much without anything added to the water. Soap is more effective but still requires rinsing and about 3 cycles through the machine. Denture tabs work very well and where able to clean out the diamond paste (about 3 runs through the machine shaking the basket between cycles). Some switch housings had diamond paste in the corners but I was able to spray it out with just the kitchen sink sprayer and didn’t have to use a brush.
My wrap-up is if you do want to go down this road use the DonPark method with the ball or turning the keyboard upside down and stepping on it. After you do this for a bit and the switches feel smooth do it a little longer just to be sure. Then cleanout the switches. It does work to make the switches smoother and it is very satisfying to use them.
If you do not want to go through all this take a chance on vintage blacks off r/mm or wait to get the HyperGlides. According to initial feedback/reviews they seem to be very smooth from the start.
I learned a lot and it was fun, I have no regrets.
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Jumping onto this thread for 2 loosely (un)related questions:
- What about polishing stabilizer stems?
- Do you think diamond paste + wool dremel tip can be used to polish shiny gmk caps? If so, which grit?
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- What about polishing stabilizer stems?
If you have scratchy stabs, I think coating the sides with lube makes more sense than polishing.
- Do you think diamond paste + wool dremel tip can be used to polish shiny gmk caps? If so, which grit?
It could work. Get a variety pack to experiment with.
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I would be very interested in a tutorial on how to shine GMK / ABS keycaps
Will assemble the switches now. They are much smoother than stock. It has the skating smooth feel. There is still friction because lubricant has not been applied, but I’m very pleased with the results.
For 48 switches it took about 1 hour to polish and 1.5 hour to clean with toothbrush.
30 min later
I am testing my new lubricant 207 grade 2 on these switches, it feels very buttery. I would not recommend it to the average luber. Only to experienced users.
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Testing with unpolished/no paste bases, it’s a lot scratchier than the pasted-broken-in bases.
It is proof that the diamond paste works well even when not polished with a cloth or anything special.
I just used a toothbrush to brush all the diamond paste off under running water.
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Noice. Are those Gateron Milk Blacks?
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It’s Gateron milk top and black stem with Cherry bottom.
The Cherry base is giving me an issue, and I think it’s the leaf. I tested with leaf modding and it seems to fix the bump, making the switch nice and linear.
I would only use it on Not-frankenswitches just because those are guaranteed to work without issues like mine.
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Have not posted here in a while, but I wanted to share what my switches sounded like. Lily58 keyboard
The frankenswitch consists of Gateron linear stem and milk top, Cherry bottom and TX 65g spring.
Lube used is Krytox 207g2 on stem and Krytox 1514 on spring
Scuffed audio but it works to convey the sound
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Nice. Never tried 207g2 on linear. Did you mix it with oil to dilute?
I got a bag of scratchy as hell almost vint blacks I plan on trying this to whenever I finally get laid off for the winter with. Glad to hear everyone is having good results! Props to @donpark for posting this ideal & everyone who tested it out!
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