Okay great news IMO the paste had a positive effect on the smoothness of the switches. You do not need to be a switch whisperer to notice it which I was worried about.
Testing Method:
- 8 switches total.
- 0.5 Micron paste
- Break-in machine (2 w/diamond paste & 2 stock). Ran for 2 hours occasionally tweaking the positioning to generate off center hits.
- DonPark ball method (2 w/diamond paste & 2 stock) rolled a stress ball over the switches pretty intensely for 2 hours in various directions (used just a plate and no keycaps).
- Cleaned out the switches with water and a lube brush (easier then I expected probably like 5 to 10 brush strokes on each surface)
- Used an electric air blower to dry out the switches because I am not patient enough to wait for them to dry (also I have seen the problem DonPark reported resulting in water being in the stem part of the switch housing)
Results:
- Stock switches in both cases didn’t notice any change (or it was so small I couldn’t confidently say). I was surprised the break-in machine was so ineffective.
- Diamond switches were about even between both methods
- Trying to tell the difference between stock and diamond paste switches was pretty easy and became easier with keycaps.
- Compared a diamond paste DeskKeys filmed and lubed (3204 should have used 205g0 but close enough for now) vs stock switch filmed and lubed. The stock still had scratchiness that was not covered up by the lube. The diamond paste filmed and lubed felt superior.
- Sound wise they didn’t change between stock and diamond paste
(agree with DonPark’s assessment of Cream above) - Comparing against a Tealio V2 67g the sound pitch is much higher I prefer the cherry black. Smoothness wise Tealios is smoother (unlubed vs unlubed Diamond)
Next Steps:
- Try the 1 Micron paste a shot and see what it does (possibly 1 micron then 0.5 micron). That is going to take me a week or 2 to get around to it. This probably won’t result in an improvement but you never know…
Thanks to @DanPark for the idea and effort you put into this. It was a lot of fun seeing the process of this experiment!
Note this is next level time consuming to do. Not for the faint of heart. If you despise lubing this is not the thing for you.
Disclaimer: My switch experience is limited. I have never used vintage blacks. I jumped on this because it peaked my interest from a theory perspective. This is just my personal take and preference.