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Dude. Whoa. AMAZING!
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I love the tie in with the shirt 
. I haven’t had a chance to try low profile choc switches yet but you always make it look pretty cool
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Really cool !
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Re-built the Ikki68 Aurora for a good friend of mine who recently got his first law-firm job - he wanted something nice for the office.
I decided to try the “bar-wrap” method, which turned out pretty good. The OA stab clips don’t have the tightest grip on the wire, so even with foam supporting them they move enough to tick slightly on the spacebar. It’s minor but I’ll probably revisit that tomorrow before shipping this off - worst case I’ll find a fatter wire that’s a different color.
The specs:
- Boba U4 silent tactile switches
- OA stabs
- Aluminum plate
- Poron gaskets, center chips removed
- Silicone under plate and PCB
- Tromso hot-swap PCB (no battery)
- MT3 Susuwatari
As-is, it sounds like this:
Probably gonna replace that stab wire - but not tonight. 
13 Likes
What material is that for the bar-wrap? Looks interesting.
Thin water-resistant adhesive bandage; the ridges are a grid of fibers on the sticky side.
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Hating life after spending a day lubing and filming 3 sets of switches. Never again
Put some lubed and filmed black inks in my Kei this morning. Now time to solder.
More pics here: Reece Conrad on Instagram: "Monokei x Bisoromi Kei"
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I fully lubed my first set of switches (90 or so) and it was just the most boring thing ever. Not only that, while there was a difference in the end feel and sound, it hardly seemed worth the effort. I’ve got another set that need lubing, and one more that needs lubing and filming. Needless to say I’m less than enthusiastic.
Maybe after those it will change my mind, but I’ve got switches I like that don’t need any fussing so I may just stick with those going forward.
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That’s fair - it’s a super-tedious task. I pretty much always have something like youtube going while I’m doing it to stay sane. It makes a huge difference for some switches, less so for others - I’m a big fan of no-fuss ones myself, but I’ll still put in the hours if I have a specific goal in mind.
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Now imagine this. Out of the riduculous amount of keyboards in my collection, I would guess that 70 or more have lubed switches. I’ve never purchased pre-lubed switches before. So yeah… I don’t want to add up the hours of my life spent putting slippery goop on plastic bits. That’s depressing. I think it’s one of the main reasons I keep trying new switches. I keep thinking there has to be something out there that doesn’t require so much work!
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you have more then 70 keyboards?
Heed my words. These things add up over time. Buy only what you cannot live without
(also, don’t listen to me b/c I have too many keyboards)
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Right? At very least I do think that’s a goal being chased out there. So far the overall most no-fuss switch I’ve used has to be the TTC ACE. Maybe not the very best switch ever, but it gets an easy “A” from me with a “+” for extra credit thanks to that no-fuss nature. I’ve got a handful of switches that more or less aim for being good-to-go from the bag, but the ACEs are the only ones I’ve tried that I think totally nail it.
Runners-up for me would be:
-
Nixdork LTs: almost as good overall as the ACEs, but the extra-short travel and clacky reverb makes them slightly less approachable. Also they’re already out of production.
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MMK Frogs: actually better when it comes to grain alone - Frogs have next to none. Still, the ACEs are overall more refined with a quiet spring and less travel resistance.
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NK Silks: comparable in smoothness, but not in cleanliness or stability. Silks are high-pitched, could use films, and have some spring chatter.
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Aqua Kings: good ones might be even more smooth than the ACEs, but significant inconsistency is an issue. Even the good ones are pretty gummy; they sound amazing but feel pretty sluggish, sacrificing some usability.
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Aflion Icebergs: these are aiming for a similar target as the ACEs, but at a discount, and you do get what you pay for. These are great for the price but can’t touch the slick, solid feel of the ACEs. These are a bit more high-pitched and clink-y, have more grain, and a bit less stability.
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Candy Jade Greens aka KK Lightwave V2s: skate-slick, but noisy as hell. Hand-lubing does eliminate the awful din.
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Dark Amber T1s: odd ones out being tactile, but the Dark Amber variants are pointedly pre-lubed, with the intention of being fuss-free. Depending on how picky you are, these have a good chance at succeeding in their goal - you’ll get the odd one that’s a bit rattly and begging to be filmed, and depending on the chassis you might hear some spring chatter, but when it comes to “higher-end” factory lubing, these are above average for the category IMO.
A side note; DAT1s are probably the most slimy-to-the-touch of all these, with plenty of lube on the stem’s “shelf” where the cross-mount sits, and some on the mounts themselves - this won’t hurt anything, but might get your fingers oily. This is at least somewhat true of all of these including the ACEs, but it’s most obvious on the Ambers.
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The Amber T1’s sound like something up my alley then, me being a fan of tactiles.
I’ve personally found that C3 Kiwis and Boba U4s are fine out-of-the-box. Although I’ve heard folks dispute the latter.
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How could I forget Kiwis! I’d say nearly the same about them as I did with the Ambers; a few might benefit from filming but don’t need any help with smoothness. I do think the lubing method is probably different between the Ambers and Kiwis, but they’re otherwise both extra-nice T1 variants.
With the U4s it seems like it might depend where you get them, and if you get them as parts or complete switches. It’s also possible that there have been iterative updates along the way that have changed those factors - I believe the stems have had a few slight revisions since the translucent prototype versions were up on Daily Clack.
A newer batch of U4s I got felt a bit different to me, so I compared them - vs my previous ones, the new ones felt more tactile but less clean - that could come down to all kinds of things but might just be a difference in factory lube (or lack thereof). I know at least some of the Boba tactiles I’ve gotten have light factory lube on the legs, just to keep the aggressive bump from being too crunchy. I’m wondering how much inconsistency in the application of that lube may or may not play into the difference in sound and feeling.
man, @Deadeye it sounds like we have very similar tastes in switches.
If you would have asked me to list what switches I would consider using unlubed, unfilmed i would have said:
T1 Amber
Momoka Frog
Boba U4T
Aquaking (but as you mentioned, the inconsistency kinda sucks. And they’re really a tad too heavy for my liking)
Moderate consideration for low fussy switches that are close but with issues:
TTC wild are good and smooth but sound so clacky and high pitched.
KTT Strawberry are close, but I’m not convinced I like the sound profile
Gateron Pros sound good but still feel and sound better with lube
Durock Cobalt are nice sounding but the short travel and wobble are an issue for me
I could live with stock pewters, but the leaf ping is so annoying.
Still have really high hopes for the TTC Matrix-01s.
I have some Ice Candy switches with the Nylon stems coming next week. I like the regular ones, but the stick slip on them is pretty strong on slow or off-center presses. Hopefuly the nylon stem will help.
Definitely sounds like I need to try the ACE switches.
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I still need to try KTTs and Gat Pros…
Ha, yes! I’d put the Cobalts in the same “almost” category - I really like the them for the feel and plastic sound, but they’ve definitely got some noise going on - I’m thinking it’s spring chatter, like the coils just brushing stuff inside as they wiggle, or maybe just transferring energy into the stems without enough lube on the ends.
I haven’t tried the Wilds but I’d say the same about the Gold Pinks. “Clink-y” is the onomatopoeia that comes to mind. Definitely curious about the Matrix-01s, as well as the ones they’ve done with Akko lately.
I’ve also been curious about those Ice Candy switches - the ones I was looking at had the Nylon stem, what came in yours at first?
The first two batches of ice candy switches had PC stems and housings.
1 Like