I feel like this thread has a lot of information that would be good if it could be condensed in video form for people 
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Iām going to be consolidating a lot of content into the first post soon. If you make a video Iāll happily add that too. Iāve been considering making a lube video as well but Iām not as good in front of the camera like you are!
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A few more things.
Itās good to wear in your switches before you lube them, Using them for a couple of weeks or more will remove the tiny imperfections in the mold, Bumps and lumps will be smoothed out. Then when you open the switches, blow out any dust. Now youāre ready to lube!
One thing to know is that grease is composed of oil plus a thickener.In the case of Krytox the oil is PFPE, which is like liquid teflon, The thickener is very finely powdered teflon. PFPE oil will very slowly evaporate. So if you want a really smooth oily feel, youāll have to re-apply Krytox every few years.
For the ultimate keyboard geek-out you can apply Deoxit Gold G100 to the gold-plated electrical contact points within the switch. It will protect and enhance the already good conductivity of the switches. Itās also a lubricant which you can use to make any plug or hotswap keyboard work more smoothly, adding a touch of class to all your connectors. A little goes a long way!
I sell all of the above products within Australia at good prices, Hit me up if you want some!
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Iām skeptical that would provide any benefit at all tbh
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It would not make a perceptible difference on gold plated mechanical switches. But this is about boasting rights! Ultimate keyboard geek-out is ultimate.
More seriously though, this stuff does make electrical contact points feel better and work better. A few days ago, the six year old laptop Iām using now refused to boot. So I took it all apart, blew the dust off with compressed air and painted all the RAM and SSD contact points with Deoxit Gold G100.
Maybe it would have worked without the contact lube, but this way Iām sure. And I know that the stuff will protect and preserve those contacts for years to come. It also made the contacts feel really smooth as they went in.
I particularly recommend it for hotswap keyboards. It reduces friction between the switch legs and the sockets, reduces the strain on the solder joints that hold the sockets onto the circuit board, enhances conductivity and just makes them feel nice.
Sounds more like āpremium audio cableā level snake oil to meā¦
I dunno, but a good cleaning with rubbing alcohol probably would have worked just as well.
That actually maybe makes sense, how do you get it into the sockets?
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I use a very small paintbrush.
I know that it isnāt necessary to do all these things. A good mechanical keyboard will work just fine as it is when you buy it from the shop.
But this is a forum for keyboard fanatics. People who take apart their switches and lubricate them with oils that were developed for the Apollo moon project! We are not ordinary users who buy a cheap Logitech membrane keyboard. We want the best, and the best of the best.
Thatās why weāre here.
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Amen.
A lot of people overthink about why we lube switches as well sometimes. Sure factories can lube switches as demonstrated with Dropās first batch of Holy Pandasā¦ but that has demonstrated their inability to achieve it at the same level of quality as people doing it by hand can do and thatās such a huge deal in this hobby.
Factories can lube switches. This is completely true. But Iāve yet to find a factory that can lube switches to even a normal amount of appreciation.
I like to lube my switches with āThe Huey Classicā, which is just 3204 on the base of the bottom housing (around the spring pole), and 3203 on the stem itself. This allows for a slightly thicker lube for the bottom housing and spring to eliminate any spring ping (spring picks up more lube as it compresses from your keystrokes). The lighter lube on the stem is my personal preference as itās not so thick as to slog up a switch, but enough to effect the sound in a way I prefer while retaining a good deal of smooth.
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Sure, and Iām not trying to diminish that. I take apart all my switches and lube them, usually with 3204 on the stem and housing and Christolube on the stabs. But at the same time you have to be skeptical, super niche stuff like this is prone to snake oil and questionable mods that are done for the sake of doing rather than making anything feel better. Iāve never heard of anyone having conductivity issues with their switches, and the difference that it would make is probably negligible in the scheme of the switch circuit. Besides, if youāre the sort of enthusiast thatās taking the time and effort to mod every switch youāre probably also taking decent care to keep it clean
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Itās true that conductivity issues donāt exist with gold plated mechanical switch contacts. Putting G100 on them wonāt make them any better than they already are,
However, it does make a significant difference for hot plug keyboard sockets, USB connectors, RAM, non-soldered CPUs, video and PCI cards, and any other electrical plug-and-socket connection.
G100 is a lubricant for conductive parts, just as Krytox is a lubricant for non-conductive materials. It will make the insertion and removal of any electrical connection feel smoother and generally
better.
In addition it will protect and preserve the contacts over the years. There are other contact lubricants that you can buy at your local electronic component shop for quite a bit less, and they work. Iāve been using them for many years with good results. Deoxit Gold itself is also available in a 5% solution.
But if you want the very best of the best, the undiluted Gold G100 is it. It isnāt even expensive, and a little goes a long way. One millilitre might be enough to service all the electrical connectors in your house and car, including every power cable, audio cable, computer cable and all the internal non-soldered connections within every electrical device. Two millilitres to be certain.
I have a two millilitre container siting on my shelf. So far Iāve done three computers, some power plugs and a couple of USB cables. Iām not in any rush and I only use it when Iām working on something. The container is still almost full.
And it just makes every connection feel nice.
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You sound like a salesman lol. Iāve been building computers, electronics, etc for a lot of years and Iāve never had and need for anything like that. But hey, if it works for you it works for you. If I was interested in hot swap boards maybe I would give it a try but I generally prefer to have it soldered ĀÆ\_(ć)_/ĀÆ
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Well I am trying to support myself by selling these things. And I use them myself.
Iāve also mentioned twice that you donāt need any of these products because your gear will work just fine as it is. For that matter, most membrane keyboards will do a good job unless the air is very humid.
Despite the advertising, I think my posts are informative and readers can learn about lubricants by reading them. Nobody is being forced to buy.
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Look man, Iām not tryna start anything, I was just trying to point out that I think thereās a fine line between something that will make a difference or not. Iām right there with you that membrane keyboards usually feel like crap and lubing switches make them better, but I donāt see any point to lubing the electrical contacts.
A disclaimer up front would be appreciated.
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Okay. Iām not either. Thanks for the feedback.
A disclaimer up front would be appreciated.
Good point. Iāll try to do it in the future. Hopefully I wonāt forget!
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Are the Lubricants from this site legit?
I ordered few weeks ago krytox 205g0 at zealpc and it was five times more expensive.
Looks like Store Uni rebranded. Iāve bought from them before, theyāre legit as long as youāre OK with waiting a few weeks for shipping from Malaysia.
Er, theyāre using the same assets/images as Store Uni and storeuni.com is down, but the address on that site doesnāt match my old receipt so maybe not the same people? Either way, in regards to buying Krytox from Zeal there is a LOT of markup for lubes in the market so I wouldnāt doubt this store based on the prices alone.
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I must say that I was not happy with bag-lubed springs.
Tried it with TX springs using 106 and they were still pingy.
So Iām still lubing them the old, slow way - with brush using 205g0.
Your mileage may varyā¦
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I agree on the markup part. But if everyone has a high markup you can as a vendor undersell for a few dollars for the most profit. As a normal human being seeing a price low like that smells fishy to me (even if itās maybe legit).
Are you lubing only the ends of the spring?
Itās StoreUni. They posted a message about the move on their Facebook page:
I havenāt ordered through their new site but the lubes I bought from their StoreUni site were good. FYI, I ordered 1504, 103, 104, 105, 203g0, 204g0, 205g0S. All good.
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