If you are a true mechanical keyboard player, you cannot ignore the concept of lube switch, lube stab mechanical keyboard, these are all skills that long-time keyboard players know and have experienced at least once in their life. In this article, SiliconZ will explain to you what is a lube switch? Why do you need to lube the switch? Current ways to lube switches as well as choosing oil or grease to lubricate the switch to bring the best typing efficiency.
1. What is a lube switch?
Lube switch means lubricating the switch to make the keystroke feel smoother and lighter. Lube switch helps users type more comfortably, reducing hand fatigue thanks to the stem inside the switch being smoother and moving more flexibly.
2. Benefits of Lube switch
- Helps the stem inside the switch move more smoothly and easily. Thereby reducing the pressing force of the hand, helping to limit hand fatigue when used for a long time.
- Reduces switch noise when pressing keys, especially effective with clicky switches.
- Limit vibration, increase stability of switch components after a period of use.
- If your current switch doesn't have the ability to be customized with different actuation points available, lubing the switch will give you the opportunity to experience a new click feeling like a completely new customized spring.
3. In what cases should you not lube the switch?
If you are happy with your mechanical keyboard and have no need for a more responsive keystroke, then don't use lube, definitely.
If you don't have the time or patience to learn how to lube yourself, you can take it to a shop to have someone lube it, but it will cost quite a bit. So the advice is if you don't really need lube, then just leave it as is.
With tactical or clicky switches, if you love the clicky feeling when pressing the keys, don't lube them. After lubricating the switches, the clickiness and accompanying sound will be reduced.
And if your mechanical keyboard is still under warranty, lubricating it yourself will void your keyboard's warranty!
4. Why do we need lube switch?
When you lubricate a switch, you not only help the stem move more smoothly, but you also help the entire system run smoother, including the housing, stem, and spring. The lubricant can smooth out the friction in the path of each small part of the switch, helping to smooth over imperfections in the material.
5. What type of lubricant should the switch be lubricated with?
There are many types of switch lubricants on the market, but they usually fall into two main groups: Grease or Oil. Both of these types have the same characteristic of creating a lubricant for the material when applied, but have different viscosity levels. The higher the viscosity, the less liquid.
Most users agree that Oil is more versatile than Grease when it comes to practical applications. Oil can be used to brush onto housing and stem or can also be easily used when bag lubing springs in switches.
Grease is a little easier to brush onto the housing and stem than oil, but it will be more difficult and time consuming if you want to lubricate the springs because then you have to brush grease little by little into each spring.
But in general, don't worry too much about choosing Oil or Grease. Just try it once, you will understand which lubricant suits your keyboard and your preferences best.
One of the general principles to keep in mind when lube switching is:
- Low viscosity lubricant should be used to lube the tacticle switches >> to ensure tactile feel even after lubing.
- High viscosity lubricant should be used for linear switches >> ensuring perfect smoothness, no notch, no sound which is the original characteristic of linear switches.
Some popular lubricant choices for lube switches are:
- For the stem and housing of the switch: oil or grease with index 3203 and 203 for tacticle switch; 205 and 106 for linear switch.
- For the spring part: if possible, choose a slightly thicker oil (higher viscosity index) than the stem and housing to better reduce noise and material defects.
6. What tool comes with the switch to apply lubricant?
There are many ways to lube a switch, but the two most common tools are Brush lubbing and Bag lubbing.
Brush Lubbing
- Use a good brush with moderate softness and reasonable size (usually recommend 00 brush) to "brush" the lubricant onto the switch parts. This method gives you the best control over each component, the thinness and thickness when applying, but at the same time it also takes the most time.
- One important note is that if you brush too much on the stem base, you will reduce the tactile feel of the tacticle switch (even with low viscosity oil/grease). So it is safest to try brushing the stem base of a particular switch first.
Bag Lubbing
- This is the most convenient and time-saving method, often recommended for the spring part of the switch. The method is very simple, take out the switch components that need lube, put them all in a sealed bag, add lubricant and shake well until everything is smooth and shiny.
- The reason why it is recommended to use it only for the spring part is because if you put all the stem, housing, spring in the bag and “shake the mango” like that, you will have to use a lot of lubricant, causing unnecessary waste. Moreover, you cannot focus on lubricating the parts that need it, but it will make everything greasy, making it difficult to reassemble and keep clean after lubricating.
Therefore, one of the most recommended, effective, hygienic, and least time-consuming methods is to combine the two methods above: brush lubbing for the stem and housing, and bag lubbing for the spring.
And those are all the concepts, as well as the important notes and skills you need to understand before you want to start lube switches for your mechanical keyboard.
Reference: Banphimco.com
