Yeah, I'd love to hear those ALPS, too. Do you usually use Finish Line four them? There's so many differing opinions on which lube to use. When I get some more switches, I'm going to try them all haha. Looking forward to seeing yours with Yuri.
It's actually my first ALPS build but I've been reading a lot about lubing or not. I tried some switches without lube and some with lube and it is definitely a good change. I didn't feel any tactile loss, but they were louder and smoother. In fact I think I'll need to lube them a bit more because I think I didn't apply enough on some of them since FinishLine will evaporate rather quickly.
Anyway, for tactile (or clicky for that matter) ALPS, any dry lube should be used. FinishLine was the most affordable and readily available here, but superlube is a good option as well, there's even a WD40 version of it. You just need to make sure it does contain teflon and PTFE.
What I would not advise for tactile or clickly alps is using the "bag method" as in you put all the sliders and some lube in the bad and just shake them. This does get a nice, even and thin coat, but I don't wanted to cover the side where the tactile leaves touch the slider to not lose any tactile feeling. I did use a little brush to "paint" the lube on the sides of the sliders and top housings.
I'm getting some blues ready (cleaning them rn) and I'll do the same, assemble some without, some with a nice coat and compare them, but I suspect I'll prefer it lubed as well.
Jesus dude lol. I've never heard of someone lubing ALPS before, much less messing with the leafs. You are an inspiration, and instill some ALPS romance in me with such a pretty build. I would absolutely love it if you made a video where we can see the sound of your Orange Alps, with and without keycaps! Maybe comment on how they feel too, before you launch that hoe straight into space
Thank so much for your kind words mate
I had been planning this build for so long that I think I cannot include more things besides holtites and the sliders XD
I'll try to get a hold of a decent mic from a friend a do a typing video, but it may take a while, although sound right now is not wonderful since switches are still not consistent, some of them do sound perfect but some of them sound kind of metallic.
About feelings, I was very very hyped for oranges and I'm not entirely content with the current state but I now what I need to change for them to be perfect.
As I said in my previous comment, when I was tuning them I was mounting them in the policarbonate plate, which has more flex than brass. In their "default" configuration, they were nicely tactile but I had heard about bending the leaves to "restore" some of their tactile feeling and I tried some of them, being very cautious about not breaking them. So when I compared them side to side I instantly fell in love with the tuned version and I started tuning all of them.
Problem is that then I decided to build it with the brass plate, because why the hell not? And turns out brass will provide such a firm support that when I tried them they were not the same. I still like them over any other tactile switch I've tried before, people describe them like topre but more mechanical (I haven't tried topre, but I get what they mean). It's almost like popping bubble wrap, there's no travel before the bump so you just press hard and then you overpass the bump and you bottom out quite hard. It's like you either press it instantly or you don't press it at all, no mid travel bull****.
Anyway, since you can open ALPS without desoldering, I plan to open them and bend back a bit the tactile leaves and lube the ones that need it most to achieve a consistent feel across the board. I may wait for the nexus sliders though, so I only open them all one time and not two hahah