I imagine there could be a few relevant factors, at least theoretically. For example, housing material or leaf design. Also leaf material: a leaf made from a thinner or flimsier metal would probably provide less resistance.
Yes, but I'm not aware of any such purposeful differences existing within a particular manufacturer's switches, and I'd expect if there were purposeful differences, there would be some marketing copy about just how fantastic those differences are
) . For housings, for example, there will be variations between moulds, batches of plastic, etc., and these variations may be greater for a manufacturer with less stringent quality control standards. I'd be happy to be proven wrong on this point!
When you're testing the gateron silent clears, are all your test switches bought at the same time, from the same retailer, or have you bought switches over a period of time, from different retailers? If, say, you just bought a single 10-pack, it's entirely possible that the particular batch you got is closer to out-of-spec than the other switches you've tried in a way that happens to be favourable for your application.
This may be related to one of the reasons 'vintage' MX Blacks were so sought after -- the older switches had smooth sliders, while the newer switches used a different material, and were considerably more scratchy. More recently, there's been another retooling, and apparently the modern MX blacks are a bit better. But these transitions weren't like flipping a switch, they took place over time, and various supply chains and parts of the world got the new stuff to consumers at different times, over a course of years.
The thing that has puzzled me is that the gateron silent clear, which has consistently been the lightest in my tests, has also been one of the scratchiest, which I would have thought would make it feel heavier. Hmm, maybe I can try combining a gateron leaf with a smooth UHMWPE housing...
The sense of touch is very...sensitive -- for lack of a better word. The amount of extra friction from the scratchy feeling is likely negligible on the scales you're measuring (grams of force -- centinewtons), but you can feel the consequences. How are you measuring how heavy a particular switch is?
You could maybe get beneficial results by lubing the contact points of your slider/housing -- if properly done, this could further reduce friction, as well as helping the scratchy feeling.
