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Author Topic: Using WD-40 to lube keycaps and costar stabilizers, good or bad?  (Read 14609 times)

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Offline eujin1994

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Using WD-40 to lube keycaps and costar stabilizers, good or bad?
« on: Mon, 24 February 2014, 23:56:45 »
So I found one of these in my dark storage room. Is it safe to use them to lube on my costar stabilizers?
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Offline JPG

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Re: Using WD-40 to lube keycaps and costar stabilizers, good or bad?
« Reply #1 on: Tue, 25 February 2014, 00:02:23 »
I am no expert, but I am 99.99% sure it's bad.

ptfe seems to be the best thing to use to lube and is totally inert (that's what mkawa says and I wont challenge him!). You can buy this lube from techkeys (http://techkeys.us/collections/accessories)

And you don't lube keycaps (unless you have strange objectives). if you want to lube something, you can lube the stabilizers and the sliders. There's guides to do so somewhere in here.
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Offline strafe

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Re: Using WD-40 to lube keycaps and costar stabilizers, good or bad?
« Reply #2 on: Tue, 25 February 2014, 01:17:30 »
« Last Edit: Wed, 26 February 2014, 04:01:02 by strafe »
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Offline jacobolus

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Re: Using WD-40 to lube keycaps and costar stabilizers, good or bad?
« Reply #3 on: Tue, 25 February 2014, 02:49:32 »
Your topic asks about lubing “keycaps”. Do you mean keyswitches maybe? Why would you want to lube keycaps?
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Offline eujin1994

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Re: Using WD-40 to lube keycaps and costar stabilizers, good or bad?
« Reply #4 on: Tue, 25 February 2014, 03:34:29 »
Quote from: jacobolus on Tue, 25 February 2014, 02:49:32
Your topic asks about lubing “keycaps”. Do you mean keyswitches maybe? Why would you want to lube keycaps?

Sorry I'm in a rush earlier to go to work, I mean lubing internal keyswithes.
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Offline TheSoulhunter

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Re: Using WD-40 to lube keycaps and costar stabilizers, good or bad?
« Reply #5 on: Tue, 25 February 2014, 03:48:04 »
Bad idea, way to runny and creeping...
You want to use something "sticky" like most PTFE based lubes.
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Offline Zaskar

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Re: Using WD-40 to lube keycaps and costar stabilizers, good or bad?
« Reply #6 on: Tue, 25 February 2014, 07:15:43 »
Its never really good to use WD-40 to lube anything, you will probably end up displacing any stock grease that may of been in there. Most situations where WD-40  is used involve using a proper grease after, I really wouldn't let it anywhere near a keyboard.
Elite Keyboards has 2 kinds of fairly inexpensive lubes, 1 seems made for plastic on plastic-metal matings, and the other for plastic-plastic matings.

http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=access,misc&pid=mechlube
http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=access,misc&pid=mechlube_2
« Last Edit: Tue, 25 February 2014, 07:33:29 by Zaskar »
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Offline Computer-Lab in Basement

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Re: Using WD-40 to lube keycaps and costar stabilizers, good or bad?
« Reply #7 on: Tue, 25 February 2014, 07:26:40 »
WD-40 is for lubing noisy door hinges when you're trying to sneak in and out of your house at night and you don't want to wake anyone up.

Not advisable lube for keyswitches...
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Offline fohat.digs

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Re: Using WD-40 to lube keycaps and costar stabilizers, good or bad?
« Reply #8 on: Tue, 25 February 2014, 07:45:48 »
Quote from: Zaskar on Tue, 25 February 2014, 07:15:43
Its never really good to use WD-40 to lube anything,

WD-40 ("water-displacement") is a great cleaner but not good for long-term lubrication. It will work fine for some amount of time between a few minutes and a few weeks, and then it will be worse than before.
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Offline Findecanor

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Re: Using WD-40 to lube keycaps and costar stabilizers, good or bad?
« Reply #9 on: Tue, 25 February 2014, 08:02:33 »
When lubing plastic, you want to be really sure that the lube does not damage the plastic in the long run. That means that the lube must be absolutely free from any solvents that could damage the plastic.
The composition of WD-40 is a trade-secret, but it is likely that it could contain solvents that are bad for your keyboard.

People around here use either:
 - EliteKeyboards' MechLube for stabilisers[/url] and MechLube-2 for switches.
 - RO-59KT, which is a PTFE ("Teflon")- based lube, once made for Key Tronic. Best for the stems of linear switches, not so much for stabilisers.
 - Krytox. There are several variants. Usually Krytox GPL206 for stabilisers and a mix of GPL206 and VPF1506 for switches.

The latter two can be acquired in group orders now and then.
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Offline simon_C

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Re: Using WD-40 to lube keycaps and costar stabilizers, good or bad?
« Reply #10 on: Wed, 26 February 2014, 19:13:45 »
WD-40 is not a lubricant. It is a solvent.
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Offline Snarfangel

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Re: Using WD-40 to lube keycaps and costar stabilizers, good or bad?
« Reply #11 on: Wed, 26 February 2014, 19:40:35 »
Completely as an aside, when I was much, much younger, I used some kind of lubricant on the wheels of a pinewood derby car, in preparation for a race the next day. The stuff I used was AWESOME! It was like liquid Teflon or something. The thing rolled like it was a piece of ice on a hot skillet.

Which is pretty close to the mark, because I noticed it had started melting the wheels. I had to replace them, completely without the aid of a sailor's vocabulary.

/Would have been the perfect thing to use in the final race, though.  :))
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Offline ClarusWorks

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Re: Using WD-40 to lube keycaps and costar stabilizers, good or bad?
« Reply #12 on: Mon, 03 March 2014, 09:56:26 »
Yes, WD-40 is not a lubricant.  The "WD" stands for Water Dispersant - its original intended purpose was to blast water out of electrical stuff.  There is some very light oil in it, but it is mostly solvent and propellant.  Here's an MSDS sheet for it:  http://www.wd40company.com/files/pdf/msds-wd494716385.pdf
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Offline mkawa

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Re: Using WD-40 to lube keycaps and costar stabilizers, good or bad?
« Reply #13 on: Mon, 03 March 2014, 10:40:01 »
beaten by a million people, but please don't try to lubricate things with wd-40. its purpose is to blast everything out of a lubricatable joint and then vaporize and disappear. AFTER the wd-40 gets in there and cleans up, you then need to put an actual lubricant in the joint.
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