Keyboard Suggestions?

[Areyn13]

So I've been using the GMMK TKL with gateron clear switches for a few years now and above all the other types of switches I've tried, these just feel the best to me. I love how light they are and how little force is required to actuate, but was wondering what steps i could take to improve my keyboard, or perhaps even purchase a new one? all i want are my gat clears that feel buttery smooth and soft to press down, without any annoying pings or scratchiness that i often feel with my current setup. I also want to eliminate the kinda loudish "hollow plastic" sound i get with these? into something a little more softer and delicate sounding, like I'm typing on a cloud kind of thing. I know this is a very broad question/post but yeah, any steps i could take to improve my current keyboard situation or even recommendation on others i might like are all welcome

[suicidal_orange]

Ping is due to springs, your board is hotswap so taking the noisy switches apart and reseating the springs might be enough to fix them, if not you need to lube them.  Similarly scratchiness is fixed by lubing the stems, I'd warn about lightness but if you like switches I can't feel with my pinky I guess that wont be a problem!

Not so sure about the hollowness as I've not seen/heard this board but filling the gap below the PCB is a popular mod to change the sound - shelf liner and craft foam are commonly used.

[Leslieann]

As mentioned, it's not the board it's the springs more than anything for ping and bad sound and scratchiness is fixed with lube.
Lubing the springs may help, replacing them with better ones from Sprit or Mechanicalkeyboards.com will go even further. Sound will definitely improve with lube, bandaid modding the stabs will also make a difference.

GMMK ships with foam already, though I would imagine the foam shelf line would work better. I'm still using the stock foam but You'd be amazed at how good you can actually make an GMMK sound without changing it.

As for lube thick silicone grease for the stabs where metal touches plastic (many use Super Lube dielectric silicone lube), I also use this on my springs. Use Krytox 205 or Finish Line Flouro Extreme for everything else. If you bandaid mod, use thin lube on the bandage. If you go down on spring weight (40-45g or less) switch to Krytox 203 or Finish Line Synthetic lube with Syncolon and ptfe (it comes in a pen type dispenser). You can get away with 205 down to around 45, Flouro to high 30's but at those rates they need some break in before they move smooth and may feel a tad sluggish on switches with stabs. The Krytox stuff will cost a lot more and people swear by it but the others listed here are a lot cheaper and are pretty much identical.

[treeleaf64]

Buy light TX spring or light Novelkey spring. Then you can also lubricate.

And if you want to improve the feel I would research keyboard mounting option and buy something there. But htis will be much more expensive because you are purchasing a whole keyboard

[Leslieann]

And if you want to improve the feel I would research keyboard mounting option and buy something there. But htis will be much more expensive because you are purchasing a whole keyboard

The difference here is FAAAR less than people think.
The problem is almost no one goes through a cheap keyboard, they just assume it's going to remain cheap so why bother. 

Few people would install new stabs, springs, lubes and bandaid mod something cheap but my GMMK sounds every bit as good as something high end, I wouldn't have thought it possible either until this stupid thing started to sound like something you'd see on Taeha Types.

[treeleaf64]

Yeah Leslie that is true to an extent. Tray mount steel plate will feel leagues behind top mount pc plate for instance.

And the plate choice and mounting style has a lot to do with the sound of the keyboard.

But yeah, I see what you mean when you say "it's a lot less difference than people think."

[Areyn13]

Buy light TX spring or light Novelkey spring. Then you can also lubricate.

Most common tx springs only seem to go as low as 45g, I'm too used to the 35 grams of the gateron clears to go any heavier at this point

[Areyn13]

As mentioned, it's not the board it's the springs more than anything for ping and bad sound and scratchiness is fixed with lube.
Lubing the springs may help, replacing them with better ones from Sprit or Mechanicalkeyboards.com will go even further. Sound will definitely improve with lube, bandaid modding the stabs will also make a difference.

GMMK ships with foam already, though I would imagine the foam shelf line would work better. I'm still using the stock foam but You'd be amazed at how good you can actually make an GMMK sound without changing it.

As for lube thick silicone grease for the stabs where metal touches plastic (many use Super Lube dielectric silicone lube), I also use this on my springs. Use Krytox 205 or Finish Line Flouro Extreme for everything else. If you bandaid mod, use thin lube on the bandage. If you go down on spring weight (40-45g or less) switch to Krytox 203 or Finish Line Synthetic lube with Syncolon and ptfe (it comes in a pen type dispenser). You can get away with 205 down to around 45, Flouro to high 30's but at those rates they need some break in before they move smooth and may feel a tad sluggish on switches with stabs. The Krytox stuff will cost a lot more and people swear by it but the others listed here are a lot cheaper and are pretty much identical.

I heard that tribosys 3203 lube would be better for really light switches like the gateron clears, or would 205g0 still be ok?

[suicidal_orange]

As mentioned, it's not the board it's the springs more than anything for ping and bad sound and scratchiness is fixed with lube.
Lubing the springs may help, replacing them with better ones from Sprit or Mechanicalkeyboards.com will go even further. Sound will definitely improve with lube, bandaid modding the stabs will also make a difference.

GMMK ships with foam already, though I would imagine the foam shelf line would work better. I'm still using the stock foam but You'd be amazed at how good you can actually make an GMMK sound without changing it.

As for lube thick silicone grease for the stabs where metal touches plastic (many use Super Lube dielectric silicone lube), I also use this on my springs. Use Krytox 205 or Finish Line Flouro Extreme for everything else. If you bandaid mod, use thin lube on the bandage. If you go down on spring weight (40-45g or less) switch to Krytox 203 or Finish Line Synthetic lube with Syncolon and ptfe (it comes in a pen type dispenser). You can get away with 205 down to around 45, Flouro to high 30's but at those rates they need some break in before they move smooth and may feel a tad sluggish on switches with stabs. The Krytox stuff will cost a lot more and people swear by it but the others listed here are a lot cheaper and are pretty much identical.

I heard that tribosys 3203 lube would be better for really light switches like the gateron clears, or would 205g0 still be ok?

Added bold to Leslieann's quote - you don't want 205 with Gateron clears.  Tribosys 3203 is a thin lube so should be good too.

[Leslieann]

I heard that tribosys 3203 lube would be better for really light switches like the gateron clears, or would 205g0 still be ok?

Just a quick glance makes me thing it's basically the same formula as Finish Line Flouro and Krytox 203.

Beware anyone not a major company focused on lubes claiming they have some exclusive formula. Small companies don't have the ability to re-formulate lube and even fewer have the ability to re-formulate ptfe or silicone, they buy it in bulk from companies like 3M. Some person or persons operating of of a garage or small warehouse is even less likely. At best they're mixing and matching various things (usually to change viscosity) but more likely it's a white label product with someone else's name on it.

This goes triple in situation where the lube isn't under major strain. We don't have high friction, we don't have high heat. This is about the simplest thing you can do with lubricant, the only difficult part is that we use petroleum based plastics and that's easily solved by not using a petroleum based lube (hence all being silicone or ptfe based). This is an industry VERY prone to sales gimmicks and BS, don't fall into the trap thinking you need to spend $100 on lube and only getting a thimble worth.

Please note that I'm not saying Tribosys is snake oil, I'm just saying it's most likely very similar to other products. Don't go thinking this is some new miracle product.


Also not above, it's probably 103 not 203, this shows how much I care about Krytox hype.

[treeleaf64]

3203 is  203g0 if there was a grade 0 of it.

I would not use them with 205 . just use whatever thin lubricant there is . low viscosity will work well. Don't put a lot.
Lube spring with oil . Grease will make it drag.

[Areyn13]

Maybe a more important question would be, where the hell do i even find 3203 or 203 in stock that also ships internationally?

[Learis]

I've lubed superlight springs with tribosys 3204, and they're perfectly fine. I think people are overexaggerating things. 1upkeyboards has some lubricant options. I've also used their krytox gpl107 oil to bag lube ultra light springs and they're fine as well.

https://www.1upkeyboards.com/shop/parts-and-tools/lubricant/switch-lubricant-2ml/

Edit: looks like they're expecting the 3203 to be restocked in November. I think they have international shipping.

[treeleaf64]

Ok

If there is no  3203

Then
you can buy Lubricant from Gazzew. I bought Loob 3g and it's very nice for the rails.

His username on Reddit is u/hbheroinbob
His discord is gazzew#0360