So, I don't know if i understood that correctly, but by lubing the switch it would make it a significantly harder process to break in the switch, so in that case, does breaking in switches makes it so that i don't need to lube them? or is it still recommended?
"Breaking in" means wearing the parts/sliders to where they're smooth but also perfectly match anything they rub against (called match wearing), to do so means wearing them down some, just like sanding a board smooth.
Lube fills in the imperfections and reduces friction over the highs, so while it may only be 99% as smooth as a fully match worn switch it's going to slide with less friction which should more than making up for the lack of match wearing. This means you don't have to wear down the plastic to get the same smoothness (you won't notice that 1%). Yes, it may take far longer or may never even fully match wear before you replace it, it doesn't matter and if it does ever fully wear in it will be better than a dry break in.
Maybe what I've written below will help you understand better.
People on this thread really need to read my friend. Yes, lubing makes the break-in process longer if not impossible for the lifespan of the switch.
It is recommended to lube after break-in, but I usually recommend testing the switch to see if YOU need it. Do you have a plan to break them in already?
Read what? A keyboard lube guide?
Which one, some of them advocate spray lubing so just saying go read up is utterly useless, just because it's on the internet does not mean the person knows what the heck they're talking about.
Read up on lubrication practices on something where they spend big bucks for peak performance and see how it compares, except in a few extremely fringe circumstances with specific reasons for doing so they're not breaking things in or match wearing without some sort of lube. The reason we pre-lube parts (including switch manufacturers) is because what you propose leads to inconsistent results. Yes, you get
perfectly match worn parts quickly but how much wear and tear did it cause in the process? One switch may need 2% wear, another may need 10% or even 20% wear to be smooth. And what if there's a minor flaw somewhere? Lube protects the parts, allowing things to slowly work together rather than just grinding against each other until they fit together or destroy each other in the process.
And it's more than just friction and smoothness.
Lube has another purpose in that it flushes/pushes contaminants such as bits of worn plastic or dust out of the "groove" (where things ride or rub), it's not just about the initial friction and wear. Your method introduces contaminants in the form of worn plastic (and metal) with nothing to push it out of the way. This leads to deep scratches and a worse surface finish even when match worn, sure, you lube after, but the damage is already done. Look up wet sanding paint as a good example of this, you need to keep the contaminants flowing out and away.
Does it take longer, yeah, but it doesn't matter because you get other benefits
and similar performance right from the start.
Unless they're side by side there's pretty much no way you could tell them apart and when it does finally break in your results are even better though hardly noticeable.
You are correct though, not all switches benefit.
The problem is you don't always have the option of going back and doing it later. You also don't know how consistently lubed they are, you may get switches from multiple batches and different amounts of lube or differences in how they applied it.
That isn't to say you have to lube switches, I'm just saying if you're going to, do it the right way and and do it from the start, not after it's done some damage and created inconsistencies and damage you can never recover from.
Which brings us to an important thing to note, switches are only the same once.
If you do decide to lube switches that have been used or broken in, DO NOT MIX AND MATCH PARTS, doing so means they're no longer match worn to each other and the whole process gets to start over. I would even go so far as to say mark them as to what keys they resided under because they don't get worn the same that way either. For example an F-key will have taken far fewer hits than the E key, so now you have stem/housing wear but also spring age and spring pocket wear to contend with.
