Author Topic: Leaf ping issue with Penguin switches?  (Read 3800 times)

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Offline fairypenguin

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Leaf ping issue with Penguin switches?
« on: Mon, 21 June 2021, 18:03:18 »
Ordered a batch of the Penguins recently as they piqued my interest. Definitely notice a return issue if I accidentally overlube a switch or two, but that's fine and pretty easy to fix--a very light application of 205g0 has done me well. What's sort of bothering me is this tinny little 'tink' sound that seems to be coming from the leaf on most (but not all) of the switches, lubed or not. It's pretty noticable.

Is this just a tactile switch thing? I've only worked with linears before. Hate to seem ignorant, but can't exactly learn without asking questions to begin with.

Offline Willtato

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Re: Leaf ping issue with Penguin switches?
« Reply #1 on: Mon, 21 June 2021, 18:31:36 »
Yes, I would say it's definitely a tactile thing. I would argue that every stock tactile has some sort of leaf ping. If people can't hear it, then i think they're just not trying hard enough to hear it.

There is a sort of method where you place quite a bit of lube behind the leaf, but that has never worked too much for me unfortunately. If you do end up trying it, I'd be curious to how it goes, because chances are, I'm just doing it wrong/not very well.

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Offline fairypenguin

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Re: Leaf ping issue with Penguin switches?
« Reply #2 on: Thu, 24 June 2021, 17:26:07 »
Yes, I would say it's definitely a tactile thing. I would argue that every stock tactile has some sort of leaf ping. If people can't hear it, then i think they're just not trying hard enough to hear it.

There is a sort of method where you place quite a bit of lube behind the leaf, but that has never worked too much for me unfortunately. If you do end up trying it, I'd be curious to how it goes, because chances are, I'm just doing it wrong/not very well.

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

Ah, yeah that makes a lot of sense. Can't expect the metal of the leaf to interact with a tactile stem without giving off some kind of metallic ping, I suppose.

Gave a couple different methods a go on a few switches. I avoided anything that called for large globs of lube, as I didn't see the point and didn't want to cause any functionality problems.

Only thing that did help somewhat was ensuring that both the east and west wing of the front side of the leaf were equally and adequately lubed from top to bottom (very light coating, didn't notice an impact on tactility with the Penguins). It didn't completely eliminate the sound, but it did mute it significantly. You can still hear it if you hold the switch directly up to your ear, but it's otherwise negligible. At least, that's how it worked out for me.

Offline HungerMechanic

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Re: Leaf ping issue with Penguin switches?
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 04 July 2021, 07:58:16 »
Thanks for pointing this out, as I have some RARA V2 coming, and it is good to know this. Maybe the issue can be addressed somewhat.

I had Penguins but I didn't notice any excessive noise before I sold them. Most tactiles have ping, you just want to avoid the ones that have a real problem with it [e.g. Dragonfruit] or lube around it [Everglide Jade, OUTEMU Sky].

I think one aspect behind the popularity of the Boba tactile housing is that it sounds good and seems to ping less-than-average.

Lubing those Durock Medium Tactiles is somewhat of an involved affair. [Penguin, RARA, Taro Ball]. Too much / too thick and it can get sluggish. I recently watched a review of the Penguins wherein the distributor apparently suggested using a light coat of light lube, GS1 specifically, including on the tactile legs.

If using a light lube, then lubing the legs smooths the bump and eases post-bump transition. Without lubing them, you just get a 'catch,' a slow-down in the operation of the switch that isn't satisfying. This is with light-lube, mind you.

If you are using a heavy lube like 205g0, then the Canadian distributor of RARA V2 does not recommend lubing the tactile legs, as that could excessively reduce tactility. All the evidence I've seen is pointing to use of a light lube over the entire stem and all contact surfaces of the switch. Although you can lube with 205g0, here's one person's RARAs:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/o4axje/v2_rara_tactile_switch_sound_test/

Offline Leopard223

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Re: Leaf ping issue with Penguin switches?
« Reply #4 on: Mon, 05 July 2021, 19:40:52 »
Yeah it's a thing with tactiles, sadly even high priced ones it seems.   
A light oil type lube seems to migate the issue most of the time at the cost of slight loss of tacility, you can experiment.