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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Decay on Fri, 25 September 2020, 18:44:42

Title: Is Spray Lubing Recomended for lubing a soldered switch?
Post by: Decay on Fri, 25 September 2020, 18:44:42

Lately i have been getting a lot of suggestions on YouTube of videos of people spray lubing their switches using Super Lube Spray and I was wondering if it is a recommended method?
I also have a pcb with soldered switches and it feels like too much of a hassle to desolder all of the switches in order to lube them and the put it back together, and also i would probably have a hard time getting my hands on a soldering iron.
Therefore I would love to know if Spray Lubing is "safe" since i really wanna try it out, BUT i don't wanna ruin any keyboard while doing so!

Title: Re: Is Spray Lubing Recomended for lubing a soldered switch?
Post by: audax989 on Fri, 25 September 2020, 19:28:08

Short answer is no.


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Title: Re: Is Spray Lubing Recomended for lubing a soldered switch?
Post by: FNM on Fri, 25 September 2020, 19:57:38

Spray lubing is definitely the lazy way of lubing a switch without desoldering it, its basically applying a thin layer of lube (normally PTFE) onto the inside. I've done it before with some cheap outemu reds and it made the spring ping noise go away. However it is really hard to control how much lube goes into the switch, therefore hard to get an even layer of lube. I would say it is fairly safe, but since the lube is still liquid, and lube is still lube, don't apply too much. However there is still a chance that you can ruin your switch and PCB by doing so. If you do end up spray lubing, I'd recommend using Super Lube's MULTI-PURPOSE SYNTHETIC LUBRICANT WITH SYNCOLON® (PTFE) or WD-40's Dry PTFE Lubricant. I haven't tried any other lubricants but that does not mean they are not safe to use. If you do want to look for other lubricants, i suggest you look for something that is "dry" and "PTFE". When finished lubing, try flip the keyboard so that the excess lube can escape.

Title: Re: Is Spray Lubing Recomended for lubing a soldered switch?
Post by: Sifo on Fri, 25 September 2020, 21:04:24

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=108287.msg2949343#msg2949343

Title: Re: Is Spray Lubing Recomended for lubing a soldered switch?
Post by: Decay on Sat, 26 September 2020, 05:37:33

i even searched for such a topic and for some reason this didnt appear , thanks!

Title: Re: Is Spray Lubing Recomended for lubing a soldered switch?
Post by: shadowcelery on Wed, 07 October 2020, 13:09:43

Do not try spray lubing it is so easy to overlube switches causing them to be sticky or even worse to stop working entirely.

Title: Re: Is Spray Lubing Recomended for lubing a soldered switch?
Post by: Darthbaggins on Wed, 07 October 2020, 14:59:42

Quote from: Sifo on Fri, 25 September 2020, 21:04:24

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=108287.msg2949343#msg2949343

^ this