geekhack
geekhack Community => Off Topic => Topic started by: zhnu on Mon, 30 November 2020, 09:44:07
-
Hi, my question is with so many lube fans why no one is making stabilizers and switches housings out of PTFE or something similar.
-
Stabs are there to stabilize keys so they need to be stiff enough to do so, PTFE is not a stiff or strong material.
Like PLA it also tends to adapt to whatever shape it's pushed into over time, so you wouldn't want it where the wires go because it would be too soft and you can't reliably use it on the base of the stabs because screw in would crush and distort and if they clip in they would eventually lose their grip and pull out. If they ever held in, being how slippery they are.
As for something similar, ABS, Polycarbonate and Nylon are used because of their slippery properties, basically the bext best thing. There's probably some newer or better plastics these days they could choose, but you also have to consider cost/benefit. If setup right they should have very little friction as it is so is it worth paying $100 for a 1% reduction in friction?
-
I was thinking they could do like you see in electrical tools mouldings an kind of hybrid where you have fibre reinforced plastic, and I think for low volume production like custom switches we see on group buys, it would be awesome. Anyway thank you for the reply
-
just put some ptfe tape on the stab contacts.