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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: saxophone on Wed, 03 February 2016, 20:32:48

Title: Lazy Lubing
Post by: saxophone on Wed, 03 February 2016, 20:32:48

 I'm sick of the gritty feel on fresh Cherry switches. They're on a plate mounted setup and I don't have the tools for desoldering. I'm thinking of simply spraying some WD-40 down each switch after pressing down the key and then mashing the key a few times more to spread it out. Has anyone here tried anything similar?

Title: Re: Lazy Lubing
Post by: digi on Wed, 03 February 2016, 20:33:13

Great idea, that should work well.

Title: Re: Lazy Lubing
Post by: nubbinator on Wed, 03 February 2016, 20:36:49

Quote from: digi on Wed, 03 February 2016, 20:33:13

Great idea, that should work well.

I hope you're joking.  WD40 would make an absolute mess of it.

Title: Re: Lazy Lubing
Post by: HoffmanMyster on Wed, 03 February 2016, 20:38:25

Oh god.

Please no.

Title: Re: Lazy Lubing
Post by: digi on Wed, 03 February 2016, 20:43:13

After you spray WD40 down it, take a soldering iron out and melt the switch stems..

Title: Re: Lazy Lubing
Post by: Bucake on Thu, 04 February 2016, 00:16:56

Quote from: digi on Wed, 03 February 2016, 20:43:13

After you spray WD40 down it, take a soldering iron out and melt the switch stems..

set the keyboard on fire for maximum effect

i threw mine in a volcano but not everyone has the luxury of knowing where to find one

Title: Re: Lazy Lubing
Post by: fanpeople on Thu, 04 February 2016, 00:31:33

fanpeople used WD40...... it was super effective.


I recommend it for all cherry boards.

Title: Re: Lazy Lubing
Post by: klennkellon on Thu, 04 February 2016, 00:33:40

I recommend using Acetone for lube, personally.

Title: Re: Lazy Lubing
Post by: fknraiden on Thu, 04 February 2016, 00:38:57

Everyone is being sarcastic cause we all assume you are trolling.
Jokes aside. Don't try this. There isn't any remotely effective way of lubing mx switches without disassembly.

Title: Re: Lazy Lubing
Post by: Air tree on Thu, 04 February 2016, 00:41:22

I hear butter is a good solution. Just melt a stick and drizzle on each stem and it should leak into the mechanisms.

Good luck!

Title: Re: Lazy Lubing
Post by: saxophone on Thu, 04 February 2016, 01:15:31

Eh? What would be so bad about it? Is it cause WD-40 bleeds everywhere?

I've used it before for repairing broken mousewheels that would jump 2 steps or 1 step in the reverse during use - just open op the mouse, spray some at the part that holds up the mousewheel and it's working as new. Not seeing how it'd be terrible on keyboards. :confused:

Title: Re: Lazy Lubing
Post by: nubbinator on Thu, 04 February 2016, 01:21:43

WD-40 is primarily a water displacer and solvent with a small mix of lubricants.  In other words, it's mainly for cleaning stuff.  Over time it becomes gummy and nasty not to mention the fact that it is a very poor lubricant before that.

Title: Re: Lazy Lubing
Post by: vanwinkey on Thu, 04 February 2016, 13:26:00

Quote from: saxophone on Thu, 04 February 2016, 01:15:31

Eh? What would be so bad about it? Is it cause WD-40 bleeds everywhere?

I've used it before for repairing broken mousewheels that would jump 2 steps or 1 step in the reverse during use - just open op the mouse, spray some at the part that holds up the mousewheel and it's working as new. Not seeing how it'd be terrible on keyboards. :confused:

Get a IBM.

No lube needed.

Title: Re: Lazy Lubing
Post by: Nonmouse on Fri, 05 February 2016, 00:08:29

A silicone spray lubricant, or a liquid silicone lube dripped down the stem, might help, and probably wouldn't just frag/gum up the switches to unusability like WD40 would.  There's a long how-to thread on lubing MX switches, with lots of opinions, here (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=34332.0) that you might want to take a gander at.  If you're going to try and half-ass it, I'd try it out on a key you don't use regularly, like Scroll lock or somesuch, first...