Major Frustration with Thick PBT Caps and Costar Stabilizers!!! Please HELP

[Keytrun]

I spent over 12 hours working on putting my keyboard back together over the last day. It only took me less than an hour to wash all of the keycaps but it took me the better part of 11 hours to work on sanding down my IMSTO thick PBT modifier keys to work properly with my filco TKL stabilizers. Every single time I clean my keyboard I have this same hastle. I have krytox thick lube, which is what I was told to use by the majority of the forum and I have brand new stabilizer inserts, brackets and wires from WASD. Every single time I do this I spend hours trying different combinations of inserts to brackets to wires, even though they're all supposed to be identical. Not only that I'm constantly trying less lube , more lube, no lube. Its so aggrivating I just gave up.
Last time I did this I completely forwent the stabilizers on my left shift and backspace. This time, as a gamer who plays SC2 / Dota 2 and really needs that left shift to not be muddy - I was dead set on getting it to work. I grinded the inside down with some sand paper and even now it still isn't right. Only my right shift key seems to be working okay.

Please give me some help. I made another thread earlier and only got one guy really responding and he didn't help at all. What lube should I be using? EXACTLY how much? Is costar stabilizers + cherry profile thick pbt just not meant to work?

Edit. Right now my main problems are my space bar is squeaking and my left shift is just muddy and hard to press. It doesn't stay down or anything. I've tried shin etsu and krytox. I'm just beyone frustrated at over 12 hours of this.

[pr0ximity]

Can't help you much but I'd give you a little advice: take a little time off from figuring it out. Use some non-Cherry profile keys on them if it's your only board so that you can continue using it comfortably. I've had many irreversible problems caused by frustration getting the better of me and overdoing something.

If it makes you feel any better the backspace key from Ivan's buy sticks somewhere on what I believe to be the switch or stab housing if it's seated all the way. And this is with Cherry stabs, FFS! So you're not alone. Just gotta keep trying different things, in calculated ways.

One thing I've considered is some type of alcohol-soluable paint that might indicate precisely where the rubbing is occurring if it could be applied to the underside of the cap. But I haven't come to a conclusion as to the best material, applicator, and removal for something like that.

[Keytrun]

Can you tell me what the best lubricant is for stabs and how much to use?

[Hypersphere]

MechLube2 from EliteKeyboards works well for me.

The best Costar-type stabilizers I've encountered are in my KBP V60 with Matias Click switches. Very even, and they don't rattle.

[Keytrun]

My filco's don't rattle. I went ahead and put on my old keycaps that came with the board. The stabilizers still feel hard to press but better than with the cherry ones. Is there a lube I can buy locally? It seems like everything I have just doesn't work properly.

[Hypersphere]

You could try SuperLube synthetic grease. It's available in hardware stores and on Amazon.

[Keytrun]

It says Mechlube is silicon greese. Shin etsu 30 is what I already have and that is a silicon greese too. Do you know how different the mech lube is from that?

Also which keyboards use the better cherry stabilizers? I never want to deal with these costar stabilizers again. They're a huge pain in the butt.

[Hypersphere]

There are many different formulations of silicone grease and silicone oil. You will need to do some experimenting to see which one works best for you.

Regarding stabilizers, like just about anything else in keyboards, the choice of stabilizers is a personal preference. When I started out with mechanical keyboards, I liked the convenience of Cherry stabilizers when changing keycaps. Now, however, I much prefer Costar-type stabilizers because to me they feel much better when typing. The implementation of this type of stabilizer seems particularly good in Alps-mount keyboards, such as the KBP V60 with Matias switches.