Spray Lubing switches - A guide

[Leslieann]

Disassembling your switches and then spraying lubricant onto the sliders is a perfectly valid way to lube your switches. Get a piece of foam and some toothpicks, put one slider on each toothpick (insert the toothpick point into the indentation at the bottom), and apply 1-2 thin even coats of DuPont Dry Film spray or equivalent, making sure to let them dry completely and use a well-ventilated work area.

This will only work for linears, but yes it can work.
This also has the same problem as hand lubing in that it requires switch removal which was why spray lubing became a thing to begin with.

- DO NOT spray lube switches that are soldered onto the PCB already. This was by far the worst result and per what many people said above, ruined the board and switches.

You probably should have put this at the top of what you wrote since the whole reason this gained traction is because of the idea that you didn't have to desolder.

[pmdbt]

You probably should have put this at the top of what you wrote since the whole reason this gained traction is because of the idea that you didn't have to desolder.

Fair enough haha. I guess my personal reason for liking spray lubing was that it can greatly reduce the active time required to lube switches compared to hand lubing, which for me is a huge benefit and I figured that others might have liked it for the same reason. But yeah, spray lubing without desoldering is sadly not the way to go.

[IceCandle]

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[ekkomane]

i spray lubed, (pls no hate i found about problems after doing it). Can i just try to wear it out like write on it often even with pc turned off etc. to get it out? I really dont know how to open switches or something like that and im not super skilled for things like this.

[Leslieann]

i spray lubed, (pls no hate i found about problems after doing it). Can i just try to wear it out like write on it often even with pc turned off etc. to get it out? I really dont know how to open switches or something like that and im not super skilled for things like this.

If all your switches work don't worry about trying to remove the lube, the problem is when they don't all function.


If they don't all work I'm not sure it will help but there's no harm in trying to work them in, either while plugged in or not. It won't harm your computer. If that still doesn't fix it there's still hope but you need to bear in mind if any of these are worth it. Call around electronics shops and jewelry stores and ask if they have an ultra sonic cleaner large enough and how much, electronics shops may also be willing to desolder for you. You can try electronics cleaner, wear goggles and surgical gloves, stand up wind and spray it out, then go change your clothes and wash any exposed skin, that stuff is nasty. This  is cheap and is safer for the keyboard but less safe for you. The other option is safer for you but less so for the keyboard, get a cheap soldering iron (Walmart or dollar store) and some solder braid to try to remove the switches. You want at least two small things of braid (it goes fast), you will also want some lead based solder, add the lead based solder to the factory solder (yes, add more solder to the joint), this makes it easier to remove with the solder braid (factory solder is terrible). If you damage the board, there's a good chance it can be repaired with jumper wires but even if you can't fix it, it was no loss at that point anyway and you will learn a lot. Note thet while a cheap iron will work, desoldering this way is a lot of work and the cheaper the iron the more likely you will damage the board, but again, it's repairable. A better option is a cheap desoldering iron with built in bulb or at least a good desoldering pump (cheap pumps are not worth it).  Another option is ask around, there are people who can desolder it for you, faster and safely but not necessarily cheap. If this is a high end board this is your best but most expensive option.

[kazekashi]

Thank you for actually telling peope why its ^bad

[c.a.t.]

Tried Spray lube once... Wont do it again.......*

[xh]

This is not recommended for beginners, but it does save a lot of time and has a certain effect. It's a tough choice

[anawilliam850]

I'm sure this will save people pain, time and money.

Though I do wonder... how many people are going to read this, then say to themselves "nah, I am sure those experts on YouTube must know what they are talking about" and go ahead anyway.

Totally agree

[guily6669]

Tried Spray lube once... Wont do it again.......*

Mine was worse, the switches I lubed after maybe months magically the keycaps kept breaking, some I glued, others I removed from my old keyboard, but I didn't bother cleaning well the top plastic of the switches anyway.