Cherry MX contact point grease?

[PRISONER 24601]

as seen in this pic from the Cherry Wiki:




This is for restoring basically. The grease wears down after X amount of keypresses, and I'd like to replace it.

I suppose this involves a few hours with a tiny paintbrush, but at this point I've already disassembled all the switches so I might as well go the extra mile.

Has anyone done/tried this? What kind of grease did you use? More importantly, what kind of grease does Cherry use?

It's gotta be conductive grease, right?

[PRISONER 24601]

I think he's demonstrating greasing the slider though, which is just plastic/plastic contact.

I'm talking about replacing the grease on the MX contact points, which is plastic/metal contact.

side note: ALPS force reduced switches are great btw, if a little wobbly.
I just remove the tactile leaf and clean the housing. Works best with dampened ALPS, like the AEKII or SGI Granite.

[theferenc]

In that video, he also removes the leaf spring. So not the same.

And if it's plastic/metal, why would it need to be conductive? Plastic doesn't conduct...

[Zen]

Any clear dielectric ptfe-grease should be just fine,
SuperLube or similar ...

[keyb_gr]

Any clear dielectric ptfe-grease should be just fine,
SuperLube or similar ...

Even plain ol' vaseline should get the job done, but of course teflon grease would definitely work.

[Spinifex]

Even plain ol' vaseline should get the job done, but of course teflon grease would definitely work.

 
Vaseline is petrochemical.  Isn't that a No No?  

Teflon Grease?    That's what I am after for lubricating the shafts in my Filco TenKeyless Cherry Browns. They feel gritty to me, and the more I try to ignore it the more it pisses me off.  

Any recommendations on lubricating / greasing the shafts of MX Browns without wrecking the conductivity or responsiveness of the switch?

[Input Nirvana]

RO-59!! It's Japanese spooge!  Actually US made but only available by the gallon here.

Cherry Corp probably uses something cheap.  I don't think the conductivity matters (hint - check the Gold part in my pic in the OP).  Damn I take good pics.

Ripster,

Yes you do take many great pics. They have been of assistance in understanding, clarifying, plainly illustrating many, many topics and issues, time and time again.

Thank you for the effort and the quality, it is appreciated.

[The Solutor]

Vaseline is petrochemical.  Isn't that a No No?

 
At least is a so so. (it depends from the plastic used), if in doubt better to not use any "classic" lubrificant.

Lithium grease or teflon grease are the best choices here.

The conductivity is absolutely influential except when the grease is conductive (eg the graphite based ones), usually the greases and oils are not conductive, and are used to improve the high voltage / high current switches, which often are completely submerged by the oil.

[craZivn]

Dow33.

[The Solutor]

At least I reread mine, and I noticed that the forum managed to eat some of the words, rendering it not understandable (i mean less understandable than my usual posts :happy: )

It's corrected now.

[The Solutor]

No, I was (obviously :laugh: ) right, just the part about the conductive grease (which is just an additional info, mostly influential here) was jammed.

[The Solutor]

In my 30,000 posts I've never blamed the forum SW for my mistakes.

Usually when 3 or 4 words are completely missing and not misspelled is not a poster's fault.

Of course I rarely make mistakes.

Shouldn't "off course" needs two "F" ? :doh:

[Input Nirvana]

1-Spooge pics rule
2-Grease, lube, (whateva) is not on switch contact, but on the metal legs that slide against the (plastic or metal?) surface of the plunger..., hence conductivity does not matter in this instance, unless you want to rewrite laws of physics.

[The Solutor]

hence conductivity does not matter in this instance, unless you want to rewrite laws of physics.

Conductivity doesn't matters in any kind of switch with the lubricant on the contact itself or not.

As i said the only lubricants that can change the switch behavior  are the conductive ones, but are exceptions .

[Mr. Perfect]

We'll have to see if he switches sides towards the end of the thread.

Anywho, I used Silicone grease in the rebuild of my G80-8113 and it's been working well so far. A toothpick is actually just the right size for applying the grease, though I greased the sliders on the stem rather then dink around with the bases.

[The Solutor]

I love to argue, just when I'm right or when I think I'm right.

It's a my own religion :kev: after all Solutor is a saint, I discovered it after years of my nickname usage (was meant as a purposely misspelled version of "solver")

[The Solutor]

Majestouch warned about using Lithium Grease on a stabilizers because it'll eat plastic but I think that's bs.

You think right, lithium grease is always used when plastic gears/sliders/whatever are present, just because the classic grease can eat plastics.

[Input Nirvana]

Conductivity doesn't matters in any kind of switch with the lubricant on the contact itself or not.

As i said the only lubricants that can change the switch behavior  are the conductive ones, but are exceptions .

180 degrees apart from the point I made.

[The Solutor]

Yes, usually the [insulating]oil is used to submerge the big switches, with the purpose of quickly kill the spark that happen between the contacts before they are closed and after they are opened, which is the main wearing factor.

Obviously this effect is present also in a low current/low voltage switch, but is so little that can be considered not existent.

Instead a conductive grease can short the contacts when they are open, so should be avoided like the plague.

[Robbly]

I just took the plunge and cleaned about 20 cherry brown switches from my Filco after a sticky accident involving gravity and a bottle of lager. I used Radio Shack "Control Contact CLEANER AND LUBRICANT" (64-4315). It's a pressurized spray bottle. Contents are 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane and white mineral oil.

I tried two methods:

• Spraying a blast into the well of the disassembled switch, and wadding up the excess lubricant with tweezers and bits of paper towel. Also blew into hard for good measure.
• Spraying a blast into the well of the disassembled switch, and using a can of compressed air to thoroughly blow out the excess lubricant.

Method #1 gives a slightly muted and lower-toned sound from the factory switches. The action is a bit stiffer than the factory switches. I could live with this.

Method #2 is almost the same sound, but the action is lighter and closer to the factory switches. Better.

So, I went with method #2 and I'm perfectly happy.

[AvenZerg]

Ripster,

Yes you do take many great pics. They have been of assistance in understanding, clarifying, plainly illustrating many, many topics and issues, time and time again.

Thank you for the effort and the quality, it is appreciated.

i couldn't agree more.. ripster definitely makes it entertaining (for me atleast) to come back to this forum..
but this is not really why i came to this thread in the first place..
I have a very old dell at101w with ALPS blacks and after opening a few of the switches and cleaning them with some alcohol i do notice a big difference between the uncleaned ones..
i'm about to head out and get some teflon lubricant but i'm not entirely sure if i should just dump the plastic housing into the lubricant or only lubricate certain parts only.. kind of confused.
point me in the right direction here guys.. much <3