Stem and spring swap

[Melvang]

So I finally got around to doing a stem and spring swap in my Das keyboard.  Also had some lube to spread around to the switches.  I had the silent version of the das so it was all browns.

F keys - stock browns
Esc - stock blue
Modifiers and 6 key nav block and 10 key Enter - blue stems with clear stems
Alphanumerics - clear stems brown springs and lubed
Arrow keys and 10key - stock browns with lube

All in all the mod went pretty easy and took a little bit longer than anticipated.  The desoldering was nasty.  The solder they used was horrible and left tons of deposits on the tip.  It was to the point I had to clean my tip about every 3 to 4 switches.  I did notice that it was worlds easier to suck the solder up if I flowed a bit of lead solder into the joint before trying to suck it out.  The actual spring and stem swapping was what took longer that I figured it would.  The actual desoldering was actually quicker than I thought. 

Couple pics of the completed board with and without caps.




Caps are thing dye sub PBT and blank black that came with the board.

[terran5992]

Nice mod, bet it feels amazing

[Melvang]

The lubed ergo clears with the thin PBT caps feels like just pure epicness.  The nice part is the board is actually probably about half as loud until I hit the space bar or one of the blues.  I haven't gotten around to lubing the costars yet.  Any idea guys if this will quiet the stabs down?

[Beca]

I was thinking about modding my Leopold into ergo-clears. Did you use the lube from the GH shop? Also, what did you use for desoldering?

[Melvang]

I was thinking about modding my Leopold into ergo-clears. Did you use the lube from the GH shop? Also, what did you use for desoldering?

Yeah the lube came from the GH store.  For my soldering equipment I have a Weller iron and a radio shack soldapult.

The lubed browns feel like a totally different switch.

[Larken]

lubing the stabilisers did help in my case, but you'd want something thicker like teflon/lithium grease for the stabilisers to have an increased muting effect. I find the krytox mixtures too thin for such purposes.

[Melvang]

lubing the stabilisers did help in my case, but you'd want something thicker like teflon/lithium grease for the stabilisers to have an increased muting effect. I find the krytox mixtures too thin for such purposes.

I still have some grease from that purchase not mixed with anything.  I hope that will be thick enough for the stabilizers.

[Larken]

lubing the stabilisers did help in my case, but you'd want something thicker like teflon/lithium grease for the stabilisers to have an increased muting effect. I find the krytox mixtures too thin for such purposes.

I still have some grease from that purchase not mixed with anything.  I hope that will be thick enough for the stabilizers.

definitely good enough for that purpose, no worries about that.

as a note for your future stem swaps; a higher grease to oil ratio will have an increased muting effect on the switches, but too much grease will make the switch sluggish, which is why oil is used to thin it out. Different mixing ratios will yield subtly different effects on the switches, so you might want to consider experimenting with different amounts should you ever lube another board.

I find myself tending towards using as much grease as I can without hitting the point where the switch becomes sluggish. On two similar boards that I have modded, the one with a higher grease ratio is quieter as well as more buttery smooth in actuation, while keeping everything else constant. Thought it'll be something for you to consider in the future.

[Melvang]

lubing the stabilisers did help in my case, but you'd want something thicker like teflon/lithium grease for the stabilisers to have an increased muting effect. I find the krytox mixtures too thin for such purposes.

I still have some grease from that purchase not mixed with anything.  I hope that will be thick enough for the stabilizers.

definitely good enough for that purpose, no worries about that.

as a note for your future stem swaps; a higher grease to oil ratio will have an increased muting effect on the switches, but too much grease will make the switch sluggish, which is why oil is used to thin it out. Different mixing ratios will yield subtly different effects on the switches, so you might want to consider experimenting with different amounts should you ever lube another board.

I find myself tending towards using as much grease as I can without hitting the point where the switch becomes sluggish. On two similar boards that I have modded, the one with a higher grease ratio is quieter as well as more buttery smooth in actuation, while keeping everything else constant. Thought it'll be something for you to consider in the future.

I figured that was how the mixing went.  The stuff I used barely had any grease in it.  With brown springs in clear stems I figured it would be pretty easy to get to thick but wanted at least a little thicker than the straight oil.

With this lube that I used with the stock browns they feel exactly like stock clears but lighter.  I did not lube any of the clicky switches though.  I might pull some of the ghetto greens out and go to stock lubed clears on a few of the common used keys.  Not that I don't like the noise but my office is essentially a large walk in closet off my kid's bedroom.

[gh_pp]

The lubed ergo clears with the thin PBT caps feels like just pure epicness.

Like this?

Can't wait to try it myself!

The lubed browns feel like a totally different switch.

Can you describe in details? Compared to stock brown and lubed ergo-clear?

[Melvang]

The lubed ergo clears with the thin PBT caps feels like just pure epicness.

Like this?

Can't wait to try it myself!

The lubed browns feel like a totally different switch.

Can you describe in details? Compared to stock brown and lubed ergo-clear?

My keyboard actually sounds nothing like that even with thick PBT caps.  But there are a number of things that could be affecting this. 

1.  Acoustics in his room vs mine
2.  Filco TKL vs Full sized Das
3.  Laptop speakers playing the video vs my ears hearing mine
4.  It was noted in the video discription that he was using the onboard mic.  While I don't know what camera it was (guessing a DLSR with video), I would guess he is mentioning that because of a sub-par mic.

The lubed browns feel like a stock clear but a lot lighter but with a slightly smaller bump.  It is generally noted that lubing any tactile switch will reduce the perception of the bump.  I tried to keep the lube as thin and applied as light as I could to attempt to maintain as much of the tactile bump as I could.  And on a side not it is not recommended to lube clicky switches.  The vast majority of people that have noted that it all but killed the click.