This weekend, I tried Christo-Lube on Zilents V2 62g switches, hoping it may be the magic cure for hissing feel in Silent switches that I’m extra sensitive to.
Initial impression: they do reduce the hissing feel, particularly when the silence padding areas above and below the slider are smothered with Christo-Lube. My theory is that those paddings are touching the sides somehow, creating the hissing sensation.
111 and 112 were the best: smooth yet snappy.
129 felt smoother but not as snappy.
I also tried 205g0 and it felt as smooth as 129 but even less snappy.
I’ll post an update in a week or two after doing the full board.
My theory is that those paddings are touching the sides somehow, creating the hissing sensation.
At one point I was trying to figure out why Gateron silent switches felt less smooth, and I could not get the pads to contact the slider rails consistently on each stroke. So I ruled that out as a cause.
I think the “hissing” sound is always there, but it’s masked by the “clack” of the upstroke. If you put your ear up to a non-silent switch you can hear it always makes that kind of sound, and sometimes it sounds louder after lubing than before.
I think the “hissing” sound is always there, but it’s masked by the “clack” of the upstroke.
Could very well be although it’s more of a feel than sound to me and Zealios V2 switch with QMX clip doesn’t feel hissy at all. Yes, I do hear that ‘hissing’ sound with my ear next to all types of switches but the feel surfaces only with silent switches like Zilents while in use. Quite a mystery.
Anyway, my current plan is to fill the switches with Christo-Lube and move on because I can’t figure out what’s causing it.
How would you compare the difference between MCG 112 and, say, Permatex grease? I tend to use the latter with stabilizers doing the regular clip/bandaid as well, and seems to work quite well and is really inexpensive.
Could very well be although it’s more of a feel than sound to me and Zealios V2 switch with QMX clip doesn’t feel hissy at all. Yes, I do hear that ‘hissing’ sound with my ear next to all types of switches but the feel surfaces only with silent switches like Zilents while in use . Quite a mystery.
I have come across this issue as well with V1 Zilents & agree what you are talking about is more of a feel than sound. I originally built my Redscarf with 78g V1 Zilents, I lubed them with a mix of 204g2/VPF1514 & they had a strange slightly scratchy feel when typing at speed. If I just pressed one key, slowly or rapidly, it felt smooth but once actually typing they took on the “hissy” feel again (that is a good way of describing it since scratchy is overkill to describe the feel). I even went as far as cleaning the parts & re-lubing with 3204 which didn’t help with it.
I thought the springs were the culprit at first since they were longer & less tightly coiled than the springs in regular 78g Zealios at the time. Even after a swapping springs the issue persisted. So it is a very curious thing indeed! Not sure if this feel is just something inherent to most silent switches & we are more sensitive to it or if we just got unlucky with our batches of Zilents? The only other silent switch I have typed on enough to have an opinion of is MX Zilents (silent black stems), which did not have the same issue.
Permatex was what I used before switching to Cristo-Lube. Permatex is fine but is sticky where Christo-Lube is not. Lack of stickiness helps when stabs start to make noise while in use and I need to add more lube because additional lube will not add more drag to the stabs, making it sluggish. It’s also easier to clean up.
Given that amount of lube needed for stabs is not much (I still have 90% of Permatex left) and how irritating stabs can get, getting a $8 jar is definitely worth it for me.
$8? Oooh damn, maybe I should pick some up then. Stabs are always the thing that give me the biggest headache, so I’d like to do away with that as long as I can.
It possibly could be that & it’s just more noticeable with the Zilents. I ended up desoldering them & putting them back in my switch stash, but I’ll put a few of them in a switch tester & do a sound test either tonight or tomorrow to give you a listen at it.
If I understand what you are describing, that sounds very much like friction from the contact leaf. That is a different phenomenon.
Not sure about that. A counter evidence: I re-lubed my Zilents last night by just adding dabs of Christo-Lube directly on top of paddings and hissing feel diminished significantly. I don’t know what kind of mess mixing Christo-Lube with TriboSys 3204 will created but I can now use the switches at least. Mind you, Zilents didn’t feel hissy at first. It came on after a week or two of use.
Interesting! It’s also possible that @Rob27shred is describing something different.
I’d still like to hear a recording of the hissing you experienced if you can replicate it. Is it constant throughout the stroke? Only on fast press, or on any press? Only on the way up or down, or both?
Then again, I just got my Sakurios so maybe I will hear it soon enough.
As I think I mentioned above, in my own testing with Gateron silents I was unable to get the silencing pad to make contact with the rails; but I only used brand-new switches. I wonder if over time the silicone pad deforms over time and starts to “squeeze” out sideways to the point where it starts to touch the housing rail.
Are you able to open one up and see if/where the dampening pad makes contact inside?
Are you able to open one up and see if/where the dampening pad makes contact inside?
Yes and pads look a bit bent and pretty close to the side but do not visibly touch the side. That’s why I’m saying it’s a mystery. It’s as if paddings have invisible whiskers.
Re sound of hissing, it’s same general white noise one can hear from every switch. I don’t think the sound is related. As to the feel, I don’t think it’s commonly felt.
Tried Christo-Lube MCG 111 on stabs. Same impression as @donpark had with 112: Wow.
I didn’t fill the stabs with lube, but I used more of it than I would with my usual stab lube, SuperLube. Because the lube is fluffy, it gets a bit messy even when using a dental applicator, and it seems substantially ‘drier’ and less greasy than SuperLube, which initially made me question whether the lube was going to have much effect. So far, it appears that I needn’t have worried - the stab keys aren’t sluggish at all, but there is no rattle or sound issue at all, to the point where the non-spacebar stabilized keys sound just like the adjacent 1u keys. Even the spacebar sounds similar, it’s just a bit louder.
Early days, but if this holds up, I’ll be switching to this lube for stabs going forward. Somewhat tempted to dispense with the fussiness of paintbrushes and/or dental applicators on the next set of stabs, and just syringe a bunch of 111 right into the stab. The lack of stickiness makes me think it would work.
Sorry to drag up a necro, but I had to comeback to this thread & add an extra report on using Christo-Lubes for stabilizers. I had a small section about it on one of my posts further up, although that was just a quick test on a single spacebar stab mounted on a loose PCB so not the most accurate. Since then I have refreshed the lube for the stabs on a couple of my boards with Christo lube & have been amazed by the results! I re-lubed the stabs on my RedscarfII+ ver.C with MCG-111 & the stabs on my aluminum Clueboard with MCG-112.
They both really quiet down the stabs very good since they are even quieter now with Christo than they were with the 3204 on them before, which was good already IMO. As far as a difference in response or any sluggishness between the two weightings I really can’t feel much. The stabs in my Clueboard feel to have a very tiny bit more resistance, but it is not noticable typing at speed. However comparing to other lubes there is a good bit less resistance with Christo. The star of the show though IMO is the smoothness Christo gives to stabilizers. I’ve used quite a bit of different stab lubes over the years (superlube, GHs thick Krytox mix, GHs thin Krytox mix, my personal Krytox mix of GPL204 g2 & VPF1514, Tribosys 3204 & 3203, plus a few I’m sure I’ve forgotten LOL!), by far Christo is the one that made them feel the smoothest IME. Will report back in some time cause like @jshufelt said, if this holds up decently Christo may be the go to stab lube!
So, my wonderful gf decided that she wanted to build an HHKB Tofu! I’m getting some MCG-111 from Novelkeys for the stabilizers. Do you think that lube would work well with a linear switch as well? I only ask because I’m lazy and don’t want to have an order to Switchmod for 3203/4.
I’ve found that’s it’s almost impossible to use too much of the cristo lubes. They aren’t sticky like other lubes. I think it should be fine. Again, you don’t get as much of the sound dampening as say 3204 or 205g0, but it’s still worth the effort.
