Man, the more I use these creams, the more problems I have with them. I honestly wonder if Creams are better as Frankenswitch donors, because the top creak and occasional grinding are driving me nuts! The question is, what am I going to replace them with? Cast your votes below, ladies and gentlemen!
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I had some creams I had in a hot swap board that had a really tight plate and I struggled to get in and out, I think it damaged some of the switches, I soldered them into another board recently and they feel really inconsistent.
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Yeah, I kinda feel the same. I really wanted to like creams, but just haven’t been able to mesh with them at all.
That. Top. Creak. Makes. Me. Crazy.
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HHKB backspace on creams is hell.
I haven’t had the issues you guys are having with Creams. Maybe my standards are just lower than yours LOL.
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Cream needs to be filmed. Filming may be difficult to do but, with practice, it’s possible and gets easier thereafter.
Turned my wife’s Zealios V1 board into super smooth linear board using UHMWPE stems.
- switch: Zealios V1
- stem: UHMWPE V1/batch1
- lube: 205g0
- spring: 55g Catweewee lubed with 1514
- keycap: JTK Hyperfuse
- rest: not worth mentioning.
First bag of UHMWPE stems I opened turned out have far more than 110 stems. Built two 60% boards and a batch of sample mod switches yet still have 8 stems left. Either I got lucky or their stem counter is broken. But I’m not going to open two remaining bags just to find out so filing under mystery.
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Did you know that removing the clickbar from clicky Box switches turn them into linear switches? 
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I don’t think this had been talked about yet in this thread - I only had two housings left from converting yok trash pandas to holy yoks. Figured I would pop the UHMWPE stem in one of those without any lube just out of curiosity and to kinda take the whole INVYR panda saga full circle (albeit with a clone). Funny enough these are some of the smoothest iterations with the UHMWPE stem switches I have tried, might still be some swishiness though but I have a hard time hearing it to begin with. I know a lot of others on here may be better at differentiating scratchiness and feels of linears but felt I would relay my observation
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Just tried UHMWPE in:
- Panda housing - not bad, better than retooled blacks.
- Halo housing - better than Panda, kinda wobbly.
- Kailh Pro housing - best of the three but less smooth than Aliaz or Zealios housing.
I’m going to try building a full board with Kailh Pro housing later. Thx for the tip.
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That is interesting - I would have just assumed kailh pro and halo housing were equivalent. I did try in a Zeal v1 housing but something felt off about it, maybe I was feeling more wobble than I wanted.
I would think by this point you haven’t just eased into linears but have fully gone into the deep end @donpark.
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Yup. Looks like I went for a swim and ended up deep diving. I wasn’t even that sensitive to scratchiness before but now I’m allergic to scratchiness. 
Re difference between Halo and Kailh Pro housings, two look the same but are from different molds because Halo has the light lense while Kailh Pro doesn’t. I think dimensions may differ slightly.
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Honestly though I am very glad you decided to keep updating your experience moving into linears here. It is one of the bigger things that made me finally give linears another try! Just about everyday I’d see this thread get updated & kept thinking to myself I must be missing something. Sure enough I throw together a 60% build with Gat yellows & I’m in love with them! Now I got a batch of Gat blacks on the way to mess with & will be grabbing a batch of Tealios sooner than later.
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@donpark How does the UHMWPE stem compare to a Gat stem in a Zealios housing (both with 205g0)? I know you mentioned that the UHMWPE don’t take lube well. I have a Kbd75 full of Zealios v1 that I want to throw linear stems in.
For me, YMMV, UHMWPE stem feels better than Gat stem in all the polycarb housings I tried. That said, I think biggest unknown is the fit, meaning wobble. For me, wobble was bearable on Zealios V1.
I think I have pinpointed my biggest complaint about the UHMWPE stem in a lot of housings. It might have to do with some of the wobble but for me, I think there is a noise that happens on the return after pressing down that occurs near the top. Almost as if its hitting the housing twice on the upstroke near the top in quick succession. It does not happen consistently but often enough. Not sure if other people are observing this.
I haven’t yet w/UHMWPE stems but did experience ‘rattly’ sound before, like Big Bang keyset on Holy Panda, that was pretty annoying.
Only thing I can suggest is trying different keycaps. Multiple factors seems to contribute to the effect although I’m still clueless as to exactly what’s going on.
Actually this was just me pressing the switch on its own. This might actually go away when installed in a board and with keycaps on top if it somehow affects the way the switch is pressed more uniformly down rather than maybe downward and to one side if that makes any sense.
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Dubious history aside, how are Alpacas?
After finding 206g00 useful with UHMWPE stems, I am thinking about relubing my Cream board with it because lube seems to wear off faster for some reason. To experiment, I’ve re-lubed just the spacebar row. I’ll report back after a month or so.
UPDATE: Forgot to describe how 206g00 on filmed Cream feels like: it feels like large knobs on expensive stereo amplifiers: velvety and snug. I love the loud hollow sound of Cream but, unlike Tealios and Ink, it feels kinda cheap. Thick lubes make the switch feel more luxurious. I found that the feel of 205g0 doesn’t last as long as other switches. Hopefully, 206g00 will lasts longer. Warning: YMMV. Not everyone enjoys this expensive knob feel, instead finding it sluggish.