i will resume switch lube tests that i totally forgotten. today is day one.

previously i have bought some untested ptfe/pfpe grease from taobao. i also bought a lot of cherry mx red/black and more hotswap boards for this purpose. somehow, for reasons that i still cannot recall, nothing happened after that.

the key thing in my tests is the operating shelf life of these lube. in terms of texture, the grease that i bought is between superlube (this is relatively soft, and easier to apply) and krytox gpl 205g2 (this is wax-like. it's relatively hard to apply). with hotswap boards i can just relube them when necessary, if they get worn off, i.e., shorter operating shelf life.

note that all lube have respective storage shelf lives. krytox gpl has the longest (25 years, if stored properly). for superlube, it's 5 years.

in general, ptfe/pfpe grease should last for a long time if it's used for key switches. however, it's not the case for superlube. this might be related to the base oil in the grease (low viscosity, hence it evaporates relatively quicker)

i have applied one of the lubes to cherry mx red on alpha area. it's relatively easy to apply. will see how long it can last.

Then when we use normal stabs that comes with typical keyboards with long pole stems (my understanding is if we see the travel distance is <4mm, example 3.5mm) switches, the keycap will not be supported correctly?
I have never look into this and now I notice it, some switches when I install on those long keys, if I press on either side harder, the key cap will just "senget" to one side and vice versa.

Does this mean that when we are using a long pole stem switch, we would need to match it to stabs design for it?

lol. I just noticed that M1 and M3 are using different PCB thickness.
M1 = 1.2mm
M3 = 1.6mm

Why would they do that? lolx

This post has been edited by zzzz52: May 24 2023, 01:30 PM

no. key switches with 3.5mm key travel existed for quite some time already. the new stabilizer is just an option.

the issue that you're facing might not be the issue of stabs, but relatively loosed stem holes. usually a small piece of soft plastic will make it secure stabilizer stems better.

This post has been edited by horns: May 24 2023, 01:40 PM

I just mean that like if I'm using a switch like the JWICK T1, when you bottom out the switch on the long key, the whole key is flat across from end to end. But when I use some other switch, when you bottom out the key, the middle is higher vs the 2 sides at the stabs.

that's weird. is the long key warped? usually this is not possible, because stab stems are free to move, so they don't have strengths to bend a key cap like that.

Oh no, the keycap is not bend. It is like you can press one side of the long key and the other side will lift off. THen you know that the middle (switch) is higher than the stabs.

Something like this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboard...q3_stab_issues/

now i got it. there are few possibilities that can cause this, e.g., interference between key cap and stabilizer housing, or stab stems are not secured properly by keycaps' stem holes.

in this case, maybe the additional height helps after all. wow.

i'm using jwk jade rabbit (3.5mm) with tx stabs, and my build with wuque ws silent linear is with fl-cmmk plate-mount stabs, the 4mm version. they are all fine.

edit: i learned a new thing today haha

This post has been edited by horns: May 24 2023, 02:52 PM

hard to explain that.
normally smaller board like ITX motherboard need thicker as it need to multiple layer to run the print.
hard to tell why M3 that TKL using thicker pcb compare to M1 only 75%.
but as long as doesnt affect anything and pricing of it......all fine

Bit the bullet and placed the order for 70 units of c3 tangerine V2.
Read some reviews that these might require filming. Anyone has experience with these before ?

i have 62g and 67g, and yes i use switch films for them. at stock, it makes relatively high-pitched, 'crispy' key sound.

some food for thought, from black simon. it's a three-part real talk session.

Anyone have experience fabricating custom plates?
I recently request for quote in shopee to fabricate carbon fiber plate for the M3 TKL, the price was RM180 fabricating + RM40 for material cost, total RM220. Aluminum option is RM50 for material cost.

there are some cutters on taobao that offers a much more cheaper service

there is a .dwg file for m3 plate at monsgeek, https://www.monsgeek.com/download/

maybe you just send it to a cutter service for help.

I would need to cehck it out then. Never used taobao before.

The seller quoted me on the drawing that I provided. I'm just looking if the pricing make sense or anyone has any recommendation on vendor that provide this kind of services.

oh. i thought 'fabricating' means doing things from scratch. i'm not familiar with the plate cutting service.

Hi everyone, I have an Anne Pro 2 to let go. Anyone who is interested can have a look here --> Anne Pro 2

as almost all common mods that were invented by mkb community are slowly converted to commercial packages, or integrated into existing ones, everything becomes convenient for new generations of users. it's a good thing to those who already knew sufficient basics. however, convenience usually means sacrifice of something else. in a hobby, this means chances to learn stuff and improve individual skills are taken away slowly from new users.

i hope that they still take own initiatives to learn and understand true purposes of these mods, and realize that they can achieve the same or better outcomes with what're available around them.

This post has been edited by horns: May 26 2023, 02:26 PM

this kailh box fried egg silent linear (v2) was released for quite a while now. it's a full-pom 5-pin key switch, with a total key travel of 3.6mm, and 60g bottom-out spring. kailh box springs have a smaller outer diameter, mx style springs are not compatible to be used for replacement. it has a shallow well for central stem pole.

note that for kailh box, the rails for stems are at switch top, not bottom housings. don't lube the wrong areas.

in general, it's not a bad silent linear. the silencing effects are ok. the relative mushiness is more than wuque ws silent linear/white (the feel is very similar to cherry mx pink, but less scratchy)

i'm not complaining about mushiness or scratchiness in silent switches. their silencing effects are usually ok.

the only silent linear that i had issues with previously was the early batch of gateron silent red (detached rubber/silicon pads from stems; happened to few switches, after months of use)

the latest breaking changes of qmk-0.21.0 did not break anything on cx60, https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/blob/ma...Log/20230528.md, because all latest changes have been applied to the codes.

starting from 0.21.x, there are new rules for keyboard/pcb designers, as qmk has empasized on data-driven configurations in info.json. the source tree is relatively cleaner now.

later i will check out codes for other pcbs. cx60 is always the first one for me to check, because once it's updated, that means all my cx60-based reference builds can be updated properly. i have also kept a copy of 0.20.8 (the last version of 0.20.x) in case i'm lazy.

the better case design option for cx60 is those with a plastic diffuser plate, between the top and bottom case, so that rgb underglow can be used conveniently as capslock indicator.



edit: as usual, run 'qmk setup' and 'qmk git-submodule' once after updates, to make sure necessary qmk supports are also updated accordingly.



This post has been edited by horns: May 29 2023, 03:51 PM