Without any tuning, it is already very quite and it is totally silent against the background noise at my workplace.
Those typing habits will change over time I guess. Currently I'm typing quite hard.

BTW, my GMK 80082 and JTK 9009 keycaps has arrived from zfrontier. Looking forward to test it out in one of my boards later.
The finishing is just different comparing the GMK, JTK and Keykobo WOB that I got previously.

Now I'm still waiting for the Frog TKL from Geon to clear custom. The shipment is currently on-hold and customs is doing a physical inspection. Hope they don't damage the board(pray hard).
Will try out the trimmer to see how it works.

My Gazzew U4 silent I got it from taobao. But I consider them to be more expensive compared to other silent switches that are recommended by members here.
I just liked the feel of it and bought it during the taobao sales.

yes, o-rings is the cheapest. the rest depend on choices in terms of costs. i assumed you want a quiet board. in that case, silent switches will contribute the most, but it also brings mushiness. if you want, you can get 30 units and populate alphas area to start with.

to lube switches, you need tools, time, and patience. the tools are common these days: switch puller, mx style switch opener, brush, and lube. since this is the first time you do this, try apply a thin and even layer of lube on rails of bottom housing, all sides of stems, and spring first. (this technique is ok for linear switches)

tbh, just explore slowly.

right, tuning is just to make sure springs and leafs are also taken care of.

it takes time to adjust typing habits. however, the outcomes are satisfying. now i can type effortlessly without looking at the board. as bonus, my upper limit of bottom-out weight has also shifted from previous 67g to 72g. (for 15mm linear rated springs) note that i don't follow standards during adjustments. i still keep some of my 'bad habits'. i'm fine with that.

it's good for you to grab gmk and jtk sets. now you can observe the differences between them and other options first-hand, especially their overall build/printing qualities, typing feels and sound profiles (e.g., thick abs vs. pbt). there are other details too, that you might like or not.

a lot of things in this hobby can only be appreciated through first-hand experience. visuals and words are just not good enough to describe them properly.

Do you have a video that I can refer to for the lubing?
I will check out videos on how to switch the switches. Good thinking, i dont have to swap all switches at one go. Can do them batch by batch.

here are few. there are a lot more on youtube, e.g., from blacksimon, taehatypes, etc.



these are to get you started. note that we all have different styles and techniques to lube, depending on conditions and preferences, e.g., lube type, switch type, outcomes to be achieved. one day, you might have something up your sleeves as well.

there are key things that you should observe in the videos: how to control amount of lube, how to apply them, where to apply them, tools used to achieve desired outcomes (e.g., tip size of brush). there is another part that they mentioned less, i.e., lube types, thin vs. thick (which means low-viscosity vs. high-viscosity). as beginner, you can start with krytox gpl 205g0, and use it as reference to explore more.

Wah omg. I don’t know how I’m going to do all of them!!!

Good news is that now my fingers don’t hurt while slamming the keyboard away, the sound is quite obvious still so I’m gonna do the o-ring first to start with. And then if needed only change switches. But that would mean that the original switches are wasted. Hahaha…

I guess it all depends on how much time and effort you are able to put into it at a certain moment. Like currently I'm playing around lubing the leafs of the JWK T1 and it really eliminated the leaf ping while keeping a significant portion of the tactility. I did not need to lube the legs on the stems to achieve it.
2 item that I would like to ask based on your experience:

1. Do you lube the pole of the stem? It seems some are suggesting that we lube the stems lightly, and others are saying to totally avoid lubing those as it would create something like a vacuum effect with the hole on the bottom housing.
2. I'm lubing the springs individually, is it fine to lube only the end that is contacting the bottom housing with 205g0?

yes it's simple but tedious haha

i also think it's better for you to use stock switches with o-rings for a while first, then decide.

yes, lubing leafs does help minimize leaf ping. for tactile switches, i will also skip legs. however, it also depends on what i wanna achieve. i might use lube to reduce tactility if it's not comfortable for me.

as for your questions:
1. yes i lube the pole of stems. however, i just brush it briefly and lightly. as long as you stick to 'less is more', it's usually ok.
2. i lube springs individually and wholy, inside and outside, with 105 oil. this is just individual preference. yes it's fine to do both ends only. apparently a lot of people are doing that. bag lubing is also fine. just make sure to clean up excess on the springs, if necessary.

sometimes, i also lube switch top, if i wanted to bring down key sound.

I would've advised you to get a cheap Leaven keyboard or a techware as a beginner who doesn't want to spend alot. The Leaven is all plastic and lightweight and really cheap which is suitable for carrying around or leaving it at the office without worrying too much about it being stolen. Some Leaven models may not have hot swappable sockets so you'll have to confirm it with the buyer. Another option is scissor switched keyboards like the Cougar vantar or cherry stream.

Try lubing a small batch like 10 switches first. It can be annoying to get it right, too light and it feels like you haven't done anything, too much lube and it feels heavy/stuck. I wouldn't bother if you're not an enthusiast who is obsessed about getting the right feel at this stage. Get a batch of outemu silent white switches instead of o-rings, they are cheap about 1.25 or 1.5 per switch and they are very very quiet, probably the most quiet for common keyboard silent switches, sounds as quiet or quieter than ordinary membranes depending on how rattly your stabilizer keys are.

I don't like o-rings because they don't do anything about the switch noise on the upstroke and they might cause keycaps to break more easily.

Do you know where I can get cherry mx silent reds for a decent price? They are around RM3 per switch on LZ/Shoppe. Outemus silent whites feel/sound great but I'm still have reliability issues with them, not sure if its because of the env that my keyboards are in which may cause contacts to tarnish more easily. Other brands also have trouble but possibly last longer while the original cherrys never seem to have a problem because of their gold crossbar design possibly.

Yeah I saw the switches price. But even to change them for only the alphabet letters will cause me RM50, meanwhile o-ring will cost me RM15. So I’m gonna stick with o-ring first until I feel like upgrading.

As of now I’m actually enjoying typing on this Keychron Linear. Hehe!

o-rings is an option when everything else is not. yes, it helps to reduce noise partially. however, can you give us more insights on how o-rings increasing risks for keycaps to break?

afaik, 3-pin cherry mx silent red is around 2myr per switch at taobao, without shipping. the total costs might be around 3 to reach your door steps.

yes, surroundings affect key switches, and cherry mx key switches are known to be more reliable than others. in your case, you should try 5-pin kailh fried egg, with water- and dust-proof designs. internally, its leafs are covered with a small cap.

By the way, if i change the switches, what do you all do with the old switches?
Also, there are like two damn fragile pins on the switches? how do they actually deliver them without breaking them at all???

i will keep them for different projects. you can also sell them off if they are still stock.

the two pins are part of contact leaves. unless you bend them repeatedly, they are not easy to break. if the pins are bent, just straighten them with tweezers.

these days, usually key switches are over-packaged. i really think instead of spending money on pretty packaging that i don't keep, it's more practical for manufacturers to invest more to make better switches.

owh there's quieter switch

Did you do the o-ring mod? If you are comfortable with the current linears, it is totally fine to keep it this way.

The o-rings sit at the base of the 'stem holder' which reduces the flex and place more pressure nearer to the mouth of the 'stem holder'. It may not be a problem for keycaps which have thicker/high quality 'stem holders'. My own abs keycap set which don't use o-rings have a few split stem holders, can still use but they are looser. The logitech G710 series I think which had o-rings as a standard had problems with broken keycaps.

I haven't used Taobao for a long time because it requires a account and everything is in mandarin. I'm quite sure the issue with outemu is because of the switch contacts and by repeatedly tapping away for some time I can fix the issue but I'd prefer not to deal with it in the first place.

ok. i also suspect the root cause was bad-quality keycaps.

as for cherry mx silent red, i believe there are other places to get it, besides tb. outemu has improved over the years, but yeah the previous nightmare of higher failure rates really made us not picking up their switches haha

well, every brand has own histories. however, i believe things are getting better for most if not all of them. maybe it's time to check them out from time to time.

not sure about outemu pass history.
the Outemu Red on my previous keyboard Tecware Phantom quite good (104 key)
only issue is the switch or the plate itself too bad...got like metal noise when press (didnt dismantle it to check)