All that wasted time wrestling with leaf ping by carefully keeping the leaf and stem legs bone dry. I probably should have noticed that good factory lube jobs put a healthy coat of oil right on the leaf and legs but I didn’t. If you have 105 for springs, put a swipe on the tactile leaf. The tactility remains despite all that wisdom about carefully avoiding the heckin’ leaf and legs!!!1 The leaf ping does not remain. My tactiles don’t magically become linear and my heavy tactiles don’t magically feel like browns. Do the rails with 3203 as normal. If you only have 3203, a very light bit on the leaf is still fine Or just do the whole switch with 105 and lube the whole thing. I feel like a child who has been told that swallowing seeds will make trees grow in your belly, I just believed it. I thought I had to just cope with leaf ping to preserve tactility. It’s not true don’t fall for it. Use a light hand and you can have the best of both worlds
Lube the leaf on your tactiles with 105. If you use 205 on tactiles like a caveman you’re still beyond saving. That’s my rant, ymmv
This is what made me take a step back from tactile switches. I love the feel of them but i hated the leaf ping, for example on glorious pandas. I use one light swipe of 205g0 on the contacts that touch the legs and, personally, I found that adding a small dot of dielectric grease in between the empty space of the leaf (using a thick gauge syringe) has been able to kill the excess leaf ping after 205g0
Agreed. Tactiles as of late have very large actuation force bumps that are IMO too strong for my taste. Heck, I use 205g0 on the legs. As long as you’re careful and consistent with the lube I find it helps to dial down leaf ping a lot while still having a good amount of tactility (not dissimilar to a laptop scissor switch feel).
Akko silent penguins were too tactile for me even after significant lubing with 205g0.
Is it more tactile than Boba U4?
Bobas feel like a smoother tactile bump compared to the penguins, imo the tactility of the penguins is uncomfortable for long typing sessions it just feels overly bumpy like a harsh speed bump in a car
So is the penguin perhaps something similar feeling like zealiot switches? I remember they were crisp, but also harsh in a way
Agreed. I honestly didn’t heed the warnings and hand lubed with 205g0 once upon a time and my HPX switches went from being unusable to being one of my favorites. I lubed them everywhere, just like a linear, just didn’t glob in any areas, like a good boy, and they came out sounding and feeling amazing.
It wasn’t until afterwards that I heard about the “don’t lube the leaf” and all of these weird “techniques” for “preserving the feel” that I was like…that’s the dumbest advice ever. Because I’ve tried even the “Guzzew method” and saw absolutely no change in feel or characteristics of the switch. It might as well have been unlubed still.
I just gotta say I still have yet to figure out what so many of you talk about this “ping” that switches supposedly make and I have quite solid hearing at that. But hey, if you like the result power to ya!
i mean, what tactile switches have you tried? leaf ping is pretty unmistakeable. order some T1s and find out lol
My akko silent penguins have leaf ping that I seemingly cant get rid of, lubed the entire switch & it still pings
yeah sometimes physical defects like the leaf being bent can’t really be overcome. with silent switches sometimes the scratching from the silicone can mimic leaf chatter as well. if it is really the leaf you could try carefully doing some 3203 on the front of the leaf and 205 on the back of the leaf. some people even do stab lubes like 206/xdtbhz/dielectric on the back of the leaf (as long as you don’t get it on the front)
tedious though
Great thought— I have been thinking the same. I personally use an extra light layer of G-Lube (exactly the same as 205g0 in my experience) on one of/both the leaf or legs depending on the switch. This has worked well for me
I just smothered my entire moyu blacks with 3203. did not see any reduction in tactility while greatly improving that sweet sweet smoothness
Or just lube behind the leaf (the side not making contact with the stem), like most people do for mx browns to get rid of ping :)
yeah been doing it for a while but often times not enough
It took me 10 minutes to realize this isn’t a sex analogy and im on the mechanical keyboard sub, that was awkward :)))
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my ass is too lazy to lube so either i buy factory or prelubed switches or just use them stock :/
I think the only switch that i truly feel is not worth it to open up at all is aflion melody. i got a sample pack of 10 and rushed to order 100 more when i found out it’s discontinued
even baby kangaroos i felt needed a bit of tlc. it’s a personal preference thing though
With my first and only custom build, I got Boba U4T switches and initially followed the advice that they shouldn’t get lubed. I used it that way for a few months and enjoyed it, but thought there is some scratchy feeling that I can get rid of. I basically ignored all advice and put a light lube on everything, and I’ve been incredibly happy with the results ever since. I really don’t understand where the myth of lube ruining tactile switches came from.
generally it’s gazzew recommended to not lube it but i think literally nobody follows it. every single u4t build has them lubed. i have them lubed. i don’t think it matters much. you don’t even have to gazzew method it, just make sure you hold down the stem when closing the switch so you don’t risk the tactility.
I don’t know man. I’ve lubed up a few different tactile/silent tactile in different ways. Stem/leaf, no stem etc and I didn’t have any luck, it just turned them into linear
I very well could’ve used a little too much I suppose
Ive lubed almost all my tactile stems with 205g0 and none lost tactility so Ive never trusted that statement.
I, too, use 205g0 on my tactile leaves and stem legs. Works fine, doesn’t lose tactility. Just need to use a very light coat
i’ve definitely experienced tactility loss, i just think it’s overblown, personally. 3203 is very forgiving but i’ve overdone it on a few even with that
Ive only noticed it on a couple that have particularly sharp tactility stock then become less sharp but still tactile imo
Noob here, what’s the issue with using 205 with tactiles?