Lubricating your mechanical keyboard switches (lubing) is one of the most effective modifications you can perform. It smooths out scratchy key travel, eliminates spring ping, and makes your keyboard sound deeper and more refined.

While the process is time-consuming (taking 2 to 4 hours), the results are well worth the effort. Here is a comprehensive beginner's guide to lubing your switches.

1. Gather Your Lubing Tools

You will need the following specialized tools before starting:

• Switch Lube: Standard grease like **Krytox 205g0** is highly recommended for linear switches and stabilizers. A lighter oil like **Krytox GPL 105** is best for lubricating spring coils.
• Switch Opener: A metal tool designed to pop open MX-style switch housings.
• Lubrication Brush: A fine, thin synthetic detail brush (size 00 or 0).
• Stem Picker/Tweezers: To hold small switch stems securely while painting lube.

2. Disassemble the Switch

Place the switch in the switch opener and apply downward pressure. The housing clips will pop open, splitting the switch into four components:

1. The bottom housing (with the leaf contacts).
2. The metal spring coil.
3. The plastic stem.
4. The top housing.

3. Lube the Bottom Housing and Spring

Using a small amount of Krytox 205g0 on your brush, lightly paint the inner sliders (tracks) of the bottom housing. For the spring, you can either paint the ends with grease or bag-lube them by dropping all springs into a plastic bag with a few drops of Krytox 105 oil and shaking them vigorously.

4. Lube the Stem

Hold the stem with your stem picker. Lightly paint the side sliders and front legs. **Warning:** If you are lubing tactile switches (like Browns), **do not** paint the tactile legs, as this will smooth out the bump, making the switch feel linear.

Once components are painted, snap the top and bottom housing back together, insert them into your hot-swap PCB, and test.