Mitsumi Miniature Mechanical: Redemption(?)

[Thorogrimm]

So here's a dilemma I'm sure most seasoned users have experienced: Mitsumi MM switches aren't good. They're pretty scratchy and bind like hell. At that point, most people would discard it and call it a day, however there are some magic methods (shooting them up with WD-40 silicone lubricant) that helps the switches massively, as passed down from a few Mitsumi veterans.

However, in this instance I found myself at an impasse: I'd attempted the WD-40 trick on one of the switches in a Chicony kb-5160 but this did nothing to help the switch. So I believed it was a job for something more thicker and thorough ( ). I began lubing the switches with Krytox 205g0 using a fine brush, making sure to run through the points of contact in the gaps. In the end I came out with a board that felt a damn sight less scratchy, but still bound harder than an arthritic chewing polyfilla.

My question is: Can these switches be saved? Should I have used more WD-40? Or do they need to be thrown in an ultrasonic cleaner? I refuse to simply throw out this keyboard and have way too much time on my hands to not try and solve this.

[Ramoneri]

Sorry for necro, but I had great results with teflon based spray.

[Muirium]

This also came up on the Secret Santa thread:

That's Mitsumi Miniature Mechanical (the white, tactile version). Usually not held in high regards by basically everyone in the community, but this one is brand new, so no use and also no dirt and dust. No binding, no scratching, just a very satisfying tactile bump before you bottom out. My secret Santa also lubed parts of the board which makes a noticable difference in both sound and feel. A bit of a shame you can't really use it because the switches will go bad with that
Can't wait to bring this one to the keyboard meetup in January

Hey, could you maybe elaborate on why switches go bad with that kind of lube ? I recently built a Board and lubed the switches (outemu silent white`s) with that exact kind of lube & would hate to see it go bad.

I did hear about the WD40 trick for Mitsumi Miniature, but I'd already given away mine to Chyros so never tried it. To be honest, I’m not surprised to hear about mixed results. They're tricky little fuckers!

[guidemetothelight]

That's Mitsumi Miniature Mechanical (the white, tactile version). Usually not held in high regards by basically everyone in the community, but this one is brand new, so no use and also no dirt and dust. No binding, no scratching, just a very satisfying tactile bump before you bottom out. My secret Santa also lubed parts of the board which makes a noticable difference in both sound and feel. A bit of a shame you can't really use it because the switches will go bad with that
Can't wait to bring this one to the keyboard meetup in January

Hey, could you maybe elaborate on why switches go bad with that kind of lube ? I recently built a Board and lubed the switches (outemu silent white`s) with that exact kind of lube & would hate to see it go bad.

I can recommend the Synco Lube method where u use a wooden dental stick to press down on the stem while you put a drop in 2 of the 4 corners of the switch, but sadly i know heard multiple times that this kind of switches will destroy switches so i dont really know.
Maybe someone else has more experience with that kind of lube. Sadly i already used it on one of my boards before.

6150eBO-XpL._SL1500_.jpg (43.28 KiB) Viewed 1458 times

And while it is working perfectly right now and the lube did help out those cheap outemu switches, i dont know if it will continue to work in the future.

Edit: apparently the lube isnt damaging to the switches at all just misread a post about it

[The Laptop Lagger]

I have one MMM board but it's mostly dead so I've never been able to give them a proper shot sadly.