How to Lube Mechanical Switches: A Careful Beginner's Guide

Hand-lubing switches is the project everyone in the hobby eventually considers and most people overthink. It is not difficult. It is slow, repetitive, and unforgiving of impatience. This guide covers exactly how to do it well — and, just as importantly, when not to bother.

If you haven’t already, read the switch types guide first. Lube interacts differently with linears, tactiles, and clickies, and the right approach depends on which you have.

Should you even do this?

The honest answer for most people is: probably not, at least not yet.

Factory pre-lubed switches from any reputable maker are good. The audible and tactile gap between a quality pre-lubed switch and a carefully hand-lubed one is real but small — on the order of “slightly smoother, slightly deeper” rather than “transformed.” Hand-lubing a full keyboard is a 2–4 hour task that you cannot speed up without doing it badly.

You should hand-lube if: you enjoy meticulous handwork, you have dry (unlubed) switches you already own, or you want to learn the skill on a small batch before committing. You should skip it if: your switches are already pre-lubed, you’re impatient, or you’re hoping it will fix a problem that is actually stabilizer rattle (see the stabilizer guide — that is a different fix entirely).

What lube actually does

Lube is a thin film of grease applied to a switch’s moving plastic surfaces. It reduces friction between the stem and housing, which removes “scratch” (the gritty feeling and high-frequency sound of plastic dragging on plastic) and slightly deepens the sound by damping vibration.

It does not make a bad switch good, change actuation force meaningfully, or fix tactility problems. On tactile switches, over-lubing the legs of the stem will round off and weaken the bump — a common beginner mistake. Linears tolerate generous lube; tactiles need a lighter, more selective hand.

The lube you need

There are two relevant categories:

• Thin oils / light greases (the most-discussed is Krytox 105 oil, often used on springs). Low viscosity, good for spring application.
• Thick greases (the most-discussed is Krytox 205g0). Medium-thick, the default all-purpose switch lube for stems and housings on linears and tactiles.

For a first attempt, a single thicker switch grease (205g0-grade) for stems and housings, plus optionally a thin oil for springs, is all you need. Do not use a thick stabilizer grease (like dielectric/silicone “rattle” grease) on switches — that grease is correct for stabilizers, not switch internals; it will make switches sluggish.

You also need a fine brush (a small flat paintbrush, ~size 0–2), a switch opener for your switch brand, and patience. A switch opener is brand-specific; the wrong one mangles housings.

The technique, step by step

This describes the standard brush method, which is the most controllable for a first-timer.

1. Open the switch. Use the correct opener. The switch separates into top housing, stem, spring, and bottom housing. Work over a tray so springs don’t launch and vanish.

2. Lube the bottom housing rails. These are the two channels the stem legs slide in. A thin, even coat — you should barely see it, not a visible glob. This is where most of the smoothness comes from on a linear.

3. Lube the stem. On the sliding sides (the rails that contact the housing) and the pole (the bottom post that hits the housing on bottom-out), a thin coat. On a linear, you may lightly lube the legs too. On a tactile, keep lube off the legs and the leaf-contact side — lube there flattens the bump.

4. Spring. Either a tiny amount of thin oil worked along the spring, or the “bag lube” trick (a few drops of oil in a zip bag with all springs, shaken). Skip this entirely on your first batch if it feels fiddly — dry springs are fine; ping is usually addressable later.

5. Reassemble and test the feel before doing the next one. Calibrate on the first three switches; do not lube all 90 and then discover you used too much.

How much is “too much”

This is the only thing that really separates a good lube job from a bad one. The failure mode is over-lubing, not under-lubing. Symptoms of too much: keys feel sluggish or “wet,” tactiles lose their bump, switches sound muffled and dull instead of cleaner. You can always add a second pass; you cannot easily remove excess without re-cleaning the switch.

The mental model: you are reducing friction, not filling the switch with grease. A coat thin enough that it looks like the part is merely damp, not coated, is correct.

Brush vs bag lubing

Two methods exist:

• Brush: open every switch, hand-apply. Slow, maximum control, the standard for linears and the only sane method for tactiles.
• Bag: put stems in a bag with lube and shake. Fast, far less control, only defensible for large quantities of linears where you accept inconsistency. Not recommended for a first project or for tactiles.

For your first time, brush. The whole point of doing it yourself is control; the bag method discards that.

Realistic time and outcome

Budget roughly 2–4 hours for a full ~87-key board, more if it’s your first. The result on linears is a noticeably smoother keystroke and a slightly cleaner, deeper sound. On tactiles done carefully, a smoother surrounding stroke with the bump preserved. It is a real improvement — it is not the night-and-day transformation some videos imply.

If you want the biggest sound and feel gains for the least effort, hand-lubing is not where they are. Tuned stabilizers and good PBT keycaps deliver more, faster. Hand-lubing is a refinement for people who enjoy the process and have already done the high-leverage changes.

What to do next

1. If your switches are pre-lubed and you have no specific complaint, do nothing — spend the effort on stabs and keycaps instead.
2. If you want to try it, buy a small batch of cheap dry linears and lube 10 of them as practice before touching switches you care about.
3. Calibrate lube quantity on the first three switches every session.
4. Keep lube off tactile legs. This is the single most common ruined-batch mistake.

When you’re ready to put lubed switches into a board you assembled yourself, the first custom build guide walks through the rest. Or browse all our mechanical keyboard guides for the surrounding decisions.