Found out how much switch lube really costs manufacturers...

Was digging through some group buy supplier docs last night and stumbled on a fact that blew my mind. The factory that makes those budget Gateron yellows sells them for like 12 cents per switch in bulk. But the same factory charges an extra 8 cents per switch just to apply factory lube. That means half the price of the switch is just for the lube job. So when you see some store selling pre-lubed switches for 70 cents each and claiming they're factory lubed, they might just be marking up a 12 cent switch with some sketchy oil. Makes me want to actually test a batch under a microscope before buying. Has anyone else compared factory lubed switches from different vendors and found weird inconsistencies?

2 comments

2 Comments

umab351d ago

Actually the factory lube thing is a bit more complicated than that. The extra 8 cents isn't just for the lube itself, it's for the labor of applying it consistently across thousands of switches. The lube they use is probably some dirt cheap industrial grease too, not the fancy Krytox or Tribosys stuff enthusiasts like. So yeah, when a store sells "factory lubed" switches for 70 cents, they're almost definitely just grabbing those 12 cent switches and doing a half-assed lubing job themselves. I've seen people open up switches from budget "factory lubed" batches and find huge globs of lube or completely dry spots. That part about testing under a microscope is actually a good idea, I'd be curious to see how consistent the application really is between different brands.

simontorres1d ago

12 cents for a switch is wild. @umab35 nailed it though - that extra eight cents is just covering the person standing there with a brush all day. I've seen a Gateron factory line tour video once, looked like a nightmare job. So when I think about paying 70 cents for some store's "factory lube" batch, I realize that store is probably just making my dumb ass pay for their rent. Honestly I've probably bought more of those sketchy lubed switches than I want to admit, my keyboard is a graveyard of bad decisions.