Alps wax mod - procedure & evaluation!

[Chyros]

Today we look at the Alps wax mod, a cleaning and restoration procedure to restore dirty or damaged Alps switches. It's become pretty widely known recently, so I got a lot of requests to try it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-IF5VmDaMg

[TNT]

Yeah, finally your take on this. Was hoping you'd try this sooner or later

[doomsday_device]

you dont boil to clean, you clean before and then boil. also, immediately stirr after putting in the wax. in best case never stop to stirr until getting parts out.

[headphone_jack]

>credits nobody
>does method wrong

Don't know what else I was expecting lol.

[soyuz]

A few things:

- this method is absolutely not limited to 1st gen, it's only bamboo and later that (may) deform.
- you should use tealight wax, random candles aren't made to a standard like tealights are. tealight wax will make a film on the surface the then deposits on the slider as you remove it
- you should not rinse the slider after waxing, the whole point is to deposit wax on them

[soyuz]

Mostly though, you shouldn't use a candle that could roleplay as a block of Edam.

[Muirium]

Entertaining as always. Nice to see a visual explainer (that even I can understand) of the deep arcane knowledge that was hidden in the infamously irritable Alps lube thread.

Just a pity Chyros’s attempt didn’t work. Too much tweaking, I think. Shouldnae have dabbled in alchemy you dinnae unnerstaun, laddie!

I’ve heard good things about this method though. Just needs well documented and tested for the long haul. I’m interested to see how well various degrees of ruined switches come back to life with it. And, overall, how long its occasionally restorative magic lasts.

[lis0r]

Entertaining as always.

Do you post in every thread, or only when you don't have anything worth contributing?

[kelvinhall05]

Entertaining as always.

Do you post in every thread, or only when you don't have anything worth contributing?

Those are one and the same.

[TNT]

Do you post in every thread, or only when you don't have anything worth contributing?

[Bjerrk]

Why make a video if you can't be bothered to do it properly?

[lispnick]

This must work! I have just purchased a 25kg pack of industrial-grade super-pure wax.

[doomsday_device]

Why make a video if you can't be bothered to do it properly?

It seems to me the whole thing wasn't taken seriously to begin with, sadly. It took me at least 2 attempts to get it right too but what is that time considering you would just yeet and spend hundreds of money to get "better switches". I think it is a very unfair video and in fact the most unfair to the actual viewers.

Nothing new here though, better grab some cash and buy those "10/10 blue Alps" I guess.

[Bjerrk]

Why make a video if you can't be bothered to do it properly?

It seems to me the whole thing wasn't taken seriously to begin with, sadly. It took me at least 2 attempts to get it right too but what is that time considering you would just yeet and spend hundreds of money to get "better switches". I think it is a very unfair video and in fact the most unfair to the actual viewers.

Absolutely. The (proper) procedure worked well for me too, by the way. It gave one of my Alps boards a new lease on life, and it's really become one of my favourite keyboards.

I tested first with a few loose switches to gauge the correct amount of paraffin and get the hang of the procedure

[TNT]

Has anyone ever tried this method with pure bee wax? Just curious how that'd work out. I want my switches to type well and smell good

[joebeazelman]

Please respect Chryros and his findings. He made an excellent video where he really gave it his best for what anyone with a basic intelligence can easily figure out doesn't work. He is a chemist who knows organic chemistry much better than the folks criticizing him. I see no reason for him to be biased in his findings since his videos are geared towards the true keyboard connoisseurs, not the dilettantes who shamelessly display their megabudget, rainbow colored keyboards because it's cool and everybody is doing it.

At first, I was shocked he bothered to make a video of something that's obviously a joke, like ones claiming mayonnaise or Nutella works. As I read through the comment section of the video, however, I was horrified by the astounding ignorance of the most basic principles anyone should learn from common everyday experiences like cooking, cleaning and washing. From what I learned later from reading the forums, this army of nincompoops is quite large, bold and vocal with the same conviction of people who claim they were sodomized by aliens.

If I were to criticize Chryros' video, it's his failure to speak forcefully and use his platform and professional expertise as a chemist to educate his audience on why the wax water boil method is hogwash. There are many people, for instance, who believe vinegar and baking soda are excellent cleaners. They see a bunch of fizzing and believe it's performing some kind of extra hocus pocus, but as some of us learned in chemistry, acids neutralizes bases which makes the resulting potion less effective than its two constituents.

Likewise, there's no possible way from the demonstrations I've read and watched in videos for any wax to properly adhere to any of the plastic components. Paraffin doesn't mix or dissolve in water. In fact, water hates it which is why it's an excellent water repellant used for machine surfaces and clothing. It will form splotches on the surface of the water so it won't be evenly spread enough to contact all the parts. The best you might be able to do is mechanically emulsify it with water, but you would have to use a lot more paraffin and special equipment. Stirring the parts in the hot water with paraffin is just dubious magic wand waving. The water forms a barrier repelling the wax from sticking to the plastic. There's no evidence of a wax layer deposited on the surface using this method in any detailed photo.

If it's ineffective then why are so many people claiming they feel a difference? There's several possible explanations, but I'll attempt three of them. First, this method is cheap and easily available where some of the lubes, equipment and expertise are much harder to come by. As a result, there will be more people who will likely try it, especially those with less experience of what excellent condition switches are supposed to sound like. Second, what many are experiencing is the feel of clean switches, which is always better than filthy, grimy ones. Boiling water certainly works better than soapy tepid water in the same way a dishwasher cleans dishes better. Finally, there may very well be a possibility that the hot water may rejuvenate the residual factory lube to some extent, which may be worth further investigating. One thing is certain, though, paraffin, as applied using the boiling water method, has little or no effect on the subjective experiences.

[Findecanor]

- you should use tealight wax, random candles aren't made to a standard like tealights are. tealight wax will make a film on the surface the then deposits on the slider as you remove it

Did you mean paraffin?
There are also tealights made with tallow, like classic old-fashioned candles.

[soyuz]

Please respect Chryros and his findings. He made an excellent video where he really gave it his best for what anyone with a basic intelligence can easily figure out doesn't work. He is a chemist who knows organic chemistry much better than the folks criticizing him. I see no reason for him to be biased in his findings since his videos are geared towards the true keyboard connoisseurs, not the dilettantes who shamelessly display their megabudget, rainbow colored keyboards because it's cool and everybody is doing it.

At first, I was shocked he bothered to make a video of something that's obviously a joke, like ones claiming mayonnaise or Nutella works. As I read through the comment section of the video, however, I was horrified by the astounding ignorance of the most basic principles anyone should learn from common everyday experiences like cooking, cleaning and washing. From what I learned later from reading the forums, this army of nincompoops is quite large, bold and vocal with the same conviction of people who claim they were sodomized by aliens.

If I were to criticize Chryros' video, it's his failure to speak forcefully and use his platform and professional expertise as a chemist to educate his audience on why the wax water boil method is hogwash. There are many people, for instance, who believe vinegar and baking soda are excellent cleaners. They see a bunch of fizzing and believe it's performing some kind of extra hocus pocus, but as some of us learned in chemistry, acids neutralizes bases which makes the resulting potion less effective than its two constituents.

Likewise, there's no possible way from the demonstrations I've read and watched in videos for any wax to properly adhere to any of the plastic components. Paraffin doesn't mix or dissolve in water. In fact, water hates it which is why it's an excellent water repellant used for machine surfaces and clothing. It will form splotches on the surface of the water so it won't be evenly spread enough to contact all the parts. The best you might be able to do is mechanically emulsify it with water, but you would have to use a lot more paraffin and special equipment. Stirring the parts in the hot water with paraffin is just dubious magic wand waving. The water forms a barrier repelling the wax from sticking to the plastic. There's no evidence of a wax layer deposited on the surface using this method in any detailed photo.

If it's ineffective then why are so many people claiming they feel a difference? There's several possible explanations, but I'll attempt three of them. First, this method is cheap and easily available where some of the lubes, equipment and expertise are much harder to come by. As a result, there will be more people who will likely try it, especially those with less experience of what excellent condition switches are supposed to sound like. Second, what many are experiencing is the feel of clean switches, which is always better than filthy, grimy ones. Boiling water certainly works better than soapy tepid water in the same way a dishwasher cleans dishes better. Finally, there may very well be a possibility that the hot water may rejuvenate the residual factory lube to some extent, which may be worth further investigating. One thing is certain, though, paraffin, as applied using the boiling water method, has little or no effect on the subjective experiences.

No.

[Bjerrk]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-IF5VmDaMg

Just another example of antiwaxer misinformation

[soyuz]

Joke post aside:

- You are wrong. I have previously posted microscope evidence of wax deposition in the "Alps Lubricant FOUND" thread.
- People feel a difference because it works.
- The amount of words you used to claim it doesn't work without even trying it for yourself is strong Dunning-Kruger tell.

[soyuz]

- you should use tealight wax, random candles aren't made to a standard like tealights are. tealight wax will make a film on the surface the then deposits on the slider as you remove it

Did you mean paraffin?
There are also tealights made with tallow, like classic old-fashioned candles.

Sasol 5203

[Bjerrk]

This is such a silly debate.

A bunch of people have followed the (proper) protocol and reported great results.

What's more likely to you
a) it's a conspiracy - they're all lying for no obvious reason
b) it probably works quite well if you do it correctly
?

If your answer is (a), you're a special kind of person

[raoulduke-esq]

I'm just glad my Nutella post got some play in the wordsman tome...

[TNT]

Nutella is my preferred method for restoring Alps. Miles better than waxing, actually.

There's one point I'm agreeing with him tho: some responses here are kinda toxic and rather inappropriate. Let's keep it civil :/

[lis0r]

Please respect Chryros and his findings.

Sod off. He's a hapless hack, and while he might be a savant at chemistry, he's a prideful ignoramus in every other field. Even the teenaged keyboard kids can cobble together a converter, yet he takes valuable and unique keyboards, doesn't convert them, entombs them in a box, and places them on a shelf, only pulling them out when he needs something to ogle at and touch himself.

He can't even operate a pair of eyeballs and a short term memory, and follow an instructional video.

It's a good thing he's not a biologist, otherwise he'd be in severe danger of being outwitted by the contents of a petridish.

[mode1ace]

He made an excellent video where he really gave it his best for what anyone with a basic intelligence can easily figure out doesn't work. He is a chemist who knows organic chemistry much better than the folks criticizing him.

tl;dr re the rest of your post, but jeeze, you sure do love jerking him off don't you.

Working in chemistry doesn't make you infallible, as much as you like sucking his dick about it. Jeeze.

Just rub a plain white paraffin tealight on the side of a slider, specifically at the contact points from a switch that binds despite having cleaned it, and it'll stop binding. This is utterly foolproof, not a joke, loads of people have done it and it'll instantly prove to you why it's better than nyogel and whatever else.

If you don't want to do that tiny amount of effort, just stop caring about it. Getting so twisted up over people lubing their switches in a way that displeases you is ridiculous.

[lis0r]

It's not like this is new, people have been lubricating drawer sliders that way for centuries.

[Muirium]

The alps lube thread aggro lives on all right!

So Chyros is doing it wrong? Make your own video showing the right way. Might even get some traction if you do a better job.

[nobatron]

Make your own video showing the right way.

Are we just pretending that @soyuz hasn't already done this?

[Muirium]

Link it then. I ain’t seen it. Doubt most of Chyros’s followers have, either.