What Switch Films Can Actually Do For Your Mechanical Keyboard

If there were a list of the most popular modifications that could be done to mechanical keyboard switches, there's no doubt that the practice of "filming" would be a close second behind that of "lubing" a set of switches. In fact these two mods are so often talked about that they're often combined by many enthusiasts into one solitary act of "lubing and filming" switches.

While these both make sense to do at the same time, it's also completely valid to just apply a set of films to switches and not do any lubing at all. However, over my years of reviewing and collecting switches I've seen a staggering number of people incorrectly state why they might want to put a set of films on switches that they have.

Chief among these misconceptions is that all modern switches "need films to reduce stem wobble". Not only is this belief entirely not true, falling for it could lead to you wasting money or even damaging your switches in the process of trying to use the films! So in order to prevent you for falling for the same misconceptions I've seen repeatedly, and hopefully sparing your favorite switches along the way, let's learn about what switch films are and what they can actually do for you.

Switch films are small rectangular rings of semi-soft plastics that are made to be put in between the top and bottom housings of switches prior to sealing them up and putting them into a keyboard. This practice of "filming" switches is done by first using a switch opener to separate the top and bottom housing of a switch and then placing the film around the edges of the bottom housing.

When you place the top housing back firmly on the switch, these films act like gaskets to seal the gap in between these two parts. Despite what many people newer to the hobby might think, the practice of filming switches is a relatively old one and first showed up in the form of people using "switch stickers" back in 2011 when KBDMania forum was popular in Korea.

While these original films were quite literally just thin sheets of commonplace stickers with a special shape cut out, modern switch films have become noticeably more advanced in their compositions. Nowadays, films are made out of a wide range of soft and flexible plastics such as HTV and PC for Durock's switch films or a gasket material known as PORON for Wuque Studio's switch films.

As well, they're often available in a range of thicknesses as well to ensure that a proper seal can be had in between any switch housings you have. Whether you have brand new modern day switch films or the ancient old switch stickers, though, they all serve the exact same benefit – stopping your switch top housings from wobbling.

Wait a minute, Goat – you said filming stops only top housing wobble but you didn't say anything about stem wobble or sound. Aren't switch films necessary to fix both of those things on switches? That answer is surprisingly not! While it's not nearly as much of an issue now, old switches used to have worse tolerances on their injection molded parts and thus their top and bottom housings sometimes wouldn't come together cleanly during assembly.

What this resulted in would be switches that had 'loose' housings that would jiggle around if you grabbed the housings and tried to move them in opposite directions. In order to shore up the differences in tolerances that existed between these misaligned parts and help fill in the gaps, switch films were created as flexible, insertable seals to plug the gap. They simply fill in the voids in between the housings.

However, over time I think people began to assume that these films fixed both housing wobble and stem wobble as both are often talked about very loosely and as if they are the same thing. (No pun intended, I swear.) Stem wobble results from differences in tolerances that exist between stems and top housings, and since switch films only touch the housings and not the stems there's no way that they could actually fix stem wobble at all! The only thing that films can fix and are needed for is wobbly switch housings.

Keeping in mind that switch films are only necessary to fix housing wobble, an issue much more common in older switches, you might be surprised to see that they're still quite widely used in the community today. The reason that people continue to reach for switch films despite modern switches having great tolerances is because films can also modify the sound of your switches.

Much like with how adding dampening foam underneath your PCB or in other parts of your keyboard case can affect its overall sound profile, films act as a sound modifying layer in their own right. Films can dampen the sounds from within switches, prevent sound vibrations through your housings, or even do weird unpredictable things to the sound profiles of switches.

(Despite having messed around with thousands of switches and dozens of different films over the years, even I don't have a great way of being able to guess how a given switch and film will sound for certain!) However, I do want to make sure to caution you about using films for just sound modifying purposes in switches that have super tight tolerances.

While most switches have good but ultimately still flawed tolerances that can allow for a thin switch film to be inserted into them, if a switch is super well made there may not be room to fit a film in the housings. Attempting to jam a film into this tight space anyways may not only damage or break the film and prevent them from actually altering the sound of your switches like you want, but it may also make the switch unable to close or fit back into the plate of your keyboard due to expanding out of the sides of the housing.

Further attempts to jam films into these tight switches could even break parts of switch housings or damage the plates for your keyboard as well. The only way to know for certain if a switch and film will work before committing to modifying an entire batch is to try one or two out in hand and in your keyboard first.

If you didn't know why switch filming was so popular, hopefully you have a better idea now. While the practice is not strictly necessary for most switches these days, their ability to tune the sound of your favorite switches is definitely worth exploring if you want an extra special touch on your fancy keyboard. The sheer number of people who do this should be testament enough that it could be worth the effort on your part.

If you're considering opening up some your switches to modify them with switch films, though, consider checking out some of my other articles here on Kinetic Labs about modifying switches such as 'Lubing Keyboard Switches: Tips & Techniques' and 'Tools to Mod Your Mechanical Keyboard Switches'!