Gateron Oil King Switch: A Ultimate Guide

Gateron

Located in Zhongkai High-tech Zone, Huizhou, Guangdong Province, Gateron is a technology manufacturing and brand operation company.

Business area: The company is mainly engaged in the design, research and development and manufacturing of various micro switches, waterproof switches, wind pressure switches, limit switches, waterproof micro switches, mechanical keyboard switches (mechanical switch, optical switch, magnetic switch), and wiring harness products. Plastic molds and parts, metal molds and parts become the core components of the company’s industrial chain.

Quality management: Fully implement the quality management system。100% of each link of production and manufacturing are strictly controlled, to ensure that the quality is fully in line with customer requirements.

Development achievements: After 20 years of unremitting efforts and continuous drilling and development, Gateron have made outstanding achievements and rapid development in the technical fields of precision mold manufacturing, injection/plastic coated manufacturing, hardware molding manufacturing, automatic assembly production and so on. In PC peripherals, consumer appliances, automotive electrical parts and digital peripherals industry continue to develop new products, while accumulating valuable research and development and production experience.

Gateron Oil King Launched

On the afternoon of December 18, 2021, Gadalon’s “Tribute to Love — Meet You 2022” end-of-year campaign and new product launch event was successfully held in Shenzhen. This activity is different from the usual, and Gateron’s offline activities have been upgraded once again.

It not only has three main themes, “Meeting keyboard enthusiasts”, “the final sprint game at the end of 2021” and “looking forward to meeting you in 2022”, but also released the “Gateron Oil King Switches” which came into being this year as the representative of the first fully automated switches of Gateron in the world. The “Limited Edition 2022 Dragon and Phoenix Three-piece Set” is worth collecting for the New Year. More than 100 industry guests, media, customers, Kols and others were invited to attend the event.

With the principle of quality first, innovation first and service oriented, Gateron has been making continuous innovation and breakthrough, aiming to make due contribution to the business of China Axons. Mr. Wang Daming, CEO of Gateron, shared the extraordinary deeds of the first two years of the company’s development, and achieved several breakthroughs of new revolutionary significance. Successfully solved the industrial historical problem that the contact of domestic switch body is prone to black.

At the beginning of the year, Gateron invested heavily in automation transformation and officially launched PRO series switch body, becoming the world’s first fully automated mass production of switch pioneers, and has been praised by the majority of brands and users. In the near future. Gateron PRO series will surely become the benchmark of the industry’s product iteration and upgrading.

In this event, Mr. Liu Zheyu, marketing director of zFrontier Equipment Front, also attended the scene. He still talked about the industry dynamics with kindness and humor. On behalf of players, he put forward higher expectations for Gateron in the future and looked forward to more wonderful works of Gateron in 2022. Finally, I hope more users can enjoy the interaction and communication of zFrontier platform.

At the end of the year, he reviewed some trends in the past. Mr. Li Tao, head of Marketing Department of Gateron, shared the summary of this year’s new product release, review of offline interactive activities, realization of three small goals, and unique structure of CAP axis. When sharing the achievement of three small goals, the guests once again deepened the impression that Gateron brand has its own style. Self-moistening switch mass production implementation; Quality winning upgrade iteration and cost-effective products to serve the public.

The debut of the new Gateron Oil King switches satisfied the curiosity of many players. How did the black and shiny appearance come into being? Corresponding to May 2021, the CAP switch of Gateron is in its heyday of “oil rich”, which is praised by some players as “explosion oil switch”. Gateron correctly accepted the user’s feedback, and after quick adjustment to improve the oil volume, it emerged and cultivated the identity representative of the pioneer automatic lubrication switch: Oil King switch. Meaning: “rich”, “switch body of a dark horse”.

The switch integrates the advantages of Pro series and Ink series switch body, polymer switch base, 20mm extended spring, 55 kli moderate feel. In addition to the performance and feel of the excellent performance, the Gateron fans have been asking when will the Oil King all-black version be sold?

As a brand going abroad to promote the national culture, Gateron also released the 2022 limited edition Dragon and Phoenix three-piece set. The totems of “dragon” and “phoenix” were carved with radium on the all-metal surface, implying the auspice of the dragon and phoenix.

The switch opener, the switch extractor, the key extractor integration of expensive conventional three-piece set of functions, on the basis of this increased precision carving technology, fine, vivid, very national trend. Unique semi-automatic structure design compatible with the culture of the country. The limited edition of the 2022 Dragon and Phoenix three-piece set is only sold in 666 sets worldwide. In the face of fans’ questions, Mr. Wang of Gateron said, “We will try our best to make the creative technology ‘core’ and the product ‘core’, so that users can treasure it and bring you a beautiful meaning of the New Year.”

The launch event did not disappoint the players who came here. Everyone signed in politely and did not waste their trip. Tribute to love — not only to meet the guests’ love of mechanical keyboard, but also to meet the curiosity of guests to the site to see the new switches. Especially in the lottery, interactive games, mechanical keyboard and Gateron high-end switch double support, the atmosphere lit up the whole cafe.

Special thanks to Gateron customer brand for providing keyboard gift supporting for the event. Meet you in 2022 — The event is a complete success! Gateron will join hands with the vast number of users with love in the New Year of 2022.

Details of Gateron Oil King Switch

Linear Typing Feel

The Gateron Oil King switch is the newest mechanical linear switch that features a Nylon PA66 upper housing, a housing base made of secret black Ink housing material, and a POM stem. The stem in the upper housing is fantastic with ultra-stability and almost no wobbliness. Compared to CJs, it has a deeper patch sound.

Inside Gateron Oil King Switch

Gold Contact

The gold contact improves anti-oxidation performance and protects the key switch from corrosion, guaranteeing the switch will last for up to 60 million cycles.

Black Plated Spring

The Gateron Oil King switch incorporates a long 20mm black plated spring allowing for 55g actuation and 80g bottom-out weight, creating a rather unique and super-smooth typing feeling.

Black Plated Spring

Gateron Oil King Switch

Factory Pre-Lubed

It is pre-lubed in the factory to help avoid spring ping and unnecessary friction and hitches.

Product Information

Gateron Oil King Switch

Type: Linear

Operation Force: 55±5 gf

Pre-Travel: 2.0±0.6 mm

Total Travel: 4.0 mm Max.

Spring : 20 mm

Sound Level: Low

Operation Life: Up to 60M cycles

Suitable For Gaming/Office

Finger Strike Feeling: Vertical, strong pressing force, hard rebound

Gateron Oil King Switch Force Travel Diagram

Specs

Product Name: Gateron Oil King Linear Switch

Stem: POM, MX stem

Upper Housing: Nylon PA66

Housing Base: Proprietary “INK” blend

Spring: Spring steel

Pins 5-Pin switch

Lubrication: Lubed version

SMD LED Support : Yes (only support unraised SMD-LED)

Compatible Keyboards

Compatible with 5-Pin MX mechanical (hot-swappable) keyboards with 2-Pin LED/4-Pin LED, or RGB-SMD lights that are not raised.

Destription of Gateron Oil King

The Gateron Oil King linear switch is an amazing addition to the Gateron switch product line — providing a super-smooth, thumping key with continuous application of factory lubricants to avoid spring flat and unnecessary friction. Similar to the Gateron CJ switch, the Oil Kings employ a proprietary Ink housing material mixture.

The top case is made of PA66 nylon plastic, which, along with the POM stem, smoothen the keys from start to upstroke. The stem tolerance of the upper housing is also very good, with only a very slight wiggle, which is not necessarily a bad thing as it can help prevent the stem from potentially bonding with the upper housing when upstamping. For those who like the idea of being able to buy a switch, attach it directly to their board, and type, the Gateron Oil Kings will make it even more satisfying!

Appearance of Gateron Oil Kings

The Gateron Oil Kings are opaque black 5-pin linear switches with a design very similar to the original KS-3 Gateron linear switch. While they may have the same opacity and overall black shading as the KS-3’s case, these switches actually have some distinct differences. The first is the flipped “GATERON “nameplate, which indicates the latest iteration of the Gateron switch mold.

Also, a very subtle and interesting difference between these all-black lines and other all-black designs (such as the Gateron KS3 Blacks, Cherry MX Blacks, H1s, etc.) is that the texture of the outer shell feels a bit unique.

While the shells don’t have the pure smooth and shiny appearance of H1 shells, they also don’t have the rough, textured frosted finish of the original Cherry or Gateron Blacks. Instead, the Oil King’s shell has a mixture of matte textures that are slightly more pronounced on the top shell than the bottom shell, but overall markedly different from what I’ve seen before. As for the further distinguishable details of these switches, we will have to take a close look at the markings.

Performance

When it comes to the feel of linear typing, smoothness is only a part of the performance. Although this is a pretty big question, it’s also important to consider what else oil king has to offer in terms of the typing experience. Linear switching is often a very uniform experience, and the key points of differentiation begin to emerge when manufacturers are more willing to make some unique design choices to mix things up. This can vary from long rod handles that reduce travel distance and change the sound and feel, to springs that change the feel of your standard linear typing.

Gateron Oil king uses a 20mm spring, longer than the usual 15mm Cherry spring. The increase in spring length compared to the standard 15 mm creates additional compression when the housing is closed. The extra compression results in a greater force required to start compared to a shorter length spring of the same weight.

The gap between starting and hitting the bottom is much narrower than with a standard spring, resulting in a fairly nice typing feel, and you’ll feel the process of hitting the bottom much faster than with a normal linear switch. The extra compression also increases the rebound speed, making typing feel faster and more sensitive.

In terms of sound characteristics, oil king is the representative of its components. The bottom case is certainly reminiscent of the Inks, its sound signature is fairly thin and loud, and it’s also fairly quiet compared to many other switches. The oil king aren’t the loudest switches, just the thin, short clicks that dot the entire sound signature of the switch.

I believe the 80-gram spring is partly to blame, and many people, myself included, sometimes don’t bounce off the bottom as well as a 62-gram spring. However, hitting the board with a heavy hand produces the same sound signature, with a slight increase in volume. The oil king corrects this for the most part because it has a nylon top cover, but the overall sound features are very low, fairly quiet, and still noticeably thin and plastic sound, which is not really my specialty.

Conclusions

Oil king presented a good performance from Gateron. The smoothness, while not world-changing, is still pretty good and close to the absolute cream of the linear switch market. The use of the longer spring gives a very comfortable and satisfying typing feel, and it is heavy at the bottom. It does have a bit of an underwhelming sound profile, because it’s very quiet and not entirely characteristic.

In my opinion, the objective factors of the switch are all good, and it’s hard to say that the oil king is a potential switch product for anyone who loves mechanical keyboards.

I feel they live up to their price, and although they are slightly off in terms of smoothness compared to Epsis and the CJS of the world, they offer a different typing feel and sound character that is quite unique. This is a great, solid purchase and may leave you with few regrets.