I have taken all the keys off an old, dirty, working HP keyboard. The only thing is, how to clean it. There are a few stains from various things. Is it okay to use a hose to get all the solid crap off, then soak and scrub it like the dishes? Will it dry and be okay?
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cleaning a keyboard with water?
- Thread starter Decker87
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Blue Knight
Gawd
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some people have put theirs through the dishwasher.....no names mentioned.
GJSNeptune
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I took apart my MX Duo keyboard and washed everything under my kitchen sink. I put all the keys in a mixing bowl and stirred them around in water for a bit. I'm thinkin' I'll be needin' to do it all again soon. My dorm room is dusty thricely over.
I've never tried the dishwasher, but my laziness may have to fulfill my curiosity.
I've never tried the dishwasher, but my laziness may have to fulfill my curiosity.
I have heard the dishwasher method works quite well, provided of course you give it time to dry. I would also think keyboards are a top-rack only item. I have yet to try it myself as I have never cleaned my keyboards (^_^).....but I think I will try it with an old one this summer just for giggles to see if it actually does work.
Nazo
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I must say that a hose doesn't sound like a good idea though. Too much pressure may damage some components.
Personally, I too have cleaned a keyboard with water before, though now I keep a bottle of alcohol on hand for cleaning everything from keyboards to CDs. I actually took it apart and cleaned carefully with a rag just in case. Never had any troubles with that keyboard for as long as I had it. Just be decently careful, let it have time to dry, and you're ok no matter what you use (well, don't use sulfuric acid I suppose...) One word of warning though. Some keyboards were put together in a way that is darned well next to impossible to get back together...
Personally, I too have cleaned a keyboard with water before, though now I keep a bottle of alcohol on hand for cleaning everything from keyboards to CDs. I actually took it apart and cleaned carefully with a rag just in case. Never had any troubles with that keyboard for as long as I had it. Just be decently careful, let it have time to dry, and you're ok no matter what you use (well, don't use sulfuric acid I suppose...) One word of warning though. Some keyboards were put together in a way that is darned well next to impossible to get back together...
GJSNeptune
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The MX Duo, for one. It was pretty tough putting the electronics back into place with all the layers of stuff.Nazo said:
Nazo
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Yeah, a few are designed where they have several layers of this sort of flat plastic material with electric conduits on it and contacts for where the keys go. These are usually the really soft ones that don't hardly click at all when you press them. Also, undear each key in any keyboard is a little soft rubbery thing. A very small number will have a big rubber sheet, but, most have individual tiny ones. So, you have something like 104 little rubber things to keep up with when taking apart a keyboard.
I forgot to say, but, personally, I've found that if you get a q-tip and soak one end with alcohol, you can pull out one key at a time and clean out the inside pretty thoroughly of just about anything that really could get in there, and the other end can be used to dry up the alcohol (though it dissipates into the air very quickly anyway.) Anything that can't be reached that way probably isn't going to hurt anything anyway. This particular method is slow, but, it'd be hard to mess up a keyboard that way for certain... Actually, if you're REALLY careful, you can do this while the system is still on. Just have to be careful to keep any water/alcohol/whatever from running down into something that could be shorted and do more to the keyboard than make the system think you've pressed a key you didn't.
I forgot to say, but, personally, I've found that if you get a q-tip and soak one end with alcohol, you can pull out one key at a time and clean out the inside pretty thoroughly of just about anything that really could get in there, and the other end can be used to dry up the alcohol (though it dissipates into the air very quickly anyway.) Anything that can't be reached that way probably isn't going to hurt anything anyway. This particular method is slow, but, it'd be hard to mess up a keyboard that way for certain... Actually, if you're REALLY careful, you can do this while the system is still on. Just have to be careful to keep any water/alcohol/whatever from running down into something that could be shorted and do more to the keyboard than make the system think you've pressed a key you didn't.