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Cleaning Mech KB Keycaps

M

mda

2[H]4U
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Messages
2,211
Hi all,

I have a Ducky 9008 G2 Pro keyboard and while I love the keyboard to death, it's starting to get dirty with a little use.

I've tried soaking the keycaps in warm-hot water with some dishwashing liquid but to no avail. Tried scrubbing it with soap (using my fingers) and nothing.

I'd try a toothbrush but I'm afraid it's too abrasive.

Hoping for your suggestions. I don't want to damage my keycaps as I cannot order them locally :O

Pic of the keys.

The lighting makes the keys seem lighter than they actually are. Notice how the S, D and C are darker than the others. The Q, R, Z, X keys are the cleanest in the pic. The others are in varying states of dirtiness.

20130124_005556_zps02b7dc5a.jpg


Would love to hear your input. Thanks [H]! ;)
 
They're clearly not worn down -- these keys will last a very long time. As for cleaning, I'm interested in recommendations too. I used a citrus solvent on my keyboard's keys once and it actually worked quite well at cleaning them up. The solvent is great at removing e.g. oils from fingers than end up there. [Note: if you go this route, maybe try it on one or two keys initially to make sure they won't be damaged. That said, citrus solvents are pretty benign and I doubt they'd damage the plastic used here].
 
Did you get the G2 Pro version with the ABS or PBT keys? Pro should have come with PBT, but I don't think PBT normally comes in black because of printing options. ABS get shiny fairly quickly and the only way to really get rid of that is to replace them.

It looks like the legend might be starting to wear already; that's how my old PLU-MLG3000-NKRO looked after a few months of use, it used cheaper pad printing on the legends because of the POM keycaps.

I wouldn't use any solvent based or heavy duty cleaners myself just because it has the possibility of damaging the plastic; the most common methods are to use a light dish soap and soak them like you've done, or several denture tabs (following the directions).
 
Not sure if they're getting worn down, but this is only after ~6 months of use. Granted, I do play SC2 a lot.

The box indicates ABS keys. I guess I'll give it a shot with the denture tabs and/or the Citrus solvents (if I can find).

Made me think that maybe I shoulda got the Ducky Shines instead :/

Too bad Ducky is the only affordable manufacturer locally. Other non-gaming mech KBs are so rare that they're being marked up for more than what they're worth.
 
ABS tends to wear out pretty fast. Just use some rubbing alcohol and simple green. Or get some pbt caps heard those are really good, for durability and feel.
 
i have pbt and abs caps on my boards. i usually clean them about once a month. just pop out the keycaps and clean them with 90%+ rubbing alcohol and cotton pads. dries quick and after doing this for about a year now no harm seems to be done.
 
I forgot to mention that I've already tried alcohol and cotton. Still no go.

I guess I'm stuck with blackening keycaps then.

Gotta look for somewhere I can get them locally :/
 
Simple green is a clever idea too -- that's in many respects similar to a citrus solvent. Here's an example of a citrus solvent:
http://www.amazon.com/Zep-Commercia...TF8&qid=1359030788&sr=8-5&keywords=zep+citrus

You can get it locally for much cheaper though, e.g. in the cleaning products aisle at a store. Simple Green is often available in similar places or at hardware store, and I bet it'd work well too. It's for essentially the same applications.
 
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Not sure how I can stain the keys with more than human finger oil and water droplets from cold drinks (see my Z key in the picture).

I'd probably rather have my whole keyboard blacked out vs having white keycaps getting uncleanable stains :/
 
I soak them in tap water. Throw some soap or cleaning agent if you want. After that I take them out and wipe each keycap down with a small towel. Before I put them back I just run over the bare kb with a vaccum while using a small brush to get most of the dust off. Been cleaning it this way for around a period of 2 years
 
You can use some denture tabs to clean it. I usually use 3 tabs with warm water to clean my cherry ds.
 
My 4 year old filco keycaps are pretty nasty looking. Im thinking about just buying a whole new set of lasered keycaps instead of trying to clean them. I never really even looked at the keyboard until I saw this thread. Let's just say i can scrape stuff off with my fingernails on some parts of the keyboard, pretty nasty.
 
Staining of laser infilled keys is QUITE common.

6 months is pretty average. Varies by individual and manufacturer.
 
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