Author:
I have seen this a half dozen times.
Simple keyboard maintenace..
turn off computer and unplug keyboard from computer.
On the back of most keyboards is a couple of phillips head screws. Remove all of them.
This exposes the inside of keyboard. usually it's a film of some type clean this with windex. Many of these are plastic with a silver film on them if it's tarnished black anywhere clean with a pencil eraser. (note windex is an ammonia based product. Rubbing alcohol will do if windex is not available)
The upper half of keyboard usually has a bunch of little rubber bubbles to pop up keys wash these in regular dish soap and water.
Flip keyboard over take picture of key placement then remove all keys by poping them out from the back. Wash all of these with soap and water and an old toothbrush.
Keyboard base and top should also be washed same as keys.
The wire/cable that connect to a little circuit board with a microdot on it and leds leave it alone unless you spilled coffee on keyboard. If you did clean it down gently with rubbing alcohol.
Reassemble keyboard being careful to put the little wire balancers under the enter and space keys back into grooves of keyboard.
Total time to clean a keyboard is about 1 hour.
I usually do mine once every six months.
This will take care of:
Keys not working.
sticking keys.
Computer beeping because keyboard malfunction.
Buying a new keyboard just because you dont clean yours seems a total waste as most people do not include travel costs to get said keyboard, which is usually $20, or more if you take public transportation.
although i have like 4 spare keyboards i have two that i have literally worn out some keys on. current keyboard actually has a groove in one key and the letters are missing althougher on more than a few keys.
although laptops are simular in problems they are much much more complicated to take apart.
Truthfully most laptops have a ports for external monitors, keyboards and mice. Unless you are on the road really you should be not using the laptop keyboard and touchpad. Use external keyboard mouse and monitor(dock station) when at home.
My personal preference is to have a tower system where there is components i can upgrade/ remove for warranty separate from main unit. Or can expand.
Just my two cents worth.
Next computer cleaning... use compressed air cans and a vacuum cleaner( put tin foil around hose and ground it by leaving a power cord plugged in but the power off (manual switch) on powersupply. If your power supply does not have a switch use a switchable power bar/surge bar with switch off. The ground is always connected.
Blow dust towards the vacuum but keep the hose on the edge of case never near any components or boards.
If you have fans use a pipe cleaner and brush down all blades on both sides. blow with air and vacuum.
Most video cards now have fans on them, usually more than one. Clean carefully with a plastic brush(cheap paintbrushes work good) blow with can of air and vacuum
The reason for vacuum(which is held away from components) is so you don't swallow the dust. It really doesn't taste all that good. If you too scared of vacuum just blowing the dust with the can of air is sufficient.
Comments
good info, thanks!
huggles!
Missing letters
Not being a touch typist I really need the letters/symbols on the keys. I found some transfer letters at the hobby store, just rub them through the carrier paper and you are set to go. I also put a little clear nail polish on top to keep the markings on.
However, a couple of years ago I bought a Logitech model 740 rear illuminated keyboard. The light comes through the keys so they are backlit. Haven't worn them down yet!
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” - Turkish Proverb
Not that simple for mechanical keyboards
I've got a collection of mechanical keyboards at this point and maintenance for those is quite a bit trickier. I just got a new one but I still have two others that I need to look into fixing; one has chattering switches and the other has a flat out dead switch on the letter K.
Washdown
Wash it down with isopropyl alcohol. I use 90%. Then spray contact cleaner into the errant switch. Work it a few dozen times, repeat as needed. The tech for our inventory control system showed me that. In fact he used to wash them in a gentle soap (Ivory liquid) & water mix before using the alcohol. Allow plenty of air time for the keyboard to dry. That revives many of them.
Be sure and use electrical contact cleaner as it evaporates with no residue. And don't use rubbing alcohol, it leaves a residue behind also.
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” - Turkish Proverb
I don't normally...
Recommend Reddit as being a good source for a lot of things, but their /r/MechanicalKeyboards subreddit is a very active one, with many good posts on building your own boards as well as restoring older ones. You'll also find various discussions on types of switches and a friendly attitude towards people asking questions.
~And so it goes...
Any Key
All the keyboards I have owned, I have yet to find one with that "Any Key" that programs keep telling me to hit all the time. :)
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
Depends on the value of the keyboard
... and what is the value of your time. For me, I have yet to find it worthwhile to do this kind of maintenance. My first keyboard that came with my first system back in 2004 lasted 5 years and counting as that system is in storage and I did not clean it unless it got grungy. Granted I never spilled liquid on it but I did eat over it.
Some keyboards probably channel filth away from the contacts better than others.
First Keyboards
The first keyboards I dealt with were on the TI terminals back in the 80s. Not even a display monitor, they had a built in thermal printer and both inquiries and responses printed out as hardcopy. After that it was a series of HP terminals. Those had monitors and keyboards and were dedicated units with the entire terminal well over $1,000 apiece. I have no idea what just a keyboard would cost, but we sent them to a repair depot to be serviced and repaired.
The Commodores had a cheaper keyboard that was shared across the lines. Only difference was some of the key caps. About the time the first Trash-80s came out I could walk into a Radio Shack and buy a surplus keyboard for about $6. Swap them out, change out the key caps and you were good to go. In those days electronics experimenting was very much a waste not, want not affair. If you came into possession of a bad circuit board you carefully stripped all the parts, tested, and tagged them for use down the line.
So I just got used to fixing rather than trashing things. It took no time at all and could save you big bucks. Generational thing I guess.
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” - Turkish Proverb
No, I get what you are saying
It is the modern low cost, hard to repair aspect that is driving this disposable mentality. I am not that young myself and am annoyed with it also. But a quality keyboard should have mil-spec sealed switches which may need to be swapped out when worn would be great. This would cost a mint though.
I was a electronics hobbyist myself growing up.
Sealed switches (hall effect
Sealed switches (hall effect/reed switch or capacitive) are basically eternal. Even Cherry ones, non sealed, are rated at what? 5 million presses or so?
(Quietly mourning the death of Mitsumi company. They made surprisingly good keyboards for the price).
PS. Typing this on an old behemoth of a keyboard, mechanical and clicky. I suspect it will outlive another PC, as long as I'll find or build a proper interface converter.
I wish that was the issue with my keyboard.
My current keyboard is fine but the key labels have worn off, this has happened with my last 2 keyboards. They aren't expensive, but it's an annoying problem.
IBM
My IBM branded keyboard is a rugged heavy duty model. Its the same type that came with early PCs. Very heavy, and has been in continuous use since 1998! If/when it fails, I have another brand new in the box waiting to take its place. It doesn't have a Windows key, but I have never missed it either. :)
I use a DELL Keyboard.
Very rugged. I bought two at a car boot about 10 years ago for £5.00. Both are still going strong.
You can get them new
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Genuine-Original-Keyboard-KB813-Sma...
I clean them with a paint brush and a vaccum cleaner with a sock over the sucky end.
If you can find...
One of the little stiff nylon bristle brushes that Remington would include with their electric razors, you have found the ideal keyboard brush. Very slender and can get around and down under most keycaps with ease.
~And so it goes...
Art supply store
Artificial bristle brush in small size. You can cut the handle short to make them more agile.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
That...
Would definitely work. :) The other thing I've always liked about the Remington brushes is the other end makes for a decent slim profile spudger. Which you could do with some shaping on an art supply brush.
~And so it goes...
I grew up with a 'if you can
I grew up with a 'if you can fix it, do so rather than buy a new one' family. I still do it. I've also realized 'penny wise, pound foolish' is a true statement, and I can't get my wife to understand that.
I have ten brand new keyboards in boxes on a shelf. I have another stack of wireless keyboards/mice. Every once in a while, I'll get some and fix them. Mostly, I don't bother because the items themselves are NOT conducive to repair. They were made as cheaply as possible, intended specifically to never be repaired, only replaced. In a few cases, replaced by buying a new machine. (yes, that's YOU, Apple!. )
As for the canned air? Don't bother. If you have a shop vac, take the whole computer outside. lay it in the grass, or on a sheet of cardboard on the concrete of your driveway. Plug the shop vac hose into the 'blow' outlet, and put a restrictor nozzle on the hose. (they all come with one, so you'll have to figure out where you put the nozzles). Flip it on, and blow every crack and crevice of the box, not ignoring the power supply.
I used to use an air compressor, and came to the realization that you need more continuous air than one can normally give, and you don't need the sheer pressure that comes out of the blower nozzles. You need a continuous stream to keep the dirt moving out of the case. When I need to do it inside (an office), I take two of them. A large one to suck, and a small one to blow. I wrap the PC in a clear plastic bag, and go to town.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Air compressors
A Honeywell engineer at the mainframe site I once worked at warned me off air compressors: most of them will also output a fine mist of lubricating oil in the airflow.
If you are using a windy drill, for example, or a spray head for painting, a little extra oil (of indeterminate composition) isn't going to be harmful. On a printed circuit board it could end up being corrosive.
Penny
Yes and no
I believe as long as you avoid the oil lubricated motor versions one is fine. I use an air compressor to flush out my water line to my backyard and I look at any condensed water coming out of the unit and it seems pretty oil free. The unit does not use oil lubrication. It will probably have a shorter life but that's the expected trade off.
which is why
you can buy these small cans of air specifically for cleaning circuit boards. they are cheap.
They're also extremely
They're also extremely wasteful. Not to mention that you can only spray for about 20 seconds (if that) before you've lost compression, and you have to re-heat the can to get it to work usefully again. A $35 air tank with a hose and nozzle will give you more pressure, and for a longer time, and is reusable for decades. Shop vac is still better.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Water trap
Painters can't have oil or water mix with paint. You can get water traps and filter designed to trap all that, go on the output side of the compressor, come in all sizes from ones made for airbrush compressors all the way up to industrial air dryers
dont forget
The whole point is to get people to do their own at home maintenance. Many will not have a shop vac(which is a brand name google if you need)
Compressed cans of air are available, and yes they are use and toss items for once use applications. If you have a good set of lungs you can blow it as well. Brush and blow works...Kinda get face full of dust though.
Manually blowing doesn't work
Manually blowing doesn't work except on the loose top layer. It doesn't get in the cracks, crevices, and behind boards. It also puts your face right in the middle of the dust storm. Not good.
Air can (Blow-Off, for example) costs about $5 for a decent one. Not great, just decent. A 2.5 gallon home shop vacuum costs $30 at home depot, or $22 for one that you drop on an old paint bucket. (Wally world has a 4 gallon rolly for $24) That's the equivalent of 6 small canisters of air, AND you can use it to clean your car as well as suck up water that comes out of your blown washing machine hose. Depending on what's going on, I use the small one about 30 times a year, and the big one (5 gallon) two or three times a year. They store on a shelf just fine.
For others - for an IBM style 'clicky' keyboard, - https://www.pckeyboard.com/
They've been around for a very long time; they bought the technology/specs from Lexmark for the old Model M keyboard. I keep meaning to order one, but forget. I'm a beast when I sit at a desktop for too long. One of my keyboards had deep grooves in it from my thumbs, and no writing on the keys.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
This is better...
Bath tub, hot water, greased lightning and scrub brush. Rinse well. Set oven to 120 deg f. Bake for 8 hours.