Yesterday I BIN'd a "Multiscreen Communication Keyboard" on eBay for $15 on the suspicion that it looked like a rebranded Cherry G80-11900. I had previously asked the seller for more details/photos of the keyboard, but there was no response, so I decided to take the plunge anyway (
this was the only image on the listing). When I went to pick up the thing locally today, my suspicions were confirmed, complete with black Cherry doubleshots and white relegendable Function keys.
I've previously looked around for keycap cleaning guides, and came across the old thread about using denture tabs to clean old keycaps. However, most of the images from there are missing. Since I had a bit of time tonight, I figured I would document my first time purchasing and harvesting the keycaps from an old Cherry board.
Hopefully this might also help some people looking to clean the keycaps on old boards they find.
Full album
here.
THE KEYBOARDThis is the Cherry G80-11900HRMUS as received from the seller. Judging from its appearance and my observations at the seller's premises, it looked like this board had been sitting boxless in a back storage room for quite some time (there was even a tiny dead spider underneath the keys). However, thankfully the keys were in quite good shape - all of them have their original texture and only a few keycaps have small scratches.
Removing the keycaps revealed Cherry MX Blacks (and a Cherry MX Grey for the Space Bar).
THE PROCESS1. While I was out, I also purchased some denture cleaning tabs from the pharmacy. This was the cheapest box I could find.
2. I placed 6 tabs at the bottom of a bowl (EDIT: 6 is way too many! Only 2-3 tabs is necessary to clean a full set), evenly spaced, and threw in the keycaps on top (the clear plastic covers were removed from the relegendables, but the stickers underneath were not in the hopes that the soaking would remove them for me - it did). Then, warm water from the tap was added. The tabs began to emit tiny bubbles which engulfed the keys, and the water turned blue. It also gave off a pleasant minty smell (this smell was not present after the keycaps were rinsed). The first photo here only has about a third of the keycaps in the bowl.
3. After an hour, the keycaps were removed and rinsed using a plastic vegetable strainer. They were then wiped with paper towel and placed on more paper towel to fully dry. The keycaps came out perfectly clean without any dirt or dust. No extra scrubbing was required. They were only wiped to remove water and speed up the drying process.
THE RESULTSThe effect of the cleaning was most noticeable on the relegendable keycaps due to them being white. The stickers fell off the keycaps easily following the soaking, and no dirt was visible. They now look brand new and it appears as though they got a little whiter. These photos were taken with identical lighting, exposure and white balance.
Before:
After:
Main keycaps:
And finally, my Filco Majestouch 2 with the keycaps replaced (as well as some TechKeys and RGB):
