Keyboard Horror Stories

[JP]

Last year I found a dusty old (circa 1993) IBM Model M buried in the bottom of a cabinet at work. It was like finding an old, desiccating corpse. I still need to put that horrific thing out of its misery. Preferably with fire. Lots of fire.

What??! Don't trash it—it's a classic! It probably still works fine, and is just grimy from service. Ironically, the better-built a keeb is, the longer it can be used and the dirtier it can get... But that's not the poor keeb's fault, is it?

Pull the keys, separate the caps and stems (assuming they're 2-piece keys) and soak them in warm water for 30 minutes with a bit of liquid laundry soap, stirring every 10 minutes to agitate them. Blow the case out with compressed air and wipe it down with alcohol (being careful not to damage the back label).

Before putting the keys back on the board, be sure to let the stems and caps dry (at least overnight, preferably 2 days) so all vestiges of water evaporate.

If you do it with care, you may end up with a Model M that not only works perfectly, but looks like it just came off the assembly line.

Of course some Model M's are mistreated and not restorable, but that's not typical. There's a lot more info about them in threads here at GH.

Oh, I took it apart and cleaned it all up, just as an exercise. It works just fine. It's a little scraped up, but is in otherwise fine condition. But it's a Model M, and it doesn't deserve to live.

You know what they call a thousand Model M's at the bottom of the ocean? "A good start." 

Blasphemy! I would gladly take it for parts.

[Rumblehotep]

Got a used ducky mini as a christmas gift, sister dropped it five minutes after I opened it.
It works fine but that little dent on the bezel forever taunts me.

[JP]

Got a used ducky mini as a christmas gift, sister dropped it five minutes after I opened it.
It works fine but that little dent on the bezel forever taunts me.

Your horror story just reminded me of another horror story, although not keyboard related 

[OKpng]

Not exactly my horror story, but my SO spilled a glass of milk all over their Razer mech keyboard... They shortly replaced it with a $10 rubber dome until a close friend gave his old Ducky Keyboard with Cherry MX Reds. I still cringe about the whole thing- from Razer > Milk > Rubber Dome... ( ་ ⍸ ་ ")

[_haru]

Not exactly my horror story, but my SO spilled a glass of milk all over their Razer mech keyboard... They shortly replaced it with a $10 rubber dome until a close friend gave his old Ducky Keyboard with Cherry MX Reds. I still cringe about the whole thing- from Razer > Milk > Rubber Dome... ( ་ ⍸ ་ ")

Was it MX Milk they spilled over it?

I'll go neck myself now.

[pinthea]

Long time lurker, first time poster!  Hello everyone.

My horror story happened quite recently.  I had bought a Ducky One keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches, and I wanted to replace the stock keycaps with a set of Dolch keycaps I had bought.  Due to supply constraints, the only Ducky One keycap color I could get with Cherry MX Brown switches was the hideous lime green and white.  It literally hurt my eyes to look at, but with new Dolch keycaps waiting in the wings, this could quickly be remedied.

The keycaps I intended to replace the ugly but quality double-shot dye sub PBT Ducky One keycaps with were made of double-shot ABS.  Not quite as high a quality, IMHO, but a lot better than lime green and white!

So I set about removing the stock Ducky One keycaps.  Using my wire keycap puller, which I've used countless times before, I set out to do the keycap removal.  I got about half way through the board when, on the S key, the slider pulled out of the switch housing along with the keycap!  I was mortified.  I've never replaced switch springs or had the need to open up a switch to lube or anything, so it seemed like it was going to be quite daunting to put the slider back into the switch assembly.

So I checked YouTube and other online sources to find out how one goes about opening up a Cherry MX switch, and lacking the purpose-made tool, I set out to try using small jeweler's flat-blade screw drivers, as one guy had done on YouTube.  What could go wrong?

Long story less long, I completely botched it, ruined the switch, and thus effectively ruined the keyboard.  I never had a slider pull out of a switch before, and I don't yank on the keycap when I'm trying to pull it off, I give it a slight wiggle and slight pull pressure and off they come, easily. So it's still a mystery why this one particular one came out.

So the keyboard sits in the corner, broken, I guess I could desolder the switches or something, or even just desolder and re-solder one new Cherry MX brown switch to replace the broken one, but the thought of soldering on a keyboard is a bit more than I'm comfortable with, so I guess that keyboard is now dead to me.

[Duckyreddy]

Long time lurker, first time poster!  Hello everyone.

My horror story happened quite recently.  I had bought a Ducky One keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches, and I wanted to replace the stock keycaps with a set of Dolch keycaps I had bought.  Due to supply constraints, the only Ducky One keycap color I could get with Cherry MX Brown switches was the hideous lime green and white.  It literally hurt my eyes to look at, but with new Dolch keycaps waiting in the wings, this could quickly be remedied.

The keycaps I intended to replace the ugly but quality double-shot dye sub PBT Ducky One keycaps with were made of double-shot ABS.  Not quite as high a quality, IMHO, but a lot better than lime green and white!

So I set about removing the stock Ducky One keycaps.  Using my wire keycap puller, which I've used countless times before, I set out to do the keycap removal.  I got about half way through the board when, on the S key, the slider pulled out of the switch housing along with the keycap!  I was mortified.  I've never replaced switch springs or had the need to open up a switch to lube or anything, so it seemed like it was going to be quite daunting to put the slider back into the switch assembly.

So I checked YouTube and other online sources to find out how one goes about opening up a Cherry MX switch, and lacking the purpose-made tool, I set out to try using small jeweler's flat-blade screw drivers, as one guy had done on YouTube.  What could go wrong?

Long story less long, I completely botched it, ruined the switch, and thus effectively ruined the keyboard.  I never had a slider pull out of a switch before, and I don't yank on the keycap when I'm trying to pull it off, I give it a slight wiggle and slight pull pressure and off they come, easily. So it's still a mystery why this one particular one came out.

So the keyboard sits in the corner, broken, I guess I could desolder the switches or something, or even just desolder and re-solder one new Cherry MX brown switch to replace the broken one, but the thought of soldering on a keyboard is a bit more than I'm comfortable with, so I guess that keyboard is now dead to me.

My Ducky read this with me, he's terrified now, I am too. 

[rowdy]

Long time lurker, first time poster!  Hello everyone.

My horror story happened quite recently.  I had bought a Ducky One keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches, and I wanted to replace the stock keycaps with a set of Dolch keycaps I had bought.  Due to supply constraints, the only Ducky One keycap color I could get with Cherry MX Brown switches was the hideous lime green and white.  It literally hurt my eyes to look at, but with new Dolch keycaps waiting in the wings, this could quickly be remedied.

The keycaps I intended to replace the ugly but quality double-shot dye sub PBT Ducky One keycaps with were made of double-shot ABS.  Not quite as high a quality, IMHO, but a lot better than lime green and white!

So I set about removing the stock Ducky One keycaps.  Using my wire keycap puller, which I've used countless times before, I set out to do the keycap removal.  I got about half way through the board when, on the S key, the slider pulled out of the switch housing along with the keycap!  I was mortified.  I've never replaced switch springs or had the need to open up a switch to lube or anything, so it seemed like it was going to be quite daunting to put the slider back into the switch assembly.

So I checked YouTube and other online sources to find out how one goes about opening up a Cherry MX switch, and lacking the purpose-made tool, I set out to try using small jeweler's flat-blade screw drivers, as one guy had done on YouTube.  What could go wrong?

Long story less long, I completely botched it, ruined the switch, and thus effectively ruined the keyboard.  I never had a slider pull out of a switch before, and I don't yank on the keycap when I'm trying to pull it off, I give it a slight wiggle and slight pull pressure and off they come, easily. So it's still a mystery why this one particular one came out.

So the keyboard sits in the corner, broken, I guess I could desolder the switches or something, or even just desolder and re-solder one new Cherry MX brown switch to replace the broken one, but the thought of soldering on a keyboard is a bit more than I'm comfortable with, so I guess that keyboard is now dead to me.

TBH the switch was living on borrowed time once the slider came out.  Although it is generally possible to put it back together, it is just a matter of time.

Switch replacement is possible - lots of people have done it.

Worst case - keep the keyboard and wait for a meetup near you, where someone with technical skills may be able to fix it for you.

Or perhaps see if there is an electronics store near you that will repair equipment.  Replacement of one switch, especially if you can provide a switch, is not difficult and usually not expensive.