Many of you are comfortable doing this sort of thing, but I was hesitant all the same and figured I'd post a mini-gallery showing my process of dishwashing a Model M 122 I'm preparing for bolt mod. Imgur gallery
here.
I started by running full-tilt-boogie hot water into a bowl and checking it with an electronic cooking thermometer. 120° Fahrenheit...
...Or for you sensible Metric lovers, 50° Celcius
The outer housing of the Model M is made of PVC which melts at 100° C, the keycaps are made of PBT which melts at an even higher 223° C, and I haven't heard of anything on the board being made with ABS but even ABS doesn't melt until at least 100° C. My hot water is barely half as hot as any temperature that would be dangerous to the plastics.
So in they go. Yes, it's a M-122 and therefore I have to rack it diagonally across my tiny little dishwashing machine. A garment/lingerie bag is draped over the top to hold all the keycaps.
At this point, ensure that the "Heated Dry" setting is switched to OFF to ensure the heating element does not turn on.
I ran a "quick wash" with a small amount of dishwashing detergent and everything cleaned up fine. No damage to the IBM badge at all. I opted to wash the bottom half of the case by hand to avoid doing any damage to the sticker.
Clean and dust/shmoo free.
The caps are completely unharmed. Now to let them dry out on a towel for a day or so, and I'll continue with my bolt mod.