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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: calavera on Thu, 19 May 2011, 00:21:12
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No, not for me. I'm too young for that ;) I bought a over the counter dental cleaning tabs to clean my key caps. I doubt they'll do anything to damage my key caps but just wondering if anyone had any mishaps while cleaning theirs with stuff like this?
I figure I'll just dump all the key caps in a big bowl with water and add a few tablets and let them sit for a while. I'm too lazy to find that cleaning key caps thread. :P So I should be good right?
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That sounds about right :)
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http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?6856-Cleaning-keycaps-with...-denture-cleaning-tabs!
warm water please
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I usually do this in a huge bucket with like 5-6 tabs, some warm water, and all my keyboard caps - Topre, Filco, IBM.
Meh, nothing explosive or corrosive so far so I guess you're good to go!
Stir it around when the tabs are dissolving and I always remove the metallic parts
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Arghhh, why warm water? Does it break up dirt better/quicker? I already cleaned them with cold water and with somewhat disappointing results. May be I should give it another go with warm water. :( How long am I supposed to let them sit there?
I used two tablets and the water had a blue tint to it at the beginning. After awhile (forgot how long) the water became transparent again...
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i use warm, near hot water and let them soak for about 30-60 minutes
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Damn, I'll give them another go tomorrow but I don't think these key caps will become any more "cleaner" than they were originally. But we'll see. Thanks for the info :D
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Maybe it depends on the brand but when I did it, the water turned deep blue/green. Reminded me of a toilet after putting those disinfection tabs in em. Was with warm water, 5 tabs, and stirred it up a bit. Did a little hand washing of the keys too. Not sure if it'll make em cleaner but it can't hurt so I don't see why not.
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too hot water can warp some keys, depending on the plastic. WARM water wont hurt keys...meaning...DONT USE A WATER COOKER^^
boiling water is a nono.
My method is...if it doesnt hurt me, it doesnt hurt the keys. So just feel the water, if it burns you, let it cool down a bit before throwing in your caps.
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If it's just warm water I don't see how it could warp any sort of plastic.
I mean I'm talking about cherry corps key caps like double shot and/or dye sub. (NOT filco or any other thin key caps that look like it could be pierced through just by starring at them intensely lol)
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some plastics can get warped or bleach out color at ~60-80° c. So beware the dish washer with some caps....too lazy to look for the post of the guy that had this happen to him^^
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Many brands of cleaning tabs contain bleach that does not work if the water is not warm enough.
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Many brands of cleaning tabs contain bleach that does not work if the water is not warm enough.
Good point. I just checked the box and it says use warm water. doh!
Ingredients: potassium monopersulfate, sodium carbonate, sodium perborate, TAED, citric acid, corn starch modified, flavor, microcrystalline, cellulose, hydrogenated rapeseed triglyceride, sodium lauryl sulfoacetate, tetrasodium EDTA, hydrated silica, sorbitol, dimethicone, copolymer, cetyl dimethicone copolyol.
Alright I don't know any of the ingredients but anyone have the slightest clue as to if anything could hurt the plastic? :P
I did enjoy typing all that with cherry blues I might add.
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My thinking is, if it's good enough for grandma's old fake teef, it's good enough for my keycaps.
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lol so you think filco keycaps would not survive this?
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lol so you think filco keycaps would not survive this?
No I was just being sarcastic and making fun of how thin filco key caps are. I don't really like thin key caps, although they're great with cherry blues.
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Actually it is harder to produce thinner keycaps.
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Alright I cleaned them again with warm water now. They do seem cleaner now but not by much. I think I'll clean all my key caps this way from now on. :)
Will upload pics but doubt you'll notice anything different. lol
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Lol. I didn't think rapeseed was actually a thing.
Sodium perborate, huh? What's the "Active Ingredient" if it tells you that? If it is the active ingredient itself, then using stuff like oxyclean will be fine.
Personally I like the dishwasher method. No left over substances that way.
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TAED is whats in oxiclean / retrobrite, right? Soaking in sunlight could have nice color-restoring effects on yellowed keys.
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Alright I cleaned them again with warm water now. They do seem cleaner now but not by much. I think I'll clean all my key caps this way from now on. :)
Will upload pics but doubt you'll notice anything different. lol
Not sure if it makes any difference because I have always performed this.
While waiting for it to dissolve, I shake it vigorously in the warm water - the keys rubbing against each other also helps to remove grime I believe.
Maybe it works for you, or it doesn't.