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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: aegrotatio on Tue, 09 October 2012, 09:40:37
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I drenched my Cherry Blue keyboard with diet cola and it's pretty much not clicky on many keys. The circuits are fine though. Since it's otherwise ruined, I wonder if anyone knows what sort of solvent I can try to rinse this keyboard in?
Thanks.
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Rinsing it wont work. I did the same thing with my first mechanical keyboard. I put mine in the dishwasher, soaked it in the tub, sprayed it with a pressure washer, and some other things. The keyboard still worked, but nothing made the switches clicky again. You're gonna have to desolder every switches and clean them out individually. It sounds crappy, but that's the only way to do it. : (
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If the contaminant was water-based, water will be the best thing to flush it out with. Unfortunately, "flush" implies a "through" motion and you are looking to clean out, among other things, the interiors of a bunch of tiny nearly-closed boxes.
Adding some sort of soap is great for getting rid of the dirt, but adds even more dramatically to the rinsing problem.
Getting all the residue rinsed away is, for all practical purposes, impossible.
To use a really bad pun, you are hosed.
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I've never had to deal with this problem before, but I would probably try soaking it for a few days in water, while actuating the keys every now and then while it's submerged. In theory, if you can get water into all the spaces, the soda should dissolve if you gave it enough time. A month of soaking? haha
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Not really, if it was drenched then it's pretty much an ex-keyboard.
You can try alcohol-based solvents, but the only way to be sure, especially with MX blues, is to replace the switches.
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If you're going to get rid of it, can i have it? :P
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If you're going to get rid of it, can i have it? :P
or me :D
I can make it click just as much or a little more than mx browns.
look up Deoxit F5 and D5(D5 is good for cleaning)
If you want to wash it don't use water based solvents( I heard distilled water worked though)
When you are cleaning it just make sure you don't let the contacts rust or use a solvent that would melt your plastic.
If all else fails Just mail it to me :)
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My god people, have some self-respect... You're all acting like a bunch of Bums..
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I did a similar thing to my Das with blues but with beer. Not sure how much i damage i did (smelled lovely + sticky switches) but i disassembled it and soaked the pcb in a bowl of ethyl alcohol while pushing the board down to actuate the switches several times. After letting it dry, i reassembled everything and it worked like a charm again except for one switch which feels a lot lighter than the others. It does click though.
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I did a similar thing to my Das with blues but with beer. Not sure how much i damage i did (smelled lovely + sticky switches) but i disassembled it and soaked the pcb in a bowl of ethyl alcohol while pushing the board down to actuate the switches several times. After letting it dry, i reassembled everything and it worked like a charm again except for one switch which feels a lot lighter than the others. It does click though.
Light is good! It gives your keyboard character and the satisfaction of having a different feeling board! :D
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I did a similar thing to my Das with blues but with beer. Not sure how much i damage i did (smelled lovely + sticky switches) but i disassembled it and soaked the pcb in a bowl of ethyl alcohol while pushing the board down to actuate the switches several times. After letting it dry, i reassembled everything and it worked like a charm again except for one switch which feels a lot lighter than the others. It does click though.
Light is good! It gives your keyboard character and the satisfaction of having a different feeling board! :D
That's the way i see it, just glad it wasn't ruined :D
I would have gotten me some nice mx clears as replacement instead i guess.
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Rinsing it wont work. I did the same thing with my first mechanical keyboard. I put mine in the dishwasher, soaked it in the tub, sprayed it with a pressure washer, and some other things. The keyboard still worked, but nothing made the switches clicky again. You're gonna have to desolder every switches and clean them out individually. It sounds crappy, but that's the only way to do it. : (
Rofl. Pressure washer.
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What kind of board or, more specifically, switch mounting type are we talking about?
PCB-mounted switches can be taked apart rather easily (even with a single small flat blade screwdriver; it's fairly quick once you get the hang of it). Drop switch tops and sliders in sopy water, put spring aside, swab out switch bottom using same water. Washing the PCB may not be a bad idea either, though at least Diet Coke shouldn't contain quite as much sugar that would turn into nasty acids easily. (Whether I would drink too much of the stuff is another matter. The daily dose of sweeteners like aspartame is probably best kept as low as possible.)
With plate-mounted switches, you are in fact screwed and would have to go the rather tedious desoldering route as outlined above.