Best way to clean? Quickfire Rapid

[CheddarTrek]

I have a wonderful QuickFire Rapid CM Storm (tenkeyless) with Brown Cherry Switches.

Sadly it had some wine spilled on it last night.  I immediately emptied it as well as I could then took off the keycaps that appeared to be effected and wiped off the inside of the keyboard as well as I could (used a bit of alcohol to wipe after).

So today I put the keys back on and the keyboard seems to work... but it's not typing NEARLY as well as it was.  It feels mushy compared to how it felt before the spill.

How can I clean it properly to get that wonderful feeling I had before back when I was typing?  Or am I completely out of luck?

[gigibecali]

In a worst case scenario I believe you have to open the switches and clean the gliding paths.
Was it a sweet wine?

[tp4tissue]

Ah..... LOL Sorry for your loss.. but the effort it would take to clean a keyboard after such a spill..

You might as well buy another one.....

It'd take you forever, to desolder switches, open them, clean them, put them back..


seriously,, with the qfr,, Just buy a new one...


If this happened to me on a filco, I'd also just buy another filco... desoldering and cleaning all the small parts, not worth the hassle.

[rowdy]

The only way to be sure is to replace the switches.

It sounds like a fair bit of liquid went into the switches, and you cannot really ever get rid of all of it unless you remove the switches, disassemble them, thoroughly clean them, thoroughly dry them, reassemble them, and reinstall them.

And after all that it would be easier to replace the switches anyway.

[tp4tissue]

The only way to be sure is to replace the switches.

It sounds like a fair bit of liquid went into the switches, and you cannot really ever get rid of all of it unless you remove the switches, disassemble them, thoroughly clean them, thoroughly dry them, reassemble them, and reinstall them.

And after all that it would be easier to replace the switches anyway.

OR, buy another qfr...

The work involved assuming you don't have the equipment or experience is well above $100 to replace the board.

[CheddarTrek]

In a worst case scenario I believe you have to open the switches and clean the gliding paths.
Was it a sweet wine?

It was a sweet wine, yeah. 

As for opening the switches... is that what is referred to here?  I know very little of keyboards:

It'd take you forever, to desolder switches, open them, clean them, put them back..

I didn't even know they were soldered on at all, so you can't just pull the little brown bits out easily by hand and push em back in?  Bah.

At least I know I like Brown Cherry switches.  This was my first mechanical since a Model M I used years and years ago.

[rowdy]

QFR switches are plate-mounted, which means you need to desolder them even to open the switch.  So if you are going to the bother of desoldering them you might as well replace with new switches.

Or as tp4tissue suggested, get a new board, and maybe even sell the old damaged one here at a slight discount.  There are those here who would either repair it or harvest the switches (and case).

[tp4tissue]

QFR switches are plate-mounted, which means you need to desolder them even to open the switch.  So if you are going to the bother of desoldering them you might as well replace with new switches.

Or as tp4tissue suggested, get a new board, and maybe even sell the old damaged one here at a slight discount.  There are those here who would either repair it or harvest the switches (and case).

Yup, lots of phantom people snooping for cases, but they will give you a pretty low low price... almost insultingly low..

[Jaffa]

QFR switches are plate-mounted, which means you need to desolder them even to open the switch.  So if you are going to the bother of desoldering them you might as well replace with new switches.

Or as tp4tissue suggested, get a new board, and maybe even sell the old damaged one here at a slight discount.  There are those here who would either repair it or harvest the switches (and case).

Now I understand better why I could not open my.
Thx for the comment..

[CheddarTrek]

Now that's an idea, selling it.  I think only about a third to a half of the keys are effected at all (lower left side mushy -- numbers are fine, enter key is fine, etc.) and the keyboard itself seems to work (I'm using it now).

At least I'd be able to recoup some portion of the costs, and be useful to someone else at the same time!

Edit:  I've got several other uses I could put this cord to... is that something people would want with it if they are planning to use it for parts?  XD

[CheddarTrek]

Hm, another question:  I notice that I'm seeing a v2 of the QuickFire around, one without branding.  Is the lack of branding the only difference in the keyboards?  Or is there another reason to buy one over the other?

[gnubag]

as far as I know the newer ones have one branding in the back and the windows keys, instead of above the arrowkeys and literally everywhere.

also something you could try is to flush the affected switches with a syringe filled with distilled water. Afterwards use isopropyl alcohol in another syringe to flush out the water. if you want to lube it a bit you could use silicone oil in again another syringe. just hold down the stem with your finger and flush the switch.

if you still want to sell it for cheap, pm me

[rowdy]

Newer QFRs are coming out without (or with considerably less) branding.  CM are also supposed to be selling just the top part of the case for those with branded keyboards that want to replace the case top.

1/3 to 1/2 of the keys is quite a lot

And yes, you could flush the switches with all sorts of chemicals, but you would never be sure, and could not guarantee that you would return to the original feel of the keyboard.

[tauburn]

i'm so afraid of this happening that i have a separate computer and desk for eating.

[CheddarTrek]

Yeah -- 1/3 to 1/2 is a lot, but I was thinking in terms of at least some of them being good for parts.

As it is I actually had a syringe lying around.  It's a plastic one that's been sitting on my dish tray for about two years and I'd forgotten it until now.  Just flushed with warm water and isopropyl alcohol and I'm hopeful that it will return to a less irritating state.

Thanks much all -- if this doesn't work I'll sell it super cheap.

As for the branding... if it's the same board I'll try to nab one with less branding.  It never bothered me but I always felt it was a little less professional than I'd like (I game some but mostly type for work).

[tp4tissue]

Yeah -- 1/3 to 1/2 is a lot, but I was thinking in terms of at least some of them being good for parts.

As it is I actually had a syringe lying around.  It's a plastic one that's been sitting on my dish tray for about two years and I'd forgotten it until now.  Just flushed with warm water and isopropyl alcohol and I'm hopeful that it will return to a less irritating state.

Thanks much all -- if this doesn't work I'll sell it super cheap.

As for the branding... if it's the same board I'll try to nab one with less branding.  It never bothered me but I always felt it was a little less professional than I'd like (I game some but mostly type for work).

Be careful with "warm Isopropyl"

I've nearly died using this stuff in the bathroom, door was closed by mistake...

[CheddarTrek]

Well, I cleaned it out and it seems to be working well enough to be getting on with.  I used a syringe, 2x washes with warm/hot distilled water, then 1x wash with room temp isopropyl.

It's back to typing reasonably well.  I don't think it's 100% but it's probably at least 90%+, and that's enough for me for now.  Especially compared to how bad it was when I first posted in here.

So thanks very much all!  I'll probably keep it a bit longer before selling it.  Great tips on the cleaning.

[tp4tissue]

Well, I cleaned it out and it seems to be working well enough to be getting on with.  I used a syringe, 2x washes with warm/hot distilled water, then 1x wash with room temp isopropyl.

It's back to typing reasonably well.  I don't think it's 100% but it's probably at least 90%+, and that's enough for me for now.  Especially compared to how bad it was when I first posted in here.

So thanks very much all!  I'll probably keep it a bit longer before selling it.  Great tips on the cleaning.

Just toss it or sell the case dude...

It's like a "thingie" in the corner of your eye, and you just HATE it... always clawing at your soul....

THAT is not worth saving $100 over...

[gnubag]

just spam all the keys, they will eventually go back to 100%
i spilled some soda over my old blackwidow and it took like a month for a key to get the click back.

[tp4tissue]

just spam all the keys, they will eventually go back to 100%
i spilled some soda over my old blackwidow and it took like a month for a key to get the click back.

There's no guarantee of this, because if the sticky stuff is between the slider and center channel, or the side slider channel, it would just brush the stickiness up and down.. NEVER fully recovering...

If you've ever taken apart an MX switch you'd know that the Center stem extends into a "well" where the "nub" on the bottom is...  If sticky stuff gets in there,, it is unlikely that it will EVER flush out

BECAUSE,, when you PUSH the key DOWN, it closes that "well"... thus if you're flushing the key without taking it apart, YOU WILL NEVER be able to flush stickiness out of that portion of the switch...

The effort required to FULLY clean the board, OR soldering in/out switches,  well exceeds the cost of buying a new one.  )


If you're one who can settle for a gimp board,, hey,, then you're golden... but why do that when you can have a new one for only $100    - the savings from selling the case to the phantom people

[Merconium]

Well, I cleaned it out and it seems to be working well enough to be getting on with.  I used a syringe, 2x washes with warm/hot distilled water, then 1x wash with room temp isopropyl.

It's back to typing reasonably well.  I don't think it's 100% but it's probably at least 90%+, and that's enough for me for now.  Especially compared to how bad it was when I first posted in here.

So thanks very much all!  I'll probably keep it a bit longer before selling it.  Great tips on the cleaning.

If you want to get it closer to 100%, try a plastics-safe contact cleaner. RadioShack, heck, even Home Depot sells a nice CRC cleaner and separate lube. It's much more effective than iso.