What on earth did I just do to my CM Storm Quickfire Rapid (Cherry MX Blue)?

[spanyam]

So I've been using this keyboard for about 3 years without any problems, but a seemingly innocuous action has COMPLETELY screwed it up. My dad and I work from home side by side, and yesterday as I was happily typing along, he pulled out a can of compressed air and cleaned his keyboard. As he finished, he offered me the same can so I took it, turned my keyboard face forward (vertical with the space bar side down) and blew a few puffs through it. While doing this, I made sure that the can was upright, so no liquid went in.

After finishing, I put the keyboard back down and carried on, only to notice that the 'i' key didn't quite work. After a couple more presses, it got stuck in the pressed state and kept spamming "i". Then I noticed the 'j' was doing the same, as did the 'k'. As did the 'a'. As did the '/'. Across the whole keyboard, various keys started sticking. Some didn't sound so clicky anymore either.

As a preface, I recently moved back home from across the state to be with my parents and packed the keyboard for the move. I wrapped it in a towel and placed it space-bar-side-down in a moving box with no weight on it and nothing much pressing on the sides. I transported the box myself in a car for the move. Could something have happened during the move?

I opened up the board and looked through but couldn't find anything mechanically wrong on the outside. The switches are still sticking even with the keycaps pulled off. So... what on earth just happened?

[Bromono]

So I've been using this keyboard for about 3 years without any problems, but a seemingly innocuous action has COMPLETELY screwed it up. My dad and I work from home side by side, and yesterday as I was happily typing along, he pulled out a can of compressed air and cleaned his keyboard. As he finished, he offered me the same can so I took it, turned my keyboard face forward (vertical with the space bar side down) and blew a few puffs through it. While doing this, I made sure that the can was upright, so no liquid went in.

After finishing, I put the keyboard back down and carried on, only to notice that the 'i' key didn't quite work. After a couple more presses, it got stuck in the pressed state and kept spamming "i". Then I noticed the 'j' was doing the same, as did the 'k'. As did the 'a'. As did the '/'. Across the whole keyboard, various keys started sticking. Some didn't sound so clicky anymore either.

As a preface, I recently moved back home from across the state to be with my parents and packed the keyboard for the move. I wrapped it in a towel and placed it space-bar-side-down in a moving box with no weight on it and nothing much pressing on the sides. I transported the box myself in a car for the move. Could something have happened during the move?

I opened up the board and looked through but couldn't find anything mechanically wrong on the outside. The switches are still sticking even with the keycaps pulled off. So... what on earth just happened?

hmm. my guess is by using the dust can you moved the dust around, maybe even getting inside the switches. If they are physically getting stuck, then it is for sure the switch its self.

If it is only a few switches that are sticking, try de-soldering one of the effected switches and dissemble it and see what could possibly making it stuck.

[spanyam]

hmm. my guess is by using the dust can you moved the dust around, maybe even getting inside the switches. If they are physically getting stuck, then it is for sure the switch its self.

If it is only a few switches that are sticking, try de-soldering one of the effected switches and dissemble it and see what could possibly making it stuck.

Thanks for the quick reply. I've never attempted anything so detailed, but I'll learn and give it a shot.

I just find the situation rather comical. So I suppose compressed air + cherry mx = no bueno?

[Bromono]

hmm. my guess is by using the dust can you moved the dust around, maybe even getting inside the switches. If they are physically getting stuck, then it is for sure the switch its self.

If it is only a few switches that are sticking, try de-soldering one of the effected switches and dissemble it and see what could possibly making it stuck.

Thanks for the quick reply. I've never attempted anything so detailed, but I'll learn and give it a shot.

I just find the situation rather comical. So I suppose compressed air + cherry mx = no bueno?

I have personally never had a problem. the only thing I can think that would make them stick is a sugary drink of some sort. But you would be able to tell if that was the case.

very odd indeed.

[MeltingTeeth]

Blow more air into the switch.

[spanyam]

Yeah, definitely no drinks spilt. One thing I found about the sticking. If I type with a "forward" force on my fingers, where they're slightly pushing the keys away from me, that's what increases the sticking chance. If I punch the keys hard, they generally do not stick (but that's not my typing style). In fact, I can pretty much slowly push down a key, push it forward, and "hook" it underneath whatever is holding it down. Once it's stuck, either punching the key hard or "pulling" it towards me will release it.

Blow more air into the switch.

No luck, didn't seem to change anything.

[falkentyne]

So I've been using this keyboard for about 3 years without any problems, but a seemingly innocuous action has COMPLETELY screwed it up. My dad and I work from home side by side, and yesterday as I was happily typing along, he pulled out a can of compressed air and cleaned his keyboard. As he finished, he offered me the same can so I took it, turned my keyboard face forward (vertical with the space bar side down) and blew a few puffs through it. While doing this, I made sure that the can was upright, so no liquid went in.

After finishing, I put the keyboard back down and carried on, only to notice that the 'i' key didn't quite work. After a couple more presses, it got stuck in the pressed state and kept spamming "i". Then I noticed the 'j' was doing the same, as did the 'k'. As did the 'a'. As did the '/'. Across the whole keyboard, various keys started sticking. Some didn't sound so clicky anymore either.

As a preface, I recently moved back home from across the state to be with my parents and packed the keyboard for the move. I wrapped it in a towel and placed it space-bar-side-down in a moving box with no weight on it and nothing much pressing on the sides. I transported the box myself in a car for the move. Could something have happened during the move?

I opened up the board and looked through but couldn't find anything mechanically wrong on the outside. The switches are still sticking even with the keycaps pulled off. So... what on earth just happened?

This is why you NEVER use compressed air UNTIL you remove the keycaps completely first.
It's also possible that there was liquid vapor coming out, also, but that's just a guess.
And was your keyboard plugged in while you were using compressed air?

it's always best to remove the keycaps first, scrape/clear out the easy to remove trash with tweezers or something else easy, then use compressed air afterwards.

[spanyam]

This is why you NEVER use compressed air UNTIL you remove the keycaps completely first.
It's also possible that there was liquid vapor coming out, also, but that's just a guess.
And was your keyboard plugged in while you were using compressed air?

it's always best to remove the keycaps first, scrape/clear out the easy to remove trash with tweezers or something else easy, then use compressed air afterwards.

YUP, plugged in. No liquid vapor went in, but lesson learned in this case. I will be careful going forward.

[PunksDead]

you just dont hear about these kind of issues with topre boards...

just saying

[spanyam]

you just dont hear about these kind of issues with topre boards...

just saying

Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to test topre yet. Plus, the thought of buying Topre feels like

[falkentyne]

Why don't you try removing all of the keys and test the switch?
Does the switch stick if the keys are removed?

[spanyam]

Why don't you try removing all of the keys and test the switch?
Does the switch stick if the keys are removed?

Yup, the aforementioned affected keys do stick with just the switch.

[MeltingTeeth]

Yeah, definitely no drinks spilt. One thing I found about the sticking. If I type with a "forward" force on my fingers, where they're slightly pushing the keys away from me, that's what increases the sticking chance. If I punch the keys hard, they generally do not stick (but that's not my typing style). In fact, I can pretty much slowly push down a key, push it forward, and "hook" it underneath whatever is holding it down. Once it's stuck, either punching the key hard or "pulling" it towards me will release it.

Blow more air into the switch.

No luck, didn't seem to change anything.

Oh well, switch replacement time.

[3K]

Yeah, definitely no drinks spilt. One thing I found about the sticking. If I type with a "forward" force on my fingers, where they're slightly pushing the keys away from me, that's what increases the sticking chance. If I punch the keys hard, they generally do not stick (but that's not my typing style). In fact, I can pretty much slowly push down a key, push it forward, and "hook" it underneath whatever is holding it down. Once it's stuck, either punching the key hard or "pulling" it towards me will release it.

Do you know what part exactly is sticking? The stem and the white slider thing or just the slider? I'm probably wrong, but bending the metal leaf towards the stem would increase the needed force to push the stem up after pressing down. This would kind of explain why the forward push increases the chance to stick - pushing forward while pressing down decreases the force acting on the metal leaf.

We keyboard science now.

[spanyam]

It seems that the part that sticks is the small nub that gives tactility to the MX Blues. There seems to be no issue with the top half that "clicks". It's always on the bounceback that the key gets stuck.

[spanyam]

UPDATE: After a few days of letting it sit and giving special "treatment" to some of the sticky keys, the keyboard seems to be back to a usable condition again. The treatment basically involved pounding the key repeatedly for about 30 seconds, followed by touch tapping it without bottoming out for another 30 seconds. After doing this and letting it sit for a while, the key seems to be back to normal range of motion. Some of the affected keys are no longer as clicky as they used to be and tend to sound grindy on the way up, but they still work without issues. I guess I don't need to buy a new keyboard just yet.

[Bucake]

still hard for me to believe that some compressed air caused that problem.
maybe you pushed in some dust/dirt into that area of the keyboard, and your 'treatment' might have moved that stuff out of the way again.

any way, real nice that it's working again cheers

[spanyam]

still hard for me to believe that some compressed air caused that problem.
maybe you pushed in some dust/dirt into that area of the keyboard, and your 'treatment' might have moved that stuff out of the way again.

any way, real nice that it's working again cheers

Yeah, most likely the case some keys are still sticking once in a while, but the board is more or less perfectly usable for day to day work. Precise gaming might need more "treatment"