Author Topic: Fixing/Cleaning Cherry Switches  (Read 6697 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Artemis

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 7
Fixing/Cleaning Cherry Switches
« on: Sun, 21 November 2010, 15:00:48 »
I spilled soda in 3 of my Cherry Blue switches on my Filco clicky tenkeyless Otaku about 2/3 months ago. I tried to clean it out the best I could with 90% isopropyl alcohol, and some Q tips. Now the keys are sticking pretty bad, and they're harder to press. If I blow inside the switch it lightens up for about an hour, but then it just gets sticky again. Anyway I can cleanout/fix these keys? I dont really have the experience nessery to replace the physical switches.

Offline elbowglue

  • Posts: 583
Fixing/Cleaning Cherry Switches
« Reply #1 on: Sun, 21 November 2010, 20:02:42 »
You may be in trouble.  IMHO you are going to need to desolder these switches / swap them with switches that you rarely use (sysreq, scroll lock).  Have you tried to remove the keycap, depress the keystem 1/2 way and blow air into the area around the keystem?
My keyboards: Filco Cherry Blue Tenkeyless(daily home), Compaq MX11800 (modded to blacks), Compaq "MX 84u",  Wellington\'s Dampened Endurapro, Pinkalicious Filco Blue Cherry, Chicony KB-5191, Chicony KB-5181, Desko MOS 5023 UP "elbowglue" spos (modded to blues), Siig Minitouch (monterey blue), SMK-88 (blue cherries), Ricercar SPOS
Smallest to biggest keyboards in inches (Length X Height) - Length is most important for a midline mouse position

KBC Poker: 11.6 x 3.9 - HHKB: 11.6 x 4.3 - Siig Minitouch (Geekhack Space Saver): 11.6 x 6 - Deck/Tg3 82: 12 x 6 - Noppoo Choc Mini 12.4 x 5.3 - Compaq "MX 84u": 13.1 x 7.5 - Filco Tenkeyless: 14 x 5.3 - Cherry "ricercar spos" G86-62410EUAGSA: 14 x 7.75 - Topre Realforce 86u: 14.4 x 6.65 - Desko "elbowglue spos" MOS 5023 UP: 14.5 x 8.4 - IBM Model M Spacesaver: 15.3 x 7 - G80-1800: 15.9 x 7.1 - Adesso MKB-125B: 16 x 7.3 - Compaq Mx11800, Cherry G80-11900: 16.25 x 7.5 - Filco Standard: 17.3 x 5.4 - Unicomp Endurapro: 17.9 x 7.1 - Adesso MKB-135B: 18.3 x 6.0 - Cherry G80-3000: 18.5 x 7.6 - IBM Model M, Unicomp Customizer: 19.3 x 8.27

Offline Infinite north

  • Posts: 162
Fixing/Cleaning Cherry Switches
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 21 November 2010, 20:30:32 »
Yeah if there was any fixing to be had I would imagine that it's long gone now. the soda probably corroded the switch internals if it wasn't completely cleaned as soon as possible.

Offline kpurd

  • Posts: 4
Fixing/Cleaning Cherry Switches
« Reply #3 on: Wed, 19 January 2011, 23:47:38 »
I actually have the exact same problem as the OP, although I only dripped the smallest amount of juice right above the 3 and 4 keys and a few days later i started to feel the stickiness. I find blowing into it helps for about an hour before it starts sticking again.

I just got my keyboard (razor black widow) a few weeks ago and have been loving it. Is there no way to just take apart the switch and clean it out? I was thinking maybe just spraying some canned air into all the openings might do the trick or maybe a shot of WD40 into the switch might help it out? The keyboard is brand new and i'd hate to take it apart already. Do you guys think these things might help or would that just break it further? Would it do damage to the keyboard if i used some lube on it while it was all still together?
« Last Edit: Thu, 20 January 2011, 01:17:13 by kpurd »