My keys are sticky

[ty_moon]

About 5 drops of red wine landed on my keycaps and somehow got into the switch, resulting in a few keys being stiffer than others.

How can I fix this without de-soldering the keys? I was thinking of squirting some rubbing alcohol into the switch using a syringe with the stem pushed down and them letting it air dry. Would this help?

Thanks GH

[fohat.digs]

You didn't say what switch type you have, but I would beware of moving the problem deeper down into the system.

At this point, I would suggest wiping and drying as much as possible before doing any squirting.

[ty_moon]

They're MX Reds. The difference between a stiff key and a unharmed key is very, very small, but I can notice it. This happened a few days ago.
 
Obviously I could just order some new switches and swap them out, but I'd rather not risk breaking the board as my soldering skills are sub-par.

[hazeluff]

They're MX Reds. The difference between a stiff key and a unharmed key is very, very small, but I can notice it. This happened a few days ago.
 
Obviously I could just order some new switches and swap them out, but I'd rather not risk breaking the board as my soldering skills are sub-par.

Subpar skills are good enough for switches.

Squirting alcohol into it may work, but it may not and the risk of making a mess is very great.

[rowdy]

I managed to drip one or two small drips of coffee (black with 2 sugars) onto my MX blue keyboard.

I immediately removed all key caps in the affected area (; ' . / enter and r-shift) and wiped all visible liquid up.

A tiny amount seemed to have gone into the dummy switch on the right of the right shift key (on the Ducky Shine, the wider keys have the MX switch in the middle, and a kinda dummy switch on either side - just the dummy switch was affected).

As a result the right shift key sticks a bit from time to time.

Now, about a week later, I have been repeatedly pressing the r-shift and it has greatly loosened up.  Almost back to normal.

The total spillage was about enough to cover a little finger nail, and only a fraction of that went into the shift key.  Surprising how little liquid can affect a keyboard.

If your switches still work, then it might just be a matter of a little time, and repeatedly pressing the keys to get back to normal.

I seem to keep the dust cover on a bit more now.

[thegunner100]

It's another one of THESE threads xD