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Gave my keyboard a bath

bunnspecial

bunnspecial

macrumors G3
Original poster
May 3, 2014
8,391
6,565
Kentucky
This is what happens when a chemist has too little to do and a lot of tools at their disposal. Plus, I spent the morning writing a rec letter, and the keyboard really bugged me the whole time.

The keyboard that I was using with my work G5 was getting grungy looking. I popped all the keycaps off, and sonicated them for about 5 minutes in a beaker in deionized water with a pinch of alconox(lab soap). I actually did it in two phases-first the letter keys and then everything else. Unfortunately, I didn't take a before photo.

After sonicating, I rinsed the caps several times in DI water and dried each one individually with compressed air(I'm really glad that I argued for having house compressed air plumbed in when we planning lab renovations :) ).

The keyboard itself was blown off with compressed air, and then I wiped it down with a Kimwipe. If it had been too bad I would have disassembled the base and hosed the hole thing down in DI water. That would have then been dried with compressed air, and probably left out overnight to make sure it was completely dry.

In any case, here's the after, as well as a couple of "in progress" shots showing the letter keycaps next to the uncleaned other keys. The whole thing is now bright, sparkly white.

I also should add that the keyboard was not "sticky" nor did it have any other serious problems before I started. Sticky keys would call for a more thorough rinse both on the board.
 

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I had an Apple Pro Keyboard (the one with the black-ish keys and usb ports). The entire middle row, with the caps lock, a, s, d, f, etc, and even in the number pad. Before this only the middle row of the number pad and the apostrophe/quote key didn't work.

The keyboard was very dirty so what I did was I pried off all the keys and put them in a hot bath of water with Pine Glo and Dish Soap. The keyboard... heh... I put it on the ground and sprayed it all with a hose.

I noticed there was water collected inside so I took it apart (the two case pieces and logic board, but not the keyboard assembly itself). Then... I got a brush and brushed the keyboard on top with lots and lots of dish soap! That was fun lol. I also washed every other part with soap.

But I still noticed some dirt was inside. I found that the bottom was covered with a large sticker, and underneath that were all the rest of the screws. So I unscrewed each screw and took it apart. After taking the plastic top off, some of the rubber plungers fell out. They were everywhere! I lost quite a few.
I separated the contact sheets too, and damaged them a little because in the middle they were heat-pressed together in a dot.

I soaked each sheet in the pot of hot water and soap, and brushed the plastic covering and metal backing. They had two green LEDs in them!

Then I placed everything out to dry. They stayed out for a few days.

After a few days eveything was mostly dry, except the keys.
I stapled two paper bowls together and cut a hole in the middle of one, and put the keys in this. Then I put this in front of the heater to dry the keys off.
The Caps Lock, Left Shift, and Space Bar warped in the heat and were ruined.

Also, I found that the plastic top was missing the LEDs they used to have. :(

I assembled the keyboard part back. I arranged the plastic contact sheets in the right order, and I placed the rubber plungers in each place on the plastic top. Some were missing so I had to sacrifice the entire number pad (i'd rather have a whole section not working than a part of it).

I then attached the logic board back onto the keyboard part and tested it with a screwdriver. It worked... the same as before... except some keys near the part that I ripped also didnt work.

So I took the logic board back out and reassembled the pest of the parts together, without the logic board and logic board cover. I placed each key on. This was fun.
Because the number pad didnt have any plugers, the keys on the number pad were loose.

This assembled keyboard I just put away.

I turned the logic board into a USB hub. I lined the plastic cover with e.tape and placed the logic board in there, component side down and solder side up. I attached the USB cable to the screw hole of the metal frame with a thumb tack. Then I wrapped the whole thing in e.tape, with the protruding ring base thing whatever of the USB ports on the inside of the frame and groove, so that it would resist pulling (otherwise, if it were outside like it usually would be, the pull would go to the solder connections and could break it off).
I have a thread of this.


Then just recently I ripped apart an Apple Wired keyboard with Number pad because most of the keys didnt work and it was like that for a long time and never fixed itself. What a waste of a $50 keyboard! Apple keyboards are terrible! I also wasted $70 on an Apple Wireless keyboard which failed a month later when I cleaned it (with very little water). :mad: Ironically, that keyboard was to be used instead of the internal keyboard of my MBP which failed. After that keyboard died I got a Logitech k360 and I have been using it ever since with no problems! I wrote this all on it.
Most of my Apple Keyboards have failed due to water damage.
 
Lots of time to spare eh....

I ripped my aluminium wired kb..... It was nasty. To be honest, a lady conned me. One of e lessons i learnt.... So it was me and this nasty kb...had to rip it. Still ddnt findthe time to pop the keys back in !!
 

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redhatcode29 said:
Lots of time to spare eh....

I ripped my aluminium wired kb..... It was nasty. To be honest, a lady conned me. One of e lessons i learnt.... So it was me and this nasty kb...had to rip it. Still ddnt findthe time to pop the keys back in !!
Click to expand...

Wait till you see my thread of my keyboard I ripped apart heh. I've been busy and can't find a good time to write it.

Here is a picture of it.

I collected half a cup of keys and plastic scissor support things.
 

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poiihy said:
Wait till you see my thread of my keyboard I ripped apart heh. I've been busy and can't find a good time to write it.

Here is a picture of it.

I collected half a cup of keys and plastic scissor support things.
Click to expand...


And to think, you were giving me a hard time a few months back over "destroying things" when I posted about shooting up a few dead hard drives...
 
poiihy said:
Wait till you see my thread of my keyboard I ripped apart heh. I've been busy and can't find a good time to write it.

Here is a picture of it.

I collected half a cup of keys and plastic scissor support things.
Click to expand...

Dude...what have u done to ur kb...massacred. u have a thread to write ... Ha ha....better be some good tutorials
 
I have pulled apart four of the pro keyboards and cleaned them. Soapy water for the caps and non-electric components. Alcohol for the rest. Paper towels speed up drying times. Nothing destroyed, everything gleaming like new and all keys functioning like they should.

iFixit even has a teardown guide. It is laborious but hardly difficult. I marvel at the destruction in this thread.
 
bunnspecial said:
And to think, you were giving me a hard time a few months back over "destroying things" when I posted about shooting up a few dead hard drives...
Click to expand...

I did it to salvage parts. You did it just for the sake of destroying it when you could've gotten some nice disks, a magnet, an aluminum housing and a motor. You could've also turned that into a hard drive speaker. Just connect an amplifier to the coil.
And it didn't feel good to rip apart the keyboard. But it's better to get some useful parts then throw it away with no use.
 
This is a great example of why I love the posts in the PPC section. I still own a few but do not use them that often anymore, but I still love them. It's like a classic car you keep in the garage. Everytime you open the door you get that thrill you had the first time you saw it.
 
I really should rebuild my Apple Pro Keyboard. The back clips are broken and one of the 'support' bar's securing plastic part is loose.
 
I have a Apple pro keyboard in black and there is some sort of chocolate or something under the keyboard showing from the bottom but inside. I dont know what it is i paid a dollar for the keyboard. Once i get some time ill do the same.
 
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