19.6 Cleaning a Keyboard
Keyboards
collect all manner of dirt, dust, and
sticky spills, particularly if you smoke or drink near them. For
routine cleaning, simply turn the keyboard upside down and shake it
vigorously, which causes an incredible amount of stuff to fall out.
Monthly, use your vacuum cleaner to do a thorough job.
It's a good idea to shut down the system (or at
least close all files) before you start vacuuming. Otherwise, the
random series of keystrokes that vacuuming generates can have some
unexpected results. In one case, we deleted a document. Formula 409
and similar commercial cleaners do a good job of removing grunge, but
make sure the system is turned off while you use them, and try to
avoid allowing too much to run down inside the keyboard.
It's better to spray cleaner on a paper towel and
then wipe than to spray the cleaner directly on the keyboard.
All of that presupposes that your keyboard is just normally dirty.
For cleaning seriously dirty keyboards (see Figure 19-5), we've been using the
dishwasher method for more than 20
years. Most people think we're kidding when we
recommend it, but it works for us. We've used it
successfully with both mechanical and membrane-based keyboards.
Proceed as follows.
Disconnect the keyboard from the computer. We probably
shouldn't have to mention this step, but we
don't want to get sued by someone who
didn't realize it wasn't a good
idea to run his system unit and monitor through the dishwasher.
Place the keyboard, keys down, in the top rack of the dishwasher.
Secure the keyboard cable with a rubber band to keep it from becoming
entangled in the moving parts of the dishwasher. Set the dishwasher
for gentle cycle and coolest water temperature, if those options are
available. Make sure to select the option for air dry rather than a
heated drying cycle.
Run the keyboard through an entire wash cycle, using dishwasher
detergent. When the cycle finishes, remove the keyboard and douse it
with at least a gallon of water, making sure to repeatedly flood the
keys themselves. For safety's sake, we always
recommend using distilled or deionized water, but in fact we always
use ordinary tap water and have never had a problem. After rinsing,
turn the keyboard this way and that and shake it to drain as much
water as possible. Use a towel to dry the accessible parts. At this
point, your keyboard should look like new (see Figure 19-6).
 Set your oven to 150 degrees (or its lowest setting). We have no idea
what the melting point of the plastic used in keyboards is, but we
haven't melted one yet. Bake keyboard until done,
usually one to two hours. Let the keyboard cool, remove, and serve.
We generally put the clean keyboard back in our stock of spares,
where it may have another month or three to air dry naturally, but
we've also reconnected a keyboard immediately after
such treatment without any problems. We used to be concerned that
puddles might still be lurking inside the keyboard, so
we'd disassemble it and dry it thoroughly before
reconnecting it. But we've found that a couple hours
inside a 150 degree oven does a pretty good job of evaporating any
residual water. Your mileage may vary. If you hear a sloshing sound
after drying, it's probably a good idea to
disassemble the keyboard and check further.
|
Main Menu
|
