deskthority

So I bought a Tipro on ebay.

Does anybody have advice on how to clean it?

Both the case and the keys look pretty nasty.

If you have general advice for some sort of plastic it would be good if you could also tell me how to figure out which plastic it is.

Come on, piccies!

Test it first. If it doesn't work, don't bother to clean it.

If you don't know where it was used, you might want to wear gloves.

Take a photo of the keyboard.

Take all the keys off (might want to make yourself a keypuller if you don't have one). if the keycaps are in two parts, then separate them. Soak them in water and 4 denture cleaning tablets. Don't leave them in overnight as lasered etched keys have a habit of losing the infill. Leave the keys on kitchen roll to dry (they will take a long time this way, you could dry them by hand if you want).

Tip the fluff that was under the keys into the bin. A handheld vacuum can really help too. Carefully wipe any unpleasantness off the case with a cloth just wet enough to do the job.

Don't put the caps back on until they are dry. Remember that photo you took earlier? Now's the time that you'll regret not taking it.

It's not a particularly quick job. I wouldn't recommend taking up the kitchen until you've eaten your evening meal. Oh, and cleaning a board before finishing the washing up is just asking for it.

Well, it works and so far I have taken it apart and cleaned it with an airgun. Will try your treatment for the caps.

Tipro stew on the right, random cherry crap cap stew on the left.

I'll leave them in over night. There is no engraving or anything and if the print or whatever it is on the cherrys comes of then all the better.

Icarium wrote:So I bought a Tipro on ebay.

Does anybody have advice on how to clean it?

Both the case and the keys look pretty nasty.

If you have general advice for some sort of plastic it would be good if you could also tell me how to figure out which plastic it is.

Take it apart.

Take the controller off. I had no tests cleaning the controller yet.

You can now clean the keyfield part (the black heavy thing with the switches on the upper side and the green plate at the underside) under warm water with Pril (I did not test other cleaning stuff). Let it dry for 3 days.

Shell:

there exist 2 different cases.
Normal plastic ones: just clean the same way as the keyfield.
Rough-plastic painted ones: be careful not to rub off the paint!

I did not yet test the Dishwasher. I think it is better to shrub it under the water tab than putting it into the dishwasher.


ps: Post a picture of it!

7bit wrote:You can now clean the keyfield part (the black heavy thing with the switches on the upper side and the gren plate at the underside) under warm water with Pril (I did not test other cleaning stuff). Let it dry for 3 days.

You're joking, aren't you?

No, I'm not.

I did this with both of my 32 key modules and they still work. I did this with one of the 122 key keyboard I recently got (still have to deliver yours) and it still works.

What do you think Cherry uses gold-contacts for?

PS: once the keys arrive I will wash them all, such that the factory dirt comes off.

Okay, so the kukident tablets didn't do much at least on the cherry caps. I also tried cleaning them with ethyl alcohol which works better but then again I scrubbed that cap for about 2 minutes.

7bit: I suppose you don't want to open up a switch and check if the spring is rusting?

They are all plate mounted. Once I've got the switches I will do tests with them.

I'm decadent so I will use the blacks, because they are the most expensive in the group buy.


Back on topic:
I use dish-wascher pulver for the key caps but be careful not to wait too long!!!

However, I use this for the Tipros:



edit: Anybody in for a group buy?

That would just about be enough for the last batch of keyboards that I got...

7bit wrote: Back on topic:
I use dish-wascher pulver for the key caps but be careful not to wait too long!!!

How long is too long and what happens then?

I also tried this:
but even though it seemed to work the keys had a dirty smear over it after I tried to rinse them. When they dried it got sticky again. You can still clean them one by one with your fingers or wipe them down when they're still wet but it's quite tedious.

I'm thinking about putting them in the dishwasher....

Icarium wrote:

7bit wrote: Back on topic:
I use dish-wascher pulver for the key caps but be careful not to wait too long!!!

How long is too long and what happens then?

It depends on the plastic. Not any plastic is dishwasher-proof. At least I would not leave them over nighht in the glass along witgh the dishwascher stuff.

I've got a keyboard from the 1980s where the color of the keys faded a bit and the surface became a bit rough. However, I had no trouble with Cherry or IBM keycaps. Also ALPS or Keytronic keycaps did not suffer. You should make sure they are double shots or dye-sub and not printed.

Icarium wrote:I also tried this:

somat.JPG

but even though it seemed to work the keys had a dirty smear over it after I tried to rinse them. When they dried it got sticky again. You can still clean them one by one with your fingers or wipe them down when they're still wet but it's quite tedious.

I'm thinking about putting them in the dishwasher....

LOL! You need to use pulver or liquid cleaner. That block is stupid to use in a dishwasher and even more stupid to use it to clean keycaps. How many hours does it take to resolve?

Oh, I did.
It was in there about 24 h with the somat tab and occasional shaking by yours truly.

Caps survived it just fine, color didn't even come off. They're laser etched or engraved. Don't know the difference. Maybe neither. :p

Dissolved in about 15 minutes.

put it in the washing machine at 60 degree. the easiest way. you don't have to buy anything extra.
just wash it with your towels...

CeeSA wrote:put it in the washing machine at 60 degree. the easiest way. you don't have to buy anything extra.
just wash it with your towels...

Seriously? I'm not worried about the caps breaking I'm just worried they might get lost in the machine and the machine might take damage.

Icarium wrote:I'm not worried about the caps breaking I'm just worried they might get lost in the machine and the machine might take damage.

You're kidding, aren't you?
http://www.amazon.de/Set-W%C3%A4schenet ... B001XRUDSS

I'll be doing a key cleaning tutorial someday but the magic words are "Simple Green" and "Novus".

Dental cleaning tabs are for old people, not old keys.

ripster wrote:I'll be doing a key cleaning tutorial someday but the magic words are "Simple Green" and "Novus".

Dental cleaning tabs are for old people, not old keys.

In their ad it says only for over 35 years! So some here might not want to use it.

I use these:


Also, I don't buy so many used keyboards anymore.

kbdfr wrote:

Icarium wrote:I'm not worried about the caps breaking I'm just worried they might get lost in the machine and the machine might take damage.

You're kidding, aren't you?
http://www.amazon.de/Set-W%C3%A4schenet ... B001XRUDSS

huh....great idea

I washed one of my Tipros one week ago, and assenbled it during the weekend. It works! But the soap removed all the lube/whatever from the stems, so there's lots of friction :/ Hopefully it's only temporary.

I use powdered dishwasher cleaner

If the caps are abs I use only warm water if they are pvt I use hot water

IBM caps clean up loverly like this

I actually bought one of those little clothes-nets for delicates and now I'm putting all my keys in the washing machine. So far none have suffered. I don't spin them, though; seems to dangerous.