Probably should be in one of the subforums but posted here for maximum exposure. Can be moved later I guess.

Anyway, typing away on my laptop and the sticking '6' key was causing me aggravation. I ripped it off, removed the crumb that was trapped underneath it and then replaced the key. Worked fine.

Decided to start on the spacebar and escape keys. Before I knew it, I'd ripped off all of the leftmost keys. Lots of crud, which I tried to clean with a stanley knife due to lack of appropriate equipment within reaching distance and spent the remainder of the tine trying to replace them. Took me 30 mins for 8 keys (I think).

Got me thinking. Should I try to remove all of the keys, remove the plastic white connectors, the flimsy rubber overlay and scrub* everything clean?

Has anyone else been crazy enough to do it? I may end up spending Friday afternoon doing it (half-day).

Edit: FWIW, I've already removed the screen surround and cleared the trapped crud there.




*in a delicate manner!

I've done it before, usually when the keys have started sticking or are horrendously dirty. The on-screen keyboard in Windows is really useful for showing where to put them back.

I once did it on a standard Mac desktop keyboard in work. Every key came off, I cleaned the keyboard throughly then set to cleaning each and every key individually.
Took bloody ages.

Mark

Laptop keys can be very fiddly and fragile. I prefer not to mess with them unless they're actually not working.

My netbook, the entire keyboard comes out when I do an upgrade so it gets de-fluffed then. Not as thoroughly as you're talking about though.

I have actually just washed normal keyboards in the past, with mixed results. Usually I just give them a good shake and vac.

I did it, broke a nice keyboard, vowed to never do it again.

This is on a 6-year old laptop so I'm keen to avoid breaking anything as it means new laptop.

You can get cans of compressed air with a wd40 style straw attachment, place under keys, press button, don't stand down-wind or you get a cloud of 6-year-old crud in the face. It's very satisfying. Then all you have to do is wipe down your keys with alcohol wipes and voila!

I used to do that and am still surprised at the amount of crud that wouldn't shift with it. I really need to shove a brush under there.

I am so very temped and if I break the odd plastic connector, I can use the ones from the defuct € and $ button on my keyboard (on either side of the cursor keys).

With my Apple CrumbCatcher keyboards, I used to rip all the keys off and soak them in a weak soap solution, wipe down the base plate with antiseptic, dry the keys off and replace them.

Works with most keyboards, although some are designed not to come apart like that, so beware.

A friend of mine, a heavy smoker, used to wash his keyboards every month in the dishwasher, his Siemens keyboard coped with that for about 10 years, before it gave up the ghost. Some modern keyboards are not so well built and won't survive such a soaking.

My Apple CrumbCatcher keyboard underwent cleaning about three times IIRC over the four years I had it. I would get a packet of cotton buds and either cheap rum or nail polish remover to remove the crap from each key and the base.

I did part of a keyboard on a crappy old laptop. Stopped when I broke one of the white thingamebobs.

I've done it quite a few times on a regular keyboard but for some reason I find laptop keys too fiddly.

Or you could just stop eating at your keyboard...?

I'm all fingers and thumbs when it comes to getting those key hinges right..... Cant imagine spending my time doing a whole keyboard

Burn him!