Sticky keyboard keys & cleaning

B0bbyEwing

Googling this everything seems to point at spilling a sticky liquid (fizzy drink for example) on your keyboard & cleaning it up. Which would explain the sticky keys obviously.

But what about when nothing has been spilled?

My keys have started sticking, annoyingly. Sometimes I can be pressing a few times & nothing registers. I'm sure some will hope that all my keys stop registering .

Why would these start randomly sticking if nothing has been spilled on them?

I've tapped out the keyboard numerous times, used the brush attachment on the hoover.

It's possible to remove the keys but I read about not using isopropyl alcohol if you have the rubber internal - which my keyboard has underneath every key.

Would rather not buy a new keyboard but this is getting annoying.

Boohoo

B0bbyEwing said:

Googling this everything seems to point at spilling a sticky liquid (fizzy drink for example) on your keyboard & cleaning it up. Which would explain the sticky keys obviously.

But what about when nothing has been spilled?

My keys have started sticking, annoyingly. Sometimes I can be pressing a few times & nothing registers. I'm sure some will hope that all my keys stop registering .

Why would these start randomly sticking if nothing has been spilled on them?

I've tapped out the keyboard numerous times, used the brush attachment on the hoover.

It's possible to remove the keys but I read about not using isopropyl alcohol if you have the rubber internal - which my keyboard has underneath every key.

Would rather not buy a new keyboard but this is getting annoying.

Not what you want to hear but it would be easier to buy a new keyboard than spending lot's of time trying to clean it.

You can get keyboard cover over lays that protect the keyboard from dirt ,food and liquids.

Grey_Critic

I assume we are talking about a Laptop, It is not sticking keys but wear. Where are you using it? One answer would be to plug a keyboard in - I do sometimes if I have a lots of reference material when I am writing risk assessments and such. Move the laptop out of the way to clear deskspace - you can buy a keyboard for as little as £5. Alternative as has been suggested is new keyboard.

B0bbyEwing

Grey_Critic said:

I assume we are talking about a Laptop, It is not sticking keys but wear. Where are you using it? One answer would be to plug a keyboard in - I do sometimes if I have a lots of reference material when I am writing risk assessments and such. Move the laptop out of the way to clear deskspace - you can buy a keyboard for as little as £5. Alternative as has been suggested is new keyboard.

Curious why you assume laptop? Is it because that's what you use? 

If reading a post like that I'd assume pc but maybe that's because that's what I use. 

Anyway, it's a pc not laptop. 

CliveOfIndia

If it's a bog-standard mechanical keyboard, it's not difficult to carefully prise off all the keys, give everything a wipe with a damp cloth then put the keys back on.  It may or may not cure the problem, but there's nothing lost by giving it a go.

Top tip - take a photo of the keyboard before removing the keys, makes it a lot easier to put everything back in the right place 

womble12345

I have put dirty keyboards in the dishwasher in the past, it worked wonders. Not sure I would try that on this wireless keyboard though as it has batteries and electrics.

flaneurs_lobster

Long ago my company had IBM terminals, had big fat glorious mechanical keyboards that you could really hit hard

 

Twice a year the kit was visited by a Terminal Sanitiser (this kit was expensive and shared among many users),
The main contaminant that needed removing was fag ash under the keys. 

Brie

flaneurs_lobster said:

Long ago my company had IBM terminals, had big fat glorious mechanical keyboards that you could really hit hard

Twice a year the kit was visited by a Terminal Sanitiser (this kit was expensive and shared among many users),
The main contaminant that needed removing was fag ash under the keys. 

Place I worked for up to 2003 had a team that came around once a month to thoroughly clean all the keyboards, mice and general desktops.  Smoking in the office wasn't allowed at that point but eating at one's desk was.  Team members were moved around regularly and so might find themselves working at a colleague's mucky desk.  Fortunately I had suffered a wrist injury at work so reasonable adjustments meant I had a special keyboard and mouse I would move with me.

unforeseen

womble12345 said:

I have put dirty keyboards in the dishwasher in the past, it worked wonders. Not sure I would try that on this wireless keyboard though as it has batteries and electrics.

Just take the batteries out first. 

TBH I would have thought a dishwasher would be a bit too hot for washing keyboards. 

Cisco001

unforeseen said:

womble12345 said:

I have put dirty keyboards in the dishwasher in the past, it worked wonders. Not sure I would try that on this wireless keyboard though as it has batteries and electrics.

Just take the batteries out first. 

TBH I would have thought a dishwasher would be a bit too hot for washing keyboards. 

I used washing bowl with brush to wash the wired usb keyboard... 

B0bbyEwing

Is this a wind up with all this dishwasher talk? Lol. 

Fag ash will 100% not be the issue here. 

Its not really been discussed so far but what part of the keyboard will be THE problem? 

Is it the stick bit on the underside of the cap? 
The rubber insert that's part of the keyboard itself? 
The other rim of the keyboard bit where the stick bit goes in? 

What part of the keyboard will be sticking?