Solved Lube it up! 😈

loveydovey

loveydovey

Everybody, lubricate your keyboards!

If it's your tool of trade, or if it's just a hobby, or you just want to experience nirvana today - lubricate your keyboard! It'll take you literally half an hour to an hour, and if you do this maybe once a year or two, it's time well spent.

It's heaven on earth if you lubricate your keyboard after a year or two or three of heavy use. Maybe more often? I know 2-3 years is tops before you start feeling keys getting stuck or key presses not registering unless you punch a key.

Use silicone lube - a generic one should work just fine.

If you have a recent cheapo Chinese keyboard - use a credit card to pop keys off like here:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr8HpOyqvlc
 
I just sprayed the lubricant into a cap from the lubricant bottle, then used a Q-tip - dip liberally and wipe the Q-tip around the plastic shaft of each key. Exercise slight care not to get much silicone down where the key hits the bottom membrane. And that's basically it.
 
You also can't just spray it all over. The reason is that if you get any lube between the membrane contacts, it'll prevent those contacts from touching when you press a key. You only lubricate the shaft of the keys.
 
loveydovey said:
You also can't just spray it all over. The reason is that if you get any lube between the membrane contacts, it'll prevent those contacts from touching when you press a key. You only lubricate the shaft of the keys.
Click to expand...
is that for smoother and silent typing?
i'd rather have a way to clean with my keyboard without having to remove each one of the keycaps··· sadly i don't have a compressed air can to just spray all over it
 
ruby R53 said:
is that for smoother and silent typing?
i'd rather have a way to clean with my keyboard without having to remove each one of the keycaps··· sadly i don't have a compressed air can to just spray all over it
Click to expand...
It's not just smoother and silent typing. After 2-3 years some keys don't register key presses without having to press them down with force, sort of. So when you type something fast, it skips characters.

It's like oiling a car after 50,000 miles of zero maintenance on the engine.

Removing keycaps is very fast, it's almost therapeutic because with every key fixed you get closer to having an amazing keyboard. :)

Air can will not do it, unfortunately. It probably makes matters worse because it blows all the dust into the very moving parts under the keys that you want to protect from gunk.
 
On the Model M, I used to pull all the keycaps off every year or two (actually it's the keycap covers with the lettering on, the rest of it stays on underneath), stick them in a washing up bowl and soak them overnight in washing up liquid and water. Next morning, rinse them off, pat dry with paper towels then leave to air dry. Keyboard comes out looking brand spanking new, lovely and clean, gets all the muck off the keys. Yeah, that was definitely therapeutic, and good for morale. I've never heard of lubricating a keyboard before, however! 😂 Learn something new every day. 😁
 
I guess you'd need to check what the keyswitches and other parts are made of, any membrane present, etc. Need to be careful that the 'lube' doesn't degrade small rubber/neoprene parts or plastic membranes. And you don't want it leaking onto contact surfaces and degrading contacts. Interesting though. Maybe the stuff is more like RS contact cleaner, rather than WD40. :-)
 
loveydovey said:
It's not just smoother and silent typing. After 2-3 years some keys don't register key presses without having to press them down with force, sort of. So when you type something fast, it skips characters.
Click to expand...
that doesn't look like something the oil is fixing, i'd guess it'd instead make it worse because oil is isolating···

loveydovey said:
Removing keycaps is very fast, it's almost therapeutic because with every key fixed you get closer to having an amazing keyboard. :)
Click to expand...
yeah no i can't see that, maybe if you have one of those 60% keyboards, but mine is full-sized

loveydovey said:
Air can will not do it, unfortunately. It probably makes matters worse because it blows all the dust into the very moving parts under the keys that you want to protect from gunk.
Click to expand...
that's the neat part, the surface on my keyboard isolates stuff from getting inside it as the key switches are half-exposed and the holes on it fit tightly around their bodies (🤤), so having dust just makes it look ugly rather than potentially creeping into the mechanism and eventually breaking it with ease
i'm pretty sure blasting some air should at least remove most of the dog and cat fur on it···
 
blackbird9 said:
Maybe the stuff is more like RS contact cleaner, rather than WD40
Click to expand...
You should NOT use WD40, you are right. A purely silicone-based lubricant (can be general purpose, for auto, as long as it's silicone-based). It can be spray too - the aerosoling compounds evaporate quickly if you pool the silicone in a cup for a few seconds.
ruby R53 said:
i'm pretty sure blasting some air should at least remove most of the dog and cat fur on it···
Click to expand...
Again, indiscriminate air blowing will also land the dust and gunk on the moving parts of the keyboard. It's very easy to collect and clean with the key caps off.

In a nutshell, you cannot just blow your keyboard and expect things to work out in the end.
 
If you don't want to clean too much, you can invest in this keyboard:

ciE7boskMKKAc2hfwo9LMo.jpg
 
I have no idea if this works, but, https://www.target.com/p/gems-keyboard-cleaning-gel/-/A-94404879 is from target. I've read good things about these gel things to clean keyboards, but it might have been from sites advertising it. In any case, if you do a search for keyboard cleaning gel, you'll see various links.

Here's another link with more description, but not sure if it works with mechanical keyboards or is just designed for chiclet style. ruby R53, if you try it, come back and let us know how it works.
www.reviewed.com

Your keyboard is just as dirty as a toilet—here's how to clean it

It's basically Gak for grown-ups.
www.reviewed.com www.reviewed.com
 
scottro said:
I have no idea if this works, but, https://www.target.com/p/gems-keyboard-cleaning-gel/-/A-94404879 is from target. I've read good things about these gel things to clean keyboards, but it might have been from sites advertising it. In any case, if you do a search for keyboard cleaning gel, you'll see various links.

Here's another link with more description, but not sure if it works with mechanical keyboards or is just designed for chiclet style. ruby R53, if you try it, come back and let us know how it works.
www.reviewed.com

Your keyboard is just as dirty as a toilet—here's how to clean it

It's basically Gak for grown-ups.
www.reviewed.com www.reviewed.com
Click to expand...
oh yeah i've heard of those before, they definitely look like they can only do a more superficial cleaning on your keyboard and nothing more, just a little something to make it look nicer if you only have a glance at it
so yeah it surely wouldn't be very effective on mine, since the keys on it are pretty tall and quite far away from its hard surface··· but i guess it could at least clean off that little gooch that accumulates on the edges of my keys from holding them for too long while gaming
 
blackbird9 said:
What is that thing?! How can you type with only 2 keys?
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