Cleaning the Keycaps and Switches of a Keyboard: A Step-by-Step Guide

When it comes to cleaning your keyboard, there are several parts that require attention to detail and care. In this article, we will focus on cleaning the keycaps and switches of a keyboard, as well as other areas that may need attention.

First, start by removing the keycaps from the keyboard. This is usually done by gently prying them off or using a specialized tool designed for this purpose. Be careful not to damage the keycaps themselves, as they can be delicate. Once you have removed all the keycaps, wash them in warm soapy water to remove any dirt or debris that may have accumulated inside.

After washing the keycaps, use a soft cloth to dry them thoroughly. You should also tap them gently to remove any excess moisture that may still be trapped inside. This will help prevent any water spots from forming on the keycap surface. Next, inspect the keycaps for any signs of damage or wear. If you notice any cracks or broken keys, it's best to replace them.

Once the keycaps are dry and clean, move on to cleaning around the switches. The switches are typically located at the bottom of the keyboard and can be difficult to access. Use a small brush or a can of compressed air to gently remove any debris or dust that may have accumulated in the switch area. Be careful not to press too hard, as this can damage the switches.

Next, use a soft cloth to wipe down the switches and surrounding areas. This will help remove any dirt or grime that may have built up over time. If you notice any stubborn stains or debris, you can use a gentle cleaning solution specifically designed for electronics.

When cleaning around the switches, it's also important to check the stabilizers. The stabilizers are small metal pieces that support the switches and keep them in place. Over time, they can accumulate dust and debris, which can affect the keyboard's performance. Use a small brush or a can of compressed air to clean out any debris from the stabilizers.

In addition to cleaning around the switches, you should also check the keyboard base for any signs of damage or wear. The keyboard base is typically made of plastic or metal and can accumulate dirt and debris over time. Use a soft cloth to wipe down the keyboard base and remove any dust or grime that may have built up.

One thing to keep in mind when cleaning the keyboard base is that there may be a lot of water inside the keycap itself. So, you should tap them to remove some of that water and face them up so that portion can dry. You should also replace this water a couple of times before actually drying the keycaps.

It's also important to check the keyboard for any signs of rust or corrosion. The keyboard base may have accumulated rust or corrosion over time, which can affect its performance. Use a gentle cleaning solution specifically designed for electronics to remove any rust or corrosion from the keyboard base.

To clean the keyboard switches, it's best to use a specialized tool designed for this purpose. These tools typically have soft bristles that are gentle on the switches and can be used to remove debris and dust. You should also use a can of compressed air to blow out any remaining debris from the switch area.

When cleaning the keyboard switches, make sure not to press too hard, as this can damage the switches. Use a gentle touch and work slowly to clean out any debris or dust that may have accumulated in the switch area.

In addition to cleaning around the switches, you should also check the cable for any signs of wear or damage. The cable connects the keyboard to the computer and can accumulate dirt and debris over time. Use a soft cloth to wipe down the cable and remove any dust or grime that may have built up.

One thing to keep in mind when cleaning the keyboard is that it's gonna be a lot of work inside the keycap itself so you gotta tap them to remove some of that water and face them up so that portion can dry. You should also give each key a little polish just to remove any residue that you have put on it while handling the keycaps.

The author of this article used a specific technique for cleaning the keyboard switches, which involved using a small brush or a can of compressed air to gently remove debris and dust from the switch area. They also used a gentle cleaning solution specifically designed for electronics to wipe down the switches and surrounding areas.

Cleaning a keyboard can be a time-consuming process, but it's worth it to keep your keyboard in good working condition. By following these steps and using the right cleaning tools, you can keep your keyboard looking like new and performing at its best.

The author of this article would recommend that people who have experience with cleaning keyboards share their tips and techniques in the comments section below. They also mentioned that if you have a floating style keyboard, it's even easier to clean around the switches.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhow did it get so bad today good people let's properly clean my keyboard it sounds good it feels good but it's nasty a quick haircut later i want to tell you about this keyboard i've been using the extra 5k for tkl rgb for two years now ever since its launch in 2019 this has been my go-to there was resistance on when i pulled out this piece of hair this is what i would consider to be the standard gunk accumulation after two years nothing's been spilled over it uh it's just particles it's got gunky on the keycaps on the actual frame there's a bunch of crap underneath the keycaps i'm not a keyboard cleaning master but we're gonna use some common sense some commonly available tools to my disposal you could buy keyboard cleaning kits on amazon but there's like a thousand variations with them and i'll link the ones that i think are actually good down below i have done a few deep cleans on other keyboards in the past but this one's different because this is the hardware canucks edition extra 5k for tkl okay and also the keycaps are not the floating style which means that getting access to the the area around the switches is a bit more difficult but i hope we can remove the top element of the frame to give us access to all the gunk put everything on display you say the tower 100 mini by thermaltake grants you a three-way view of your components with that mini vending machine look that is surely unique for an itx enclosure you've got atx power supply support large cpu tower heatsinks triple slot gpus with no riser necessary and all the ventilated panels are properly dust proof the motherboard io is facing up for easy access and the two included fans ensure proper airflow out of the box this tower 100 mini is for those who like to explore check it out below so first when it comes to the tools you don't need a lot okay you can use toothpicks q-tips toothbrushes or maybe even paint brushes this is what i'll be using to move around the gunk around the switches a keycap puller of course is appreciated if you have tweezers it is awesome to get access to those hairs i have a mix of rubbing alcohol and water and some soapy water for all my keycaps so first thing i'm gonna do is turn the keyboard around and punch it a little bit so that whatever gunk has accumulated around the switches and around the keycaps can fall out wow it works so the first thing i'm doing here is removing my top plate something that is possible on this particular keyboard your keyboard might not have this or might not have the top light altogether with the floating style keycaps which would make the next thing the next process much easier with my keyboard in particular having no top plate gives me better access to the very edges of the keyboard for better cleaning this allows me to clean this portion separately and also would be much much easier to actually remove these keycaps now before removing the keycaps you can take a photo of it so you can reassemble the keycaps back in place easier you can also find this product online open it up on your monitor and have a much larger image on where each uh keycap goes that's what i'm going to do and it's time to remove all the keycaps so because i removed the top plate removing the actual keycaps that are on the edges is much easier we also have a keycap puller and this is going to be just a much faster job you got to be careful removing the larger keys because of the stabilizer so i like to kind of pull on one side and then pull on the other all right the last space bar boom the next thing is for our keycaps to take a nice soapy bath not only will this get rid of any gunk that is like underneath the keycap near the stem but also help to dissolve any of that grease and stuff that has accumulated over time on the actual surface now i did say that i'm pretty impressed with how clean it is but at further closer inspection um it is actually quite nasty not just uh like the large hair particles but just if you go really close with the macro you can see just the gunk accumulation no just really small particles that are kind of grimy but also large particles as well which is i don't know i don't know what it is probably skin i am not puncturing any stickers so i shouldn't void my warranty all right so just as expected it just comes off like so wow there's even stuff inside this black frame and now i know why this keyboard sounds so damn good it's because of this dampening foam that makes the the base otherwise hollow and kind of fills that in so it doesn't sound hollow brilliant i will remove the cable just so that it's not on my way for this next part i'm using a paintbrush you can use a toothbrush or something with hard bristles to remove any of the large particles like hairs and stuff and i'm really surprised at how like dispersion of these large particles is very specific to like around the space bar around the enter and so much gunk around my left shift you want to use something hard that doesn't absorb liquid because as i go over with the paintbrush around stuff paintbrush perhaps is not the best idea here because i can feel this this is very grimy already and that's not a good thing it's interesting the stuff that comes out of the stabilizers my gosh because they are also looped here there's a bunch of hair that's uh also lubed now great my gosh this left shaft is so filthy now that all the large and visible hairs have been removed from the base it's time to use a cotton swab to go around the really nasty areas and just like try and scrub off the grime it is really important to make some alcohol in the water because otherwise if you're just using water see all this gunk here it would not come off as easy it would just like climb around even more spread around a bit more you know dislodge it from its uh original position and use the dry side to kind of collect it all there we go this was a bit more difficult than i expected to be honest just because i didn't expect the grime to be so sticky so it's not just a matter of coming in with a cotton swab and wiping it off you really physically have to kind of scrub it off and then come in again with something else with a new cotton swab to like remove the gunk that way so uh the good thing is though you know it was fairly concentrated around the space bar around the left shift around the the right enter as well even the wasp area was fairly clean and everything else outside of it is uh pretty much brand new so now it's time to wash the keycaps and reassemble i made a mistake of using the paintbrush before removing all the grime with the cotton swab and that is because the grime got absorbed into the paint brush and that is kind of nasty it's very sticky i had to wash it with soap and even still it's just all right so now it's time to work on our keycaps they've been soaking in the water and the soapy water for about an hour and what i like to do is one by one take them out and dry them on a kitchen towel one thing to keep in mind there's gonna be a lot of water inside the keycap itself so you gotta tap them to remove some of that water and face them up so that portion can dry wow they smell clean this is going to be a really nice restoration you should also replace this water a couple times before actually drying the keycaps uh just to remove any of the soap and any residue that has accumulated in the water itself i am going one by one just so i can clean all five sides of the keycap so not just the top surface but whatever gunk has accumulated on the side of the keycap and that is very important once they're all dry and on the keyboard i will give them one last polish but uh that's pretty much it i'm very happy with the the keyboard base uh all the gunk has been removed around the switches around the stabilizers and the stabilizers because they're lubed there was a lot of stuff like just hair and gunk accumulated around the lube so you kind of have to be careful not to take the lube out or not remove too much of it or if you have your own you know you can always replenish the lube on the stabilizers yourself so now our base is clean our keycaps are dry and my gosh what a difference it is actually like feeling the base plate around the switches it's no longer sticky and grimy it's smooth and also i mean this is a white base plate if this was black all the gunk and stuff would not be as visible as it is of course on the white model okay cable is connected back now before i put the top light back on i want to do one last sweep for anything that has accumulated over here little particles that i didn't fully pick up and notice i'm brushing kind of like up or down i'm not trying to brush within here because it does that doesn't get rid of the particles away from the actual board so now let's uh give this one last sweep and it's brand new basically wow looking clean time to do the keycaps this is my least favorite part i do have the image of the keyboard open on my monitor so i can refer to that for layout but normally what i like to do is start with like the f keys you know the larger control shift stuff that i know where everything goes and then move on to filling in the rest of the stuff the last thing i'm doing is to give each key a little polish just to remove any residue that i have put on it while handling the keycaps all right it does look brand new well done dimitri alright good people this thing is back in working order in brand new condition cleaning the keycaps cleaning around the switches good thing the top plate is removable to give me better access to all the gunk and stuff around the switches but if you have a floating style keyboard it's even easier the main thing to keep in mind when you're cleaning around the switches is to make sure that the tools you're using don't leave any residue so the little bristles on my brushes they did fall off a couple of times that's why i had to do one last cleaning before i put everything together and also not to use too much liquid because that would um you know just careful not to leak around the switch careful not to use too much alcohol on especially with abs key caps because it will rub off some of that coating for keyboards that do disassemble i would recommend it to make your job easier of course keeping in mind on how to assemble the keyboard back together for example here it's good that you don't need to remove any of the rubber feet to access the screws all four screws are easily accessible but for some keyboards you would need to remove let's say a rubber foot underneath where you find the screw but luckily we didn't have to do it here this was a very simple procedure you know i'm not disassembling any of the switches to remove some gunk there i'm not uh removing all the lube from the stabilizers because actually it has plenty of it still even after me uh you know carving some of that out stuff so that i could remove some of that residue overall i'm very happy how this turned out this is basically in a brand new condition uh just how i got it two years ago so if you have any keyboard cleaning experience let me know in the comments and if you ever had to clean switches how did you do it share your thoughts down below i'm dmitry thanks so much for watching clean your keyboards responsibly my friend although after two years this was not in such a bad condition as uh as i've seen online about keyboards that have not been cleaned for years but i'm duchy thanks much for watching check out this other relevant content subscribe for more i'll talk to you in the next video\n"