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Publisher19.6 Cleaning a Keyboard
Keyboards
collect all manner of dirt, dust, and sticky spills, particularly if
you smoke or drink near them. For routine cleaning, simply turn the
keyboard upside down and shake it vigorously, which causes an
incredible amount of stuff to fall out. Monthly, use your vacuum
cleaner to do a thorough job. It's a good idea to
shut down the system (or at least close all files) before you start
vacuuming. Otherwise, the random series of keystrokes that vacuuming
generates can have some unexpected results. In one case, we deleted a
document. Formula 409 and similar commercial cleaners do a good job
of removing grunge, but make sure the system is turned off while you
use them, and try to avoid allowing too much to run down inside the
keyboard. It's better to spray the cleaner on a
paper towel and then wipe than to spray the cleaner directly on the
keyboard.All of that presupposes that your keyboard is just normally dirty.
For cleaning seriously dirty keyboards (see Figure 19-6), we've been using the
dishwasher method for more than 20 years. Most people think
we're kidding when we recommend it, but it works for
us. We've used it successfully with both mechanical
and membrane-based keyboards. Proceed as follows.
- Disconnect the keyboard from the computer. We probably
shouldn't have to mention this step, but we
don't want to get sued by someone who
didn't realize it wasn't a good
idea to run his system unit and monitor through the dishwasher. Place the keyboard, keys down, in the top rack of the dishwasher.
Secure the keyboard cable with a rubber band to keep it from becoming
entangled in the moving parts of the dishwasher. Set the dishwasher
for gentle cycle and coolest water temperature, if those options are
available. Make sure to select the option for air-dry rather than a
heated drying cycle. Run the keyboard through an entire wash cycle, using dishwasher
detergent. When the cycle finishes, remove the keyboard and douse it
with at least a gallon of water, making sure to repeatedly flood the
keys themselves. For safety's sake, we always
recommend using distilled or deionized water, but in fact we always
use ordinary tap water and have never had a problem. After rinsing,
turn the keyboard this way and that and shake it to drain as much
water as possible. Use a towel to dry the accessible parts. At this
point, your keyboard should look like new (see Figure 19-7). Set your oven to 150 degrees (or its lowest setting). We have no idea
what the melting point of the plastic used in keyboards is, but we
haven't melted one yet. Bake the keyboard until
done, usually one to two hours. Let the keyboard cool, remove, and
serve.
We generally put the clean keyboard back in our stock of spares,
where it may have another month or three to air-dry naturally, but
we've also reconnected a keyboard immediately after
such treatment without any problems. We used to be concerned that
puddles might still be lurking inside the keyboard, so
we'd disassemble it and dry it thoroughly before
reconnecting it. But we've found that a couple of
hours inside a 150-degree oven does a pretty good job of evaporating
any residual water. Your mileage may vary. If you hear a sloshing
sound after drying, it's probably a good idea to
disassemble the keyboard and check further.
Figure 19-6. A keyboard after more than a year without cleaning
Figure 19-7. The same keyboard after a trip through the dishwasher
