First working day of the year, newish keyboard

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I had been feeling dissatisfied with my computer keyboard as the keys keep getting stuck. I knew it was because it was dirty and it has been a few years old (probably six years old or more?). I had been window shopping for keyboards online and the ones I like are a few thousands of pesos…something I could not justify yet given that my current Logitech keyboard is perfectly serviceable.

Then I tried cleaning it myself.

With Youtube, a lot of patience, a stick vacuum cleaner, alcohol sprayer, a lot of cotton buds, and Wipeout (which you can get from any cleaning supplies section of a hardware or supermarket), I started disassembling my keyboard.

Before cleaning. It’s a petridish harboring pathogenic microorganisms and whatnot. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Wipeout and tweezers. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I was half afraid that I won’t be able to return the keys. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
  • Before
  • After
I sprayed everything with alcohol and cleaned it with cotton buds and a small and stiff paint brush. Then I used the vacuum cleaner (with a long nose attachment) to suck out the remaining dirt lurking in the membrane. Then I lubricated the shafts with Wipeout (it has lanolin) so they won’t get stuck when I press the keys.

  • Before
  • After
Here comes the hard part: taking off everything and cleaning each key with alcohol and in-between the keys and the membranes. I think it took me an hour or so. And one by one I lubricated the keys before returning them to their proper positions.

And for the love of God, if you’re anything like me who gets lost in mall parking spaces and wandering around trying to remember where I parked my car, PLEASE TAKE A PHOTO OF YOUR KEYBOARD before disassembling it. You may forget where the quotation marks and the colons are placed.

No, I didn’t forget to take a photo of my keyboard since one guy whose tutorial I watched reminded me of it. I could only imagine my frustration trying to piece back together my keyboard without a photo to guide me. This guy, didn’t take a photo so he swapped keys and had to take off the keys and put them back in again. So it’s kinda assuring to know that I’m not the only one who’s dumb like that.

Here is the video to show you how to lubricate the keys of a membrane keyboard. I don’t know if it’s the same for a mechanical keyboard but he warned that the clackety-clack of the mechanical keyboard may get muted if you lubricate the keys too much. It did turn by formerly clackety-clack keyboard silent now.

A clean, new-ish keyboard to inspire my workday…

I saved myself about PHP 2,000. If I didn’t solve the key-sticking problem by cleaning my old Logitech keyboard, then I would have been clicking my way into buying that Logitech K580 that I could also use with my iPad 9

Oh well, it was an unnecessary expense anyway.

There were a lot of cat hair underneath the keys. My cats love sitting or lying on anything that I am working on or working with, which includes keyboards, the printer, or my iPad.

This monster loves sitting on my iPad. See the cover? It’s full of scratches. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I love my little monsters anyway.

Sushi is savoring my petting. Photo by CallMeCreation.com