[SGVLUG] Keyboard Washing, just popit into a Dishwasher!

[David Lawyer]

I've had lots of problems with wet keyboards as I used to have my dumb
terminal outside and it got wet in rainstorms.  An additional problem
is that I now only have one keyboard since my spare shrunk when I
heated it in the oven under very low heat in order to evaporate the
water.  The keys didn't shrink but the plastic that surrounds the
keyboard did making the keys rub on the plastic and not pop back up
when depressed.

My  keyboard was specially made for a CIT-101e dumb terminal made in
1983 and finding a replacement might be difficult.  So when a key
doesn't work because it got wet (or for unknown reasons) all it needs
is cleaning inside the switch (or sometimes exercise with the keyboard
turned upside down).  This keyboard has an enclosed individual switch
for each key.  The switch often has to be taken apart and the contacts
cleaned with a contact cleaner like used to be used on TV tuners.
Sometimes just removing the keycap and spraying into the switch works.

Just wondering, do the keycaps pry off on standard keyboards?  Do any
of them have individual key switches?  I guess the switches will last
forever if kept clean but they are not too easy to take apart to clean.

			David Lawyer