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

[George R Jaffray, Jr]

BJ: Does anything work for laptop keyboards? I spilled
a tiny bit of coffee on one, and now the . and / keys
don't work. 

BJ: I might be able to use the machine for Linux even without
fixing _if_ I could get the online keyboard to work under
Ubuntu, but it doesn't come up after setting it. I think I
am pretty much stuck with these keys missing, even to
install a new distribution.

Bob Jaffray
 
On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:16:28 -0700 David Lawyer <dave at lafn.org> writes:
> 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
> 
>