Best way to clean an older keyboard?

[billabeasta]

Hey Everyone,

 

So I just got this really sweet older dell mechanical keyboard, the thing came with an older windows xp computer. But the thing is it is kinda dusty, and I wanted to find out how best to clean it. I haven't really had too many keyboard before so I am a noob to proper maintenance. I really like this one and want it to last. It isn't crazy dirty, mainly just some dust. It basically sat around for it's whole life, and got used MAYBE a handful of hours in that time, not even doing any type of normal typing which is really nice, mainly just a couple entries here and there. So any recommendations on a good cleaner? I just didn't want to get something that might, mess up the key text, or anything like that, just because it is in pristine condition. Thanks for the help!

[minibois]

Take off the keycaps (either with a proper keycap puller or an improvised paperclip version), clean these with luke-warm water (if it doesn't fully clean, you can always introduce a bit of dish soap later) and let those fully dry.

Now you can focus you energy on the keyboard, which you can probably most easy clean with a vacuum and later some rag with a bit of luke-warm water (if you have really stubborn dirt you can always use some chemicals later).

 

Just be careful, under the keycap there might be a spring. Take these out and set them to aside. Clean these with a brush and nothing else.

Also, don't start off ripping off all keys, start off with one to see how the process goes.

 

P.S. out of curiosity, what keyboard and what kind of switches are we talking about?