Mechanical keyboard horror story. We need a video about this.

[Pulunen]

So, be prepared for a sleepless night...

 

It was a regular night. I was watching some documentary in 480p from youtube. I have three monitors, but only the middle one was on, displaying the program. I had a big glass of some cheap cola with ice in front of me. Between me and my Corsair k95. When the documentary got really boring, and I decided to quit watching it, I raised my right arm to turn on the monitor left of my middle monitor. And a disaster strikes. The glass of soda is all over my desk, mainly on the almost new keyboard. Computer is going crazy, programs opening by themselves.

        When I realized what had happened, I turned the keyboard upside down, and unplugged it. The computer stopped doing crazy stuff. I had a very expensive and very dead keyboard that cost me almost two months salary. (coz I'm a poor student living home and not spoiled by my parents) I spent the whole night up trying to dry it. I disassembled it, carefully drained all the liquid inside. I had to take apart the section where the macro/lighting mode keys are, because the substance had got between the two contact surfaces under the buttons.

        In the morning I plugged the keyboard in. It worked. Backlighting worked just fine. But when I tried to write my password, I couldn't press the buttons. They were stuck. With some amount of force I got them moving, but mainly unusable for writing or gaming. not all of the switches were stuck, Only some on the left side of the keyboard. wasd was stuck, esc was stuck, all the G-keys were stuck, Left control, shift and Alt were stuck. And a couple keys around them.

 

At this point I promised to myself to never again drink or eat anything, or keep liquids or food on my pc desk. I arranged a side desk that is lower than my pc desk for food and other substances that may be harmful for electronic devices.

 

I was NOT going to put the keyboard into dishwasher. Or submerge it into anything. Taking apart the key mechanisms, turned out to be impossible without soldering, because of the led's. I stayed up the next night reading stuff about cleaning mechanical key switches from the internet. Q-tips soaked in rubbing alcohol do nothing for me. De-soldering and replacing the switches is the last option, I could totally do that, the switches just aren't quite inexpensive enough for me, and there is always a risk of doing something very wrong and ending up with totally useless keyboard.

 

Methods that I'm using now to free the the switches: 1:1 mix of warm water and rubbing alcohol, that I place inside the mechanism with a drinking straw. Then just spam the switch for a minute or so. Then I leave them do dry for a couple of days. Finally I try to find some lube that does not conduct electricity or destroy plastic, and carfully apply it inside the switches.

 

I know that I'm not the only person who has done this. And many still will do the same.

It would really help if Linus or one of his crew members tested mechanical keyboard/keyswitch cleaning methods and published some sort of video guide about it.

Please share your own keyboards survival through liquid spill if it has survived.

 

PJ out, thanks for your mental support.

[Askew]

tldr version he spilled his drink on the keyboard, it's broken and he's trying to clean it.

[SirBobson]

Soooooo sad man. Hope it stays with u  :unsure:

[Paralectic]

Aye that's a bummer.

I would give it at least 10 days in rice to dry it and clean it completely.

[Drown]

I spilled a glass of water on my K70 the very same week that I got it, it started doing crazy stuff like yours (opening programs and everything), I unplugged it, flipped it over and let it dry for the night. The next morning it was working fine, I suppose that water does less damage than Coke (it doesn't get your keys all sticky), but I'm never putting open drinks on my desk anymore.

 

Good luck for the rest!

[daemonowner]

Crappy Logitech Membrane Master Race.

[Paralectic]

NEW ON HBO 17-06-2014:

 

MECH KEYBOARD HORROR STORY, every Tuesday at 12PM!

[Vitalius]

.... 

Soak it in slightly soapy water for 1 day. Drain the water out of the keyboard. Put the keyboard in a dry area for 1 week. Leave to dry. 

That's the simplest way to clean it of the stickiness. Electronics aren't this mysterious thing that just dies when liquids are put on them. They need electricity to be damaged by liquids. Without it, they can get as wet as they want as long as they don't corrode (rust) and that takes a long time.

[mansoor_]

such a sad first post

[Marvzl1357]

Sorry to hear.

I haven't watched it myself, but have you seen Jayztwocents's video about cleaning mechanical keyboards? that may or may not help depending on the content of the video. I haven't watched it but maybe give it a go...

[Pulunen]

I couldn't find Jayztwocents's video, but I saw Paul's hardware's video during my research.

So far the switches are looking good, the rice is a good idea. I have some of those "do not eat" Silica gel -packs somewhere, they'll do the same trick.

Thanks!

[Pulunen]

Ok, the keyboard has been drying in silica gel for 15 hours now. I took it out of the bag, and tried the switches. They are moving now, but still sticking a bit.

 

.... 

Soak it in slightly soapy water for 1 day. Drain the water out of the keyboard. Put the keyboard in a dry area for 1 week. Leave to dry. 

That's what I'm going to do now. I'll put in only the sticky end of the keyboard, and remove those hard-to-dry parts under macro buttons. We'll see if that works. I hope so.

[PuNkPoEtS]

Snip

 

 

check out this video

 

[TheProfosist]

Cleaning a mech board is easy hell rip it apart switch by switch of necessary.

Check geekhack or mechanical keyboards sub reddit. I think Paul did a video about cleaning a keyboard on his YouTube channel (Paul's Hardware).

[HannahLewis]

June 17th 2014, never forget.

[flibberdipper]

Crappy Logitech Membrane Master Race.

I've spilled half a 2 liter of Pepsi on my K260. Still works fine.

[AnnoyedShelf]

Holy Christ on a bike! I would've screamed for like a week if this happened to my Das.  Almost reminds me of this story on reddit where a guy accidentally got thermal paste on the pins of his LGA 1155 socket, he said he screamed for around a week trying to get the thermal paste off and succeeded.  I'd just soak the whole thing in alcohol if I were you.

[Pulunen]

That video told me about the straw method I used. 

 

Cleaning a mech board is easy hell rip it apart switch by switch of necessary.

I can't take apart the switches because of the led's. I'd have to do some de-soldering...

Soaking it in alcohol is not possible, so I went with the soap water. We'll see tomorrow what it does.

[Pulunen]

Ok, it didn't take much time. The when I lifted the keyboard from the bucket of soap water, it was messed up. All covered in white powdery type of substance. Carefully opened it, thank god that shit didn't stick to the pcb. There were few places on the pcb with thick line of that white stuff, but it came off with a q-tip and rubbing alcohol. From the keyboard surface it came off with the same method. Guess it was just the soap i used... 

          Then I disassembled the macro key mechanism and dried the water between the two contact surfaces. Put the whole thing together with a couple of screws and drying in silica gel bags. So far looking good, just like yesterday, when it really wasn't good. Now just keeping my fingers crossed. I'll let it dry for a week or so, trying every day if it still is all clear and not sticking.

[TheProfosist]

That video told me about the straw method I used. 

 

I can't take apart the switches because of the led's. I'd have to do some de-soldering...

Soaking it in alcohol is not possible, so I went with the soap water. We'll see tomorrow what it does.

You could have just pulled the switches apart even if there wernt leds. you would have to desolder the switches to open them due to the plate

[Pulunen]

OMFG! oh yes! The soap water eliminated the sickyness! I'll leave it dry completely (just in case it hasn't already) and hope that it's still working after all this torture. Horror story has a thrilling grand finale...

 

Thanks for your tips and support guys, they really helped!

[PuNkPoEtS]

OMFG! oh yes! The soap water eliminated the sickyness! I'll leave it dry completely (just in case it hasn't already) and hope that it's still working after all this torture. Horror story has a thrilling grand finale...

 

Thanks for your tips and support guys, they really helped!

 

 

thats what we are here for

[Vitalius]

OMFG! oh yes! The soap water eliminated the sickyness! I'll leave it dry completely (just in case it hasn't already) and hope that it's still working after all this torture. Horror story has a thrilling grand finale...

 

Thanks for your tips and support guys, they really helped!

That'll be about tree fiddy. /joke

Glad things worked out.

 

[P e r s e p h o n e]

.... 

Soak it in slightly soapy water for 1 day. Drain the water out of the keyboard. Put the keyboard in a dry area for 1 week. Leave to dry. 

That's the simplest way to clean it of the stickiness. Electronics aren't this mysterious thing that just dies when liquids are put on them. They need electricity to be damaged by liquids. Without it, they can get as wet as they want as long as they don't corrode (rust) and that takes a long time.

Totally off topic but as soon as I saw your avatar and the post just below yours I immediately remembered Graham Specter in the Anime. He's always going on about sad stories. 

[techswede]

My K95 survived a full cup of coffee being dropped onto it. Im sure yours will be fine