Cleaning Keyboard?

Hey all, quick question:

After being used for a few months, my W520 now has a somewhat greasy and oily keyboard thanks to my fingers. From time to time, I would sometimes use a damp cloth or paper towel to lightly wipe down the surface of the keys, but that would only keep them clean for a couple of days before they go back to being greasy and oily.

What are your methods for keeping a clean keyboard for extended periods of time? Preferably, a home-made solution would be great. Thanks

 

I usually soak a paper towel with windex and give it a good wiping. Then vacuum with a soft brush adapter.

 

Make sure your hands are 100% clean before you use your laptop, I did that with my T410s and X201 and they were pristine when I traded them.

 

Rubbing alcohol and microfiber cloth. The cloth you get with Apple products works pretty darn well. If you want to get crud out from under your keys, well, that's a different story.

 

I have yet to meet anyone as OCD as me about washing my hands very frequently, but nevertheless, Thinkpad keyboards do develop a sheen to them relatively quickly (unlike, say, Elitebook keyboards). You should clean regularly with a 50/50 water and rubbing alcohol mix on a lint-free (higher quality) paper towel. Obviously, make sure your computer is off when you do so.

Alternatively, you can use a keyboard skin with your Thinkpad, which is what I am doing on my X120e. Downside is that some of the great typing feel is lost.

 

I use cyberclean (click me) to keep keyboards clean.

But if the keyboards is or gets really really dirty I apply a more drastic solution. I remove the keyboard from the notebook, put it under the kitchen's sink and wash it with hot water. Then I let it dry at least for 24 hours. It worked so far in all my Thinkpads

My 2 cents...

 

isopropyl alcohol + paper towel. I've done that since my R50e days and haven't had an issue since.

 

I use compressed air to blast through it.

For deeper cleans, unmount the keyboard and blast it with water.

 

submersing your keyboard in water does not ruin it?

 

If there's no current running (ie, it's off), and water contacts electronic circuits, there should be no damage. The issue is when there's electricity flowing through it and water essentially short-circuits flow.

So, if you can guarantee that the keyboard will be 100% dry when you next turn on your laptop, then washing it carefully with water should do no damage. The problem would be if you start using your computer before all the moisture is gone. Personally, I wouldn't risk it, but if you want to try it, there's no harm done if you're careful.

 

Microfibre cloth + water + dishwashing liquid (not the dishwasher one)
Wipe, rinse cloth, wipe suds off, rinse cloth, dry with dry cloth.

That or get a protector for it. I use a microfibre cloth as a protector to type on (blind typing ftw), which is also useful because I can use it to wipe my screen whenever I need to.

Submerging just the keyboard plate should be fine, although I'd think you'd get better results from running water. Indeed, ensure it is 100% dry before putting it back in the machine. Did it with an X100e keyboard.

 

While the thinkpad are water resistent, doesn't you run into the problem of water corrosion.

 

you would still have to deal with these problems. Washing your keyboard in a torrent of water should only be done when you have no other options.

 

I have been cleaning my keyboard with water and tissue paper, many times, and I've always took the keyboard out so it is easier to handle.

What I have discovered is that the front side of the keyboard is completely water proof, but the backside(metal plate) is not. I only accidentally got some water on the back plate, many keys won't work after that.

I think the reason is that on the back plate, there is a hole corresponding to each key. What is under each key is a balloon like structure made of silicon rubber, when you press the key, you press and crush the balloon, so you need a hole to let the air inside out. When you have water on the back plate, if you accidentally press some keys, then when the keys returned to their unpressed positions, water will be sucked in through the holes, and short the circuit inside the balloon.

 

A new keyboard is not that expensive on ebay, so if it's too dirty or you broke it during cleaning, just get a new one.