I spilled some grape juice (about two table spoons worth or so) over my Model M about a week ago.
I immediately cleaned it up as best as I could, couldn’t take it apart right away because I didn’t have the correct tool. I didn’t think much of it, honestly, because of how hardy the keyboard had been up to that point, and plugged it back in. The keystrokes were all over the place and some didn’t register at all.
Anyway, today I took it apart, cleaned it more thoroughly after being away from home for a while and it seems to work fine now apart from the “7” key (non numlock) not registering at all and the space bar registering twice in one press occasionally.
I’m pretty sure there’s some residue on the membrane messing with the input. How can I clear that without having to break all the rivets and doing a bolt/screw mod afterwards?
Reseating the ribbon cables didn’t help.
Edit: It works perfectly now, I basically cleaned it as best as I could with 99% isopropyl and then left it to dry.
Allowing it to dry is the crucial part here. I’ve posted a picture of the now working keyboard on here if you’re interested.
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If there’s water between the membranes an alternative is to wait a long time for it to dry out (months).
If it was just water maybe but it wasn’t unfortunately. Sorry for the confusing title
A plastic-safe contact cleaning spray, like the ones made by CRC, should do the trick. Since the can is pressurized and you can attact a little tube to the nozzle, it should be able to reach all the nooks and crannies that you wouldn’t be able to reach with just plain isopropyl alcohol.
Hm, I think i have some similar sprays at home so I could try that but wouldn’t it leave some residue of its own?
I don’t know which spray you’ve got, but CRC doesn’t leave any residue and gets evaporated in a few seconds. Whatever it is that you’re using, make sure it says it’s safe to use on electronics.
Try some isopropyl alcohol, maybe a cotton swab or a soft toothbrush.
That’s what I thought as well but I’m always weary about IPA damaging the plastic… would it even evaporate properly between the layers?
I would fully take apart the keyboard. The plastic can be cleaned in the sink with dish soap and lukewarm water. The pcb gets the iso.
I’ve cleaned the case itself in the sink and brushed the pcb with an old toothbrush (just had some dust on it). I’m probably gonna take it apart again and try to wash the pcb and the membrane with iso, hopefully that’ll help.
Good luck, lemme know if it worked!
It now works pretty good after drenching the whole membrane/key switch layer sandwich in 99% iso a couple of times. The 7 key now works flawlessly, the space bar still occasionally gives me double spaces with one press but I’d say not as frequent any more, I’ll see if it goes away entirely as it dries completely.
Ayyy, result! I appreciate you getting back to me. It’s not perfect, but it sounds like at least the keyboard’s close to normal now. Time to pick a new spot to put your drink as well.
Unfortunately it looks like I spoke too soon, I just tested it again and the inputs for the S and W keys are all over the place…
I really don’t know what’s going on, maybe I shouldn’t have used the full strength iso? Don’t really know what to do now.
