🚀 go-pugleaf

Alex Blakemore (alex@cs.umd.edu) wrote:
: In article <1992Aug21.192538.8459@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au> ede978e@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au (Robert D. Nicholson) writes:
: > Can somebody explain how to clean out the gunk in my keyboard?
: 
: this worked for my new style keyboard - no guarantees
: 1. take off some keys by pulling straight up with needle nose pliers.
:    the space bar lets you clean more but is hard to replace.
: 2. clean
: 3. replace keys
: 
: under the space bar is a thin metal rod - it needs to snap into
: the two small plastic slots under the key.
: the only way I could reposition it was to
: 1. put on the space bar,
: 2. take out the screws from the back
: 3. gently pry up the top (partly),
: ... (and other cleaning instructions) ...

WHOA!  Wait a second here!  Do *NOT* do this, at least in this order and with
these tools.  This is all you need, and how to REALLY go about it in a safe
way that won't snap keys off or potentially ruin things.

Get these materials: 1) a cleaning cloth.  Yes, CLOTH.  Not a Kleenex(tm),
just a plain cotton cloth.  2) some isopropyl alcohol.  Go to a drugstore if
you have to; get the highest % of isopropyl you can find (read: NOT rubbing
alcohol).  3) Q-tips.  4) a Phillips #2 screwdriver.

Do this: Disconnect the keyboard and mouse from the (powered off) monitor/
keyboard (respectively).  Dismantle the keyboard by unscrewing the 7 screws
on the underside; 5 are visible, 2 are under the rubber feet.  Pull the
plastic case apart, and remove the keyboard from case.

NOTE: Although keyboards are essentially not much more than a mess of
switches wired together on a board, there ARE I.C.s in your keyboard.  Avoid
touching the PC-board at all costs, if you can.

Set the keyboard down on a clean tabletop, and if you have to remove the
keycaps then DO IT BY HAND.  Do NOT force them off by twisting them or yanking
too hard.  Be specially careful about the spacebar, as other people have noted.

Use the Q-tips, cloth and alcohol to clean as you need to.  Do NOT use water
or any other liquid substances that can corrode your wirings.  At this point,
I'm sure you can figure out how to stick the whole thing back together again.

If it doesn't seem obvious, you shouldn't be doing it in the first place.

-- 
Dan Berry == President, NeXT Edmonton Owners Network / UofA Computers Tech.
	bugs%atlantis@cs.ualberta.ca (bugs@atlantis.uucp) *** NO NeXTmail! ***
"On a first date, watch how your date treats the waiter, the bartender,
	and so on.  That's how she'll be treating YOU after three months."