On Nov 18 2004, 16:52, Tore S Bekkedal wrote:
> Brilliant! That is extremely useful general-purpose information. I
also
> happen to have what in Norwegian is called isopropanol, I can only
> assume that they are the same?
Yes, same thing.
> Again, thank you, that info will come in handy.
>
> I have some insanely dirty SGI KB's I got recently, too.
Unless something like salt water, red wine (Mateus Ros? is bad too, one
of my friends discovered), etc has got in, there's an easier and less
dramatic way to clean them.
Usually the dirt is (1) general dirt on the keys, (2) biscuit crumbs,
paper clips, hair, etc, under and in between the keytops, and (3)
general dirt anddiscoloration of the case and cable. Take off the
keytops (you can get a little puller to make this easier, but if you
take the cover off the keyboard you can do it with your fingers). Use
a vacuum cleaner and a small paint brush to remove the crud around the
keys. Clean the cable with a small amount of white spirit on a paper
kitchen towel, and finsh off with a dry towel (optionally add a very
small amount of furniture polish). Clean the case with a damp cloth
and detergent or kitchen-surface cleaner (don't forget to rinse it
off!).
I use one of two methods to clean the keycaps, depending on how many I
do at once.
One way is to dunk them in a small washing-up basin (or a large kitchen
bowl) with some mild detergent (I use Flash, which is a non-foaming and
fairly gentle floor cleaner) and swish them around for a while, then
pour out the liquid, dump the keycaps into a towel, and dry them off.
If I do it that way, I often spray a little (very little) Mr Sheen
(liquid furniture polish) onto the wet keycaps just before I dry them;
it leaves an almost imperceptible coating of wax that prevents them
getting dirty again so quickly.
The other way is to put them into a pillowcase, tie the open end off so
they can't escape, and sling the pillowcase in the (clothes) washing
machine. Dry in the tumble drier (still in the pillowcase), with your
preferred fabric conditioner (same effect as the Mr Sheen above). You
can get brownie points from She Who Must Be Obeyed by doing this as
part of a small load of the regular laundry :-)
Liz, of course, is used to finding sprayed-painted metallic parts
curing in the oven, pillowcases rattling quietly in the tumble drier,
and circuit boards in the dishwasher (don't use the hot drying cycle,
dry using IPA and compressed air).
That's got me looking at the five keyboard around me. Yuk. Time to
find that pillowcase, I fear, at least for three of them :-(
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Received on Thu Nov 18 2004 - 13:21:18 GMT