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It may be best to have your alcohol in a small dish or cap, as to not risk contaminating the entire bottle. Step 02 Dip Q-Tip in Alcoholĭip your cotton swab into the alcohol and press it against the side of the container to squeeze out excessive liquid. This will help by allowing the alcohol to simply focus on the surface directly. Step 01 Remove excess lubricantĮven though we are relying on a strong solvent like alcohol, a lot of the heavy lifting can be done by simply wiping away any excess lube with a dry q-tip, microfiber, or paper towel depending on which component. While alcohol may react differently to different plastics, and thus your different housing components, it is best to practice caution not to have your switches swimming in alcohol for too long. You should always be careful of using too much of a strong alcohol and for too long, as alcohol and easily dry out and discolor your plastics. While some lubricants like Krytox may not be affected much by even strong solvents, it will be much more effective than simply wiping down or washing switches. The first method involves using alcohol to strip our switch parts bare of lube. You should have 4 groups: top housing, bottom housing, stem, and spring.
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When you have your housing opened, separate and arrange your pieces. This ring tab makes it a bit more difficult to open a box housing, but can also be done easily with a dedicated Kailh-style opener. Kailh Box and Outemu switches, however, are a but more complicated, as those two tabs are surrounded by a large ring tab. You can pry those tabs apart with a small flathead screwdriver (one by one), a set or tweezers (2 by 2), or with a dedicated switch opener (all 4 at the same time). On Cherry-MX style housings, you will find two tabs on either side that will need to be pried apart to open the two halves of the switch housing. In order to remove all of the lube thoroughly and make your switches so fresh and so clean, it is first required that you open them up and disassemble them into their respective parts. Obviously, you won’t do a very good job of cleaning with your switch still assembled. Method 03: Ultrasonic Cleaner (for the Clean Freaks) Switch Opener (Tweezers or Small Flathead Screwdriver will also work).Let’s find out the “why” and “how” of un-lubing your switches.
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You can certainly use isopropyl alcohol, as well as some cotton buds, for instance, to give your keyboard a deep clean.Lubing your switches has become common practice in the mechanical keyboard community, as it adds not only improved smoothness, but also sound.īut what do you do when you have to remove lube? Either from a previous lubing job, or from a factory pre-lubed switch? Can I use isopropyl alcohol to clean a keyboard?
BEST KEYBOARD CLEANER REDIT MANUAL
Keyboard brushes are a useful manual option for getting into even the tightest of spaces, and cleaning gel is a handy all-round choice. If you're looking for an easy solution, then getting a small vacuum cleaner can work well, or if you're wanting just to quickly remove any crumbs and debris, a compressed air duster can also work well. This all comes down to personal preference and what you're looking for in a keyboard cleaner. It's also reusable for a good while and won't lose any of its stickiness, which is also mighty convenient. This is because you can shape it to fit neatly any gap you need to get clean, and it'll easily pick up dust and debris. Cleaning gel is arguably one of the most efficient and easiest ways of keeping your keyboard clean.
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