EPTSo here is a little walk through of how I like to clean my keyboard, with tricks and tips that some of you may not know.
Here are some of the things I used:
• Alcohol wipes (moist tissue works too)
• Q-tips
• Key Cap remover (I just use a plastic card)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/HQEg9mZ.jpg?2)
Step 1: Removing key caps
This bit is always quite fun, as your motivation is at its highest and you get that false sense of productiveness. I tend to do this bit as I watch a video, but as mentioned before I didn’t have internet, so I had to settle for listening to music (Chili Peppers all the way!!!!!!!).
I know that there are special keycap removers out there, but to be honest it’s a rip off to buy them, so I used a plastic card. To remove the caps, wedge a corner of the card in under the key and gently wiggle it loose. Make sure you are careful when doing this because although mechanical keys are quite durable, you really don’t want to break any thing.
I like to organize the removed keycaps into the keyboard’s layout just because it makes it easier when you put them back on.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/MPXSEtf.jpg?1)
Step 2: Cleaning the inside of the keyboard
At this stage I was starting to lose interest and wanted to go do something else because I have a pretty short attention span when it comes to non-game related things. However I had all my keys sitting on my table and didn’t want to just leave them there. So I continued on in disgust, as I started to find 6 months worth of food crumbs, dust and to my surprise a dead bug!
I start by blowing really hard from an angle to remove all the dust that you can initially. Now you use the Q-tips to get in between the narrow nooks and crannies and clean away any residual dust. If you are feeling really anal, clean the inside of your keyboard twice; once with dry Q-tips and once with moist Q-tips. Putting a drop of water on the Q-tips helps to wipe away any stains from prior mini spillages of food or drink.
After I clean the inside, it’s also good to wipe down the frame of the keyboard, as this is where the drops of instant ramen soup seem to land. Using alcohol wipes or wet tissue both work for this.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/g00uDA1.jpg?1)
I found this little dead fella among the many crumbs and hairs. Is it bad that I am glad that my shift key killed it before it could lay any eggs?
Step 3: Cleaning the Key Caps
This is the most tedious part of cleaning a keyboard, because you have to wipe each key cap individually. But I knew I was nearly finished, so the excitement having a clean keyboard for the first time in 6 months encouraged me on.
For this I use alcohol wipes. Mostly because they seem to wipe away that congealed, build-up of hand and finger oil really nicely. You can use moist tissue for this, but I find that it’s not as effective and can cause you to miss some spots because when the keys are wet it’s hard to see the dirt.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/7ZHGhpZ.jpg?1)
Step 4: Final Touches
Be careful when putting the key caps back on, because there is nothing more confusing than having a few keys out of place. But once all the keys are in place, I like to do a final check to see if all the keys are clean and if there are any visible stains left anywhere on the keyboard. And I was done :D
