How to clean up a white keyboard?

Hi All,

I have a old off white keyboard that adore in
my shop. The keys are starting to look a bit
nasty.

I have tried rubbing alcohol and vinegar and
nothing seems to clean it up.

Any words of wisdom.

-T

On 9/14/2020 9:10 PM, T wrote:
Hi All,

I have a old off white keyboard that adore in
my shop.Â* The keys are starting to look a bit
nasty.

I have tried rubbing alcohol and vinegar and
nothing seems to clean it up.

Any words of wisdom.

-T
Try a soft cotton cloth soaked in a water/dish soap solution. Wring it
out until almost dry and try that. When clean do it all over again with
a clean damp rag to remove any leftover soap. Popsicle sticks help to
get the rag down between the keys.

Some plastic used in keyboards and other plastic PC components do
discolor (usually get darker) when exposed long term to UV Light, as
from the sun OR florescent lights.

On 2020-09-14 20:51, GlowingBlueMist wrote:
On 9/14/2020 9:10 PM, T wrote:
Hi All,

I have a old off white keyboard that adore in
my shop.Â* The keys are starting to look a bit
nasty.

I have tried rubbing alcohol and vinegar and
nothing seems to clean it up.

Any words of wisdom.

-T
Try a soft cotton cloth soaked in a water/dish soap solution.Â* Wring it
out until almost dry and try that.Â* When clean do it all over again with
a clean damp rag to remove any leftover soap.Â* Popsicle sticks help to
get the rag down between the keys.

Some plastic used in keyboards and other plastic PC components do
discolor (usually get darker) when exposed long term to UV Light, as
from the sun OR florescent lights.

Spound liek a good start.


The keys are not yellow. They are brown from year of dirt
from my fingers

On 15/09/2020 09:49, T wrote:
On 2020-09-14 20:51, GlowingBlueMist wrote:
On 9/14/2020 9:10 PM, T wrote:
Hi All,

I have a old off white keyboard that adore in
my shop.Â* The keys are starting to look a bit
nasty.

I have tried rubbing alcohol and vinegar and
nothing seems to clean it up.

Any words of wisdom.


Did you try doing the same with a *fine* scouring pad, rather than a
piece of cloth? I have seen furniture restorers use it to get surface
dirt off wood and metal surfaces. (Make sure you try it on one key,
before doing the rest. If ivory, it should not leave any scratch marks.
If plastic, hope it is hard plastic.)



-T
Try a soft cotton cloth soaked in a water/dish soap solution.Â* Wring
it out until almost dry and try that.Â* When clean do it all over again
with a clean damp rag to remove any leftover soap.Â* Popsicle sticks
help to get the rag down between the keys.

Some plastic used in keyboards and other plastic PC components do
discolor (usually get darker) when exposed long term to UV Light, as
from the sun OR florescent lights.

Spound liek a good start.


The keys are not yellow.Â* They are brown from year of dirt
from my fingers

On Mon, 14 Sep 2020 19:10:22 -0700, T wrote:

Hi All,

I have a old off white keyboard that adore in
my shop. The keys are starting to look a bit
nasty.

I have tried rubbing alcohol and vinegar and
nothing seems to clean it up.

Any words of wisdom.

-T

Turn the board over and bang it with the flat of the hand to dislodge
breadcrumbs and heavy dust.
Then apply a suction with a vacuum cleaner.

With this sort of thing then wipe with a cleaner which leaves no
residue.

1/ Typically isoPropanol, Ethanol. diacetoneAlcohol.
2/ Typically ammonia,

Detergents leave a residue.

T wrote:
Hi All,

I have a old off white keyboard that adore in
my shop.Â* The keys are starting to look a bit
nasty.

I have tried rubbing alcohol and vinegar and
nothing seems to clean it up.

Any words of wisdom.

-T

If the plastic is oxidized then the only way to get it white again is to
remove the oxide layer. It's usually not worth the hassle of sandpaper,
acetone, and sealer.
But if it's just dirty then take it completely apart and soak the keys
in a bowl of detergent and water for a few hours, then tooth brush and
rinse clean. Clean the touch surface with iso alcohol. Clean the front
and back plastic with detergent then dry all the parts off with your air
compressor. I do that with my fav keyboard every few years. It must be
near 20 years old now and still works and looks great.

On Tue, 15 Sep 2020 00:43:00 -0500, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

T wrote:
Hi All,

I have a old off white keyboard that adore in
my shop.* The keys are starting to look a bit
nasty.

I have tried rubbing alcohol and vinegar and
nothing seems to clean it up.

Any words of wisdom.

-T

If the plastic is oxidized then the only way to get it white again is to
remove the oxide layer. It's usually not worth the hassle of sandpaper,
acetone, and sealer.
But if it's just dirty then take it completely apart and soak the keys
in a bowl of detergent and water for a few hours, then tooth brush and
rinse clean. Clean the touch surface with iso alcohol. Clean the front
and back plastic with detergent then dry all the parts off with your air
compressor. I do that with my fav keyboard every few years. It must be
near 20 years old now and still works and looks great.

That's exactly how I clean the keycaps of my IBM Model M keyboards.

T wrote:

I have a old off white keyboard that adore in my shop.
The keys are starting to look a bit nasty.

Search youtube for "retrobrite".

On 9/15/20 2:30 AM, this is what Andy Burns wrote:

T wrote:

I have a old off white keyboard that adore in my shop.
The keys are starting to look a bit nasty.

Search youtube for "retrobrite".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU7vXMezW_I

On 2020-09-15 00:27, Big Al wrote:
On 9/15/20 2:30 AM, this is what Andy Burns wrote:

T wrote:

I have a old off white keyboard that adore in my shop.
The keys are starting to look a bit nasty.

Search youtube for "retrobrite".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU7vXMezW_I

The keys are not yellow. They are brown with dirt
from my fingers.

I wonder if retrobrite would work on my car's
headlight covers?

On 2020-09-15 00:45, T wrote:
On 2020-09-15 00:27, Big Al wrote:
On 9/15/20 2:30 AM, this is what Andy Burns wrote:

T wrote:

I have a old off white keyboard that adore in my shop.
The keys are starting to look a bit nasty.

Search youtube for "retrobrite".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU7vXMezW_I

The keys are not yellow.Â*Â* They are brown with dirt
from my fingers.

I wonder if retrobrite would work on my car's
headlight covers?

It is hydrogen peroxide. I wonder how sodium percarbonate would work?
It might leave a sodium carbonite residue

T wrote:

I wonder if retrobrite would work on my car's
headlight covers?

The only fix for cloudy lenses I see is progressively finer
sanding/polishing and then re-coating with a UV filter

On 2020-09-15 00:50, Andy Burns wrote:
T wrote:

I wonder if retrobrite would work on my car's
headlight covers?

The only fix for cloudy lenses I see is progressively finer
sanding/polishing and then re-coating with a UV filter

I was afraid of that

On 9/15/2020 12:50 AM, Andy Burns wrote:
T wrote:

I wonder if retrobrite would work on my car's
headlight covers?

The only fix for cloudy lenses I see is progressively finer
sanding/polishing and then re-coating with a UV filter



Or for many people, cataract surgery.


--
Ken

T wrote:
Hi All,

I have a old off white keyboard that adore in
my shop. The keys are starting to look a bit
nasty.

I have tried rubbing alcohol and vinegar and
nothing seems to clean it up.

Any words of wisdom.

-T

Word of warning.

"Too much cleaning equals broken keyboard"

On my previous keyboard, I frequently took it apart
at the membrane level, and washed things off. And cleaned
the cover of stuff. Those kinds of operations seemed
pretty innocuous (I wasn't "grinding on stuff").

Then one day, I decided to remove the key caps. And
that caused enough damage that I had to bin it.

Don't get so carried away cleaning it that you ruin it.

Paul