Its a fascinating formulae. Somebody should do some research and write a peer reviewed paper. What is the degree of stickiness that results from a given amount of Coffee?  

Was about to dive into a few games of chess on chess.com, when the liquid in my overfilled mug full of coffee decided to succumb to the force of gravity. 

Mopped it up with toilet paper, right between the keys, best I could, then gave it a blast with a hair dryer. A few keys still sticky when I tap them though, so looks like I'll have to pull the keys off and do some intricate cleaning with isopropyl alcohol. Luckily its a mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX Silent keys, so they pop right off with the tool provided.

I have heard of people putting their keyboards in the dishwasher. 😁 Not sure I'll risk that. Sounds like utter madness to me, given that there's a PCB inside. 

 

 

Edited February 23, 20233 yr by martin-w

1 hour ago, martin-w said:

What is the degree of stickiness that results from a given amount of Coffee?  

How many teaspoons of sugar are involved?

I limit myself to a cupful of coffee in a mug because I have to carry it down some stairs and across a fairly large area of off-white broadloom. If I really wanted a mugfull, I could put it in my outsized souvenir mug from Cape Canaveral. It would be either that or a sippy cup.

Edited February 23, 20233 yr by dmwalker

To me the same happened yesterday.

I had a glass of 0,0% Radler (=mix of citron juice and beer) next to my PC. When I did grap the glass I did hit the yoke and as a result some of the Radler 0.0% dropped on my keyboard. I also dried it with cleaning paper and a hairdryer, but unfortunately some keys in a corner are sticky, however still functional. I have a Logitec CRAFT wireless keyboard with back lighting. Don't dare to remove the keys.

Any suggestions?

WARNING!!!!!  Do not use IPA Isopropyl  alcohol!  Coffee with sugar and/or cream should be cleaned with warm water and dried thoroughly.

My good buddy spilled his coffee on his laptop keyboard and tried flushing with alcohol and wound up needing a new laptop!

36 minutes ago, charliearon said:

WARNING!!!!!  Do not use IPA Isopropyl  alcohol!  Coffee with sugar and/or cream should be cleaned with warm water and dried thoroughly.

My good buddy spilled his coffee on his laptop keyboard and tried flushing with alcohol and wound up needing a new laptop!

 

Nah... alcohol is fine as long as its a high percentage. 😁 All manner of PCB's are cleaned with isopropyl alcohol. Flushing isn't a good idea, a small amount on a Q-tip is used. Nice thing is that it evaporates quickly. 

Likely your friends laptop was on when he had the initial coffee accident and something shorted out. 

An entire laptop isn't the same as a PC keyboard of course. 

https://www.techspray.com/cleaning-electronics-with-isopropyl-alcohol#:~:text=For electronic printed circuit board,or adhesive from SMT stencils.

Edited February 23, 20233 yr by martin-w

36 minutes ago, jcorstjens said:

I have a Logitec CRAFT wireless keyboard with back lighting. Don't dare to remove the keys.

 

They aren't mechanical keys on the "Craft" are they? So not removable. 

 

2 hours ago, martin-w said:

I have heard of people putting their keyboards in the dishwasher. 😁 Not sure I'll risk that. Sounds like utter madness to me, given that there's a PCB inside.

This is the sort of thing YouTube is good for. Totally scientific.

 

Edited February 23, 20233 yr by goates

In my case, it was hot chocolate spilled on the keyboard. After exhaustive youtube "how to clean" the keyboard( WD40, alchool,etc), it was clear that some keys would never work again. It was a laptop, and it cost me quite a bit to find a replacement keyboard, especially one with backlighting. This was a lenovo with a "spill proof" keyboard, by the way.

26 minutes ago, flyforever said:

it was clear that some keys would never work again. It was a laptop,

 

Yeah, it is a trickier scenario if its a laptop. I'm a member of the PC master race of course, so this is a Corsair mechanical keyboard. Cherry MX keys are removable, for cleaning.

For years I have periodically washed my keyboards in light soap and water. Actually I first vacuum all the loose garbage that has accumulated. Then take the keyboard apart and wash the interior. Use paper towels and a heat gun (air blower) to dry the PCB and the keys. Make sure it is thoroughly dried! Reassemble and use.

I have never had a failure in over 20 years of doing this. Be SURE it is completely dried before plugging in.

 

 

Martin, you never said if you embellish your coffee with anything.  Plain, black or with milk an/or sugar sugar??  Alcohol won't cut it!  Something water based will.

1 hour ago, charliearon said:

Martin, you never said if you embellish your coffee with anything.  Plain, black or with milk an/or sugar sugar??  Alcohol won't cut it!  Something water based will.

 

Sugar and Oat milk. And I have every confidence isopropyl alcohol will do an excellent job of cleaning any stickiness of Cherry MX switches. 

But your point was that it killed a laptop, rather than whether it cleaned the stickiness off.

Certainly worked on my mouse. I'll let you know tomorrow for the keyboard. 

My Logitec CRAFT keyboars does not have mechanical keys.

It is also a very thin keyboard, so I will not try to remove the sticky keys.

Lucky it was just a keyboard…..

 

I did the same with some sweet tea. Attempted a lot of cleaning to no avail. A new keyboard solved the problem.