gah - grape juice - how to clean the keyboard?

so my son spilled grape juice on my CF-74 last night. I pulled it apart and cleaned out all of the internals and everything seems to be fine after a good dry-out.

Unfortunately though, the keyboard is sticky as all hell. all the keys work, things like the space bar are super tough to push down.

While I've done work on PCs before and have cleaned regular keyboards by putting them in a dishwasher (it does work), I'm a little uneasy about doing that to this one.... Has anyone taken these sort of drastic cleaning measures before? Or am I just better off buying a new keyboard (which I really don't want to do)

 

Maybe just soak it in water overnight. Then rinse it off and allow it to dry. Grape juice is water based so this should work???

 

who's the guy that applied the screen protector in the shower with it steamed up? maybe a dishwasher might work. sure would give another point for calling them toughbooks. cascade in your keyboard, fabric softener in your hard drive, lysol in the media bay and wisk in the wifi. where's Mr. clean, I'll bet he owns a toughbook............Driller

 

thanks guys- I'll try soaking it tonight and see if that works. I figure it couldn't hurt.

 

Take it off of the computer.
Let upside-down KB soak in fairly warm water (cascade or downy isn't a bad idea). With a really soft bristle brush scrub (gently)between the keys.
Slosh it around.
Change to rinse water and repeat.
Air dry for a spell. (undetermined length of time ...until dry) Right side up I think.
I JUST MADE THIS UP, I THINK IT WILL WORK BUT USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Good luck.

 

Now I'm wondering how spill-resistant are the regular chicklet KBs from business rugged series like the 73, 54, 51, 52, Y & W series.

Will soaking, scrubbing & whatnot cause more damage to the KB?

 

That's either Rick or Teo with the can-fetish

 

It worked! works like new now (even better than it was because it's now totally clean underneath).


I took the keyboard off and soaked it in hot water with a bit of dish soap. I sloshed it around a few times every 20 minutes or so and repeatedly pushed down all the keys. I repeated this with fresh hot soapy water 2 more times. At the end of the night I rinsed it off completely and let it air dry while it was leaning up against something (so the remaining water would run out). Perfect.

 

now you're Mr.Clean! and that spring fresh smell.............Driller