keyboard maintenance: question THINKPAD T520

[BoarderXtrm]

hey all I have 1600 x 900 on t520 and it's pretty sweet, personally, screen quality aside, the bigger desktop space is necessary if u dont have a screen to which you hook up your laptop

I wanted to ask if anyone here has had an issue with the keyboard
thinkpad keyboards have an awesome touch and mine did

what happened is I spilled a lil bit of sugary solution on the laptop which i cleaned quickly and didnt do any damage. i took the keys off just to clean them off in case sugar residues got caught in. I put them back in but the keys are a bit stiffer.

when i work them in a bit everything is pretty much back to normal but they still make a slight clicking sound that wasn't there before.

when i stop using it and reuse it after a while I have to work them in again for the feel to be comfortable.

anyone have an idea? Is cleaning the only solution here or did I somehow not place the keys back on the keyboard correctly? I didnt want to mess to much with washing but I am considering just getting liquid alcohol and cleaning the keypad and keys themselves

[John Ratsey]

Personally, I would remove the keyboard and let it soak in a bowl of warm water with a little liquid detergent, then give it a good scrub, rinse in clean water and then let it dry somewhere warm. Anything sugary may not only gum up the mechanical bits but traces may also cause problems with the electronics.
However, I can't guarantee a fix, in which case a replacement may be needed, but I have less faith in your proposed superficial cleaning.

John

[BoarderXtrm]

soaking in a bowl of warm water is easy to do but wouldn't it mess up the electronics?

or are electronics only messed up when current runs through and it is wet?

[John Ratsey]

Originally Posted by BoarderXtrm

or are electronics only messed up when current runs through and it is wet?

Correct. The components are not physically affected by water. The challenge is to make sure the keyboard is dried out before reassembly. Boards of electronics often go through a bath towards the end of the production process in order to remove traces of solder flux.

John

[ThinkRob]

Originally Posted by John Ratsey

Correct. The components are not physically affected by water. The challenge is to make sure the keyboard is dried out before reassembly. Boards of electronics often go through a bath towards the end of the production process in order to remove traces of solder flux.

I would add to this that it will inevitably take a good bit longer to dry than you think it will. Leave it to dry until you're sure it's dry, and then let it dry for a while more.

Over the years I have learned this the hard way.

[BoarderXtrm]

thanks for your help guys. Any idea on how long approximately? What about using a hair drier (not too hot)

Alex

[tommytwin]

The advice I read when I spilled some (plain) water on my X220 keyboard said to let it dry for 48 hours.

I put the keyboard on a radiator for a while (not too hot), and that speeds things up.

You can also put the keyboard in a big ziploc full of dry rice, and place that in the freezer; the rice will pull the moisture out more quickly.

And if you're giving your keyboard a good soak, probably more than 48 hours is necessary.

Another option besides the warm water and soap is to rinse it with 90% isopropyl alcohol; it dries faster, but I don't know how effective it would be on the sugar.

[bogatyr]

Use distilled or deionized water. Regular tap water can leave traces metal which can short out the keyboard even once dried.

[BoarderXtrm]

hey guys. i used distilled water mixed with 70% alcohol 1/2 1/2 and another rinse with distilled water

im letting it dry.

used a blow dryer on cool setting (still warm)

doesn't look like this is enough, ill guess Ill wait longer. I thought that perhaps given that I used distilled water and rubbing alcohol which do not conduct electricity I could safely try to turn it on.

[ThinkRob]

Originally Posted by BoarderXtrm

doesn't look like this is enough, ill guess Ill wait longer. I thought that perhaps given that I used distilled water and rubbing alcohol which do not conduct electricity I could safely try to turn it on.

Uh... distilled water conducts electricity just fine.