Ultrasonic keycap cleaning

gianni · 17 Feb 2018, 19:42

Thank you all. I've found many useful infos in this topic. Right now I'll start to look for an ultrasonic cleaner too.

Menuhin · 17 Feb 2018, 22:32

Have been staring at my ultrasonic cleaner forever.

Is the solvent "specially" used for rust and oxidation removal (of metal parts) some well guarded secret or similar to those home brew reducing agents or mild acid solution?

gianni · 18 Feb 2018, 17:22

Does anyone have an update about their ultrasonic cleaners? Do they still perform well? I'm asking this also because most of the already posted ebay links don't work anymore so I don't actually know what you're talking about

thanks

elecplus · 18 Feb 2018, 19:06

Mine still works beautifully after a year of use. I only use it to clean caps though. If the stainless Steel insides of your cleaner get covered in goop, baking soda in a paste with a little water works very well for cleaning it.

Khers · 18 Feb 2018, 20:53

I haven't had any issues with my ultrasonic bath either. It really makes cleaning all sorts of things way easier, particularly delicate items you wouldn't want to hit with a brush.

kekstee · 20 Feb 2018, 13:49

Just a quick note: Using a small China cleaner, all switch parts and keycaps go through. Everything is rinsed in distilled water and left to dry. No stains, no issues, no damage so far.

You absolutely have to re-lube every switch before use if you deep clean it though.

Lisinge · 14 Mar 2018, 00:47

Wodan wrote: ↑No but i use distilled water only and rinse them well after cleaning, then drain excess water in a salad spinner and put them up to dry

So you are saying that you use only distilled water when cleaning the bottom housings?
But you use cleaning concentrate on the top housing and stems?

Lisinge · 14 Mar 2018, 00:50

Wodan wrote: ↑I have seen several people ask about the cleaning additive I use for my results.

The stuff seems to be VERY highly concentrated for industrial application like oily machine parts. I kept pouring out a perfectly soapy but totally dirty cleaning solution because the way I use the cleaner is not requiring much of the cleaning additive. I am estimating that I mix the stuff with distilled water in a ration from 1:50 - 1:100 and still get the same great results - I can just swap the cleaning solution more frequently without feeling bad for wasting so much additive.

Gave me the idea to sell some of the stuff i got in smaller portions. I have been using the ultrasonic cleaner INTENSIVELY for a while now ... thousands of keycaps and switch parts were cleaned and I still used less than 1l of the concentrate.

Most normal users could probably last for a few years with 200ml of that stuff.

Let me know if you're interested, I have yet to find a good solution for repacking the stuff

I just ordered a ultrasonic cleaner from german ebay. Great price with shipping to Sweden.
But i'm having trouble finding a cleaning concentrate i feel comfortable cleaning everything with.
And you seem to be using this concentrate for different caps and even switches without the concentrate damaging the stuff getting cleaned?
Do you mind getting me a link to the same concentrate you are using on ebay.de? All the old links seems to be 404'ing

reid · 14 Mar 2018, 04:03

Anyone know an equivalent solution that could be purchased in the US? If not I'll probably just go with the dish soap and denture tabs method.

Wodan · 17 Mar 2018, 14:31

This is the stuff I use since the Ebay link is dead

I mix it 50:1 with distilled water for great results. Highly concentrated.

gianni · 17 Mar 2018, 22:19

Isopropyl alcohol works very well with abs plastic in a 10% concentration, at room temperature only (a precaution). Don's use other types alcool before checking, for example don't use ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol.

I use a car shampoo when washing at high temperatures, because I suppose that it has been studied to be delicate on plastic.

Lisinge · 17 Mar 2018, 23:19

Wodan wrote: ↑
This is the stuff I use since the Ebay link is dead

I mix it 50:1 with distilled water for great results. Highly concentrated.

Haha thanks.
I did some detective work with your links and managed to find the suppliers item id and then find the right item.
I also found it on amazon at a seller that could ship it to me in Sweden, available here https://www.amazon.de/dp/B002P8RDL4

Wodan · 22 Mar 2018, 12:03

Lisinge wrote: ↑ Haha thanks.
I did some detective work with your links and managed to find the suppliers item id and then find the right item.
I also found it on amazon at a seller that could ship it to me in Sweden, available here https://www.amazon.de/dp/B002P8RDL4

Just type HD Spezialreiniger in to ebay.de
https://www.ebay.de/itm/Spezialreiniger ... SwjytacwSv

Blaise170 · 22 Mar 2018, 14:19

I have one of these and it doesn't work well for cleaning caps (or much of anything really) at all with plain water. Is this just a bad ultrasonic cleaner or is the solution key for obtaining good results?

Wodan · 22 Mar 2018, 14:54

I hardly did any experiments without cleaning solution and spoke with other people that were also very unhappy with their results until they got a proper cleaning solution. So my guess is that YES a good cleaner solution is key to achieving good results

Blaise170 · 22 Mar 2018, 15:17

Hm okay. Now to find a good solution in the US.