Cleaning front printed Filco keys with dental/denture tabs

[mattics]

I want to give my Filco TKL Ninja a clean, I was going to use dental/denture tabs for the caps, my only worry is the possibility of damage to the legends.

I am not sure if the Ninja key caps have the same sort of legend/coating as top printed would have because they never need to stand up to fingers and grease etc.

Has anyone tried it on Filco Ninja caps, and know if it will work without damage?

[Kurk]

Should be no problem at all.

[mattics]

I went for it, everything seems really good. I am just leaving them to dry out fully, but as far as I can tell they have come out completely unscathed and looking a bit cleaner than before (they were pretty clean before).

[Kurk]

Edit: Pro-tip: tap the bottom side of the wet keys firmly on a towel in order to get the water out of the stem mount. Otherwise drying will take forever.


Caps that I don't care about a lot or are replaceable (Filco caps ) get tossed into the washing machine (inside a bra wash bag). More delicate caps get a three stage treatment: 1) dental tabs, 2) cleaned by hand with a soft sponge and dish washing liquid and 3) isopropyl alcohol.

[Gilgam]

Edit: isopropyl alcohol.

i agree with the two stages befor, but what is the alccol made for ?
removing grease ?

[fossala]

I find with even the worst key grime comes of with a good soak in denture tabs and a rinse under hot water.
Who first came up with denture tabs idea? I started using them after Ascaii sent me a few with some keycaps.

[Gilgam]

i don't know, i started in early 2010, and now all my second hand keycaps smell fresh mint ans lots of people think i don't have teeth left

i use hot water (60°C) and two or thre dental tabs , it soaks all night, then i rinse them, brsuh gently and rinse again...

[pheo]

Edit: [...] and 3) isopropyl alcohol.

I have read somewhere that filco keycaps had a special layer over prints that could be damaged with alcohol. Is that true? or filco ninjas keycaps dont have this.
It is interesting the use of dental tabs for cleaning keycaps, I never heard of.

[Jmneuv]

teeth and keys aren't so different after all!

there seems to be a rare case that additives in rubbing alcohol can damage plastics, you can avoid that by using the expensive pharmacy isopropyl kind;

[mattics]

Edit: Pro-tip: tap the bottom side of the wet keys firmly on a towel in order to get the water out of the stem mount. Otherwise drying will take forever.


Caps that I don't care about a lot or are replaceable (Filco caps ) get tossed into the washing machine (inside a bra wash bag). More delicate caps get a three stage treatment: 1) dental tabs, 2) cleaned by hand with a soft sponge and dish washing liquid and 3) isopropyl alcohol.

I used a similar drying technique before I read your comment. Gave them a press on a towel, held the key and "flicked" the remaining water out then left them on some kitchen towel to dry off. Didn't take too long but got a bit boring "flicking" each key.

I didn't soak mine for long and only used slightly warm water, the sort of temperature you might wash a child's hands with. I am sure if they had of been dirty I would have needed longer, but 35 minutes was enough to cut through the little bit of grease on them. I only cleaned them because I was taking them off anyway to clear the dust from the board itself. I am a little surprised and disappointed that the minty fresh smell disappeared almost as soon as the keys were dry, I was hoping for my keyboard to double up as a minty air freshener

The little I have read around the subject is that someone got the idea of cleaning caps with denture tabs when they read that a woman had cleaned her child's Lego bricks with them. Though I imagine people have been using them for a long time for a variety of uses.