This is a general process for me and Alps:
* Mounting plate:
If the mounting plate is rusty, I do desolder all the keys, sand down or use Evaporust, then paint the mounting plate with rust-proof paint, like Rust-Oleum. I had to do this on my Z-150. If yours is just dirty, a big paintbrush and/or a
dish scrubber with bristles works great. Obviously, don't fill it up with soapy water. You can also get the cheapest possible versions.
* Cleaning switches:
** For both sliders and top housing, I use an ultrasonic with either Simple Green + water or denture tablets + water. I'll recommend using distilled water, if you have access to that. I do this for 30 minutes or so, stirring every time I have to get up and hit the timer on my ultrasonic. I also use as hot water as I can in my ultrasonic, which is around 50 C / 122 F / 322 K / 581 R.
** I use compressed air to blow out the bottom housings.
* Lubing switches:
** I use a
ceramic-based wet lube (hey, I didn't know it had paraffin in it), both on the sliders and top housing slider rails, using a small paintbrush to apply it. Note that there's a rather long thread saying that straight paraffin + hot water will work for your sliders. In either case, you don't need much.
While I don't recommend removing the bottom switch housing unless you do have a rusty mounting plate, I have an 1984ish keyboard with blue Alps. I started removing the top housings and 1 of 3 of the retaining clips for the bottom housing snapped. I've removed top housing hundreds of times and I rarely break one, so I'm just going to desolder them and use
orihalcon's switch opener. I don't have a ton of blue Alps parts.