Cleaning keycaps

[elecplus]

I used to have a vendor buddy in the Austin, TX area that sold Wyse terminals and keyboards. When I delivered a bunch of terminals to him years ago, he showed me the back end of his operation. They used a large heavy duty plastic tub, such as bus boys use to clear tables. Then they filled it with full strength with a purple cleaner that is available for about $6 per gallon at hardware stores. It clearly says on the jug NOT to use it on plastic, but that is what they used. He tossed the entire disassembled keyboard into this tub of purple wash, let it sit for at least 30 minutes, and then used a spray hose to finish the cleaning. It worked beautifully with no damage at all to whatever plastic the old Wyse keyboards were made out of.

[fohat]

Yeah, I don't think that I'll be going that route on the keyboards that I care about.

Cleaning keycaps is the easiest part of the process, anyway.

[andrewjoy]

could you link to the chemical ? May be worth testing it.

I am also going to try an ultrasonic bath if i can get one big enough for a decent price.

[Chyros]

Yeah, I'm quite curious to see what it's made out of too. Usually they're not too specific with these things but who knows. Problem is that even if the cleaning agent isn't directly corrosive to the plastic it might attack the plasticisers and embrittle the material among many things.