deskthority

Intro

Hi, so I posted a thread here last week about the type heaven I ordered. I didn't see a lot of resources on how to disassemble and rebuild the board, so I was looking for some info. I've since received the board, and wanted to share the cleaning/experience using it, hopefully to help others who are looking for info.

Topre Type Heaven keyboard cleaning postmortem

Previous condition

• The previous condition of the board was pretty dirty.

• metal mounting plate surface beneath keys had lots of... food crumbs?

• also, had spots of... rust?

• some keys were dirty with dried... food crumbs?

• some had dried liquid coating surface

• case had multiple dried liquid splotches, along with scratches and... pencil marks?

• board was used for 1 day before cleaning.

• nice condition, no irregular behavior, no sticking due to residue or otherwise.

• all keys actuated in a uniform manner, no irregularities.

• bottom of the case had dried liquid splotches.

cleaning preparation and procedure

Initial plan

1. remove keycaps
2. separate outer chassis pieces
3. clean metal plate surface beneath keycaps with IPA and toothbrush
4. soak keys in warm water with a drop of dish soap
5. gently wash chassis pieces with soap and sponge under running water
6. allow all to dry overnight
7. individually wipe down keycaps after drying, re-assemble case, refit keycaps
8. test all functionality

notable hiccups

• took pains during keycap removal to not scratch keycap surface with key puller

• had trouble pulling 2-3 unit keycaps, shift, ctrl, etc.

• space bar removed near last, key puller was not helpful.

• attempted to pull spacebar from either end, however space bar showed signs of bending, so instead pulled from top and bottom edges.

• small spring underneath space bar switch, along with 2-point stabilizer. overall somewhat nerve wracking

• four screws at the top of the case, four plastic clips at bottom.

• assumed there was a screw concealed under the rear label--incorrectly. label was damaged.

• wedged plastic spudger tool under lip at bottom of upper part of case. freed one clip by simultaneously prying under lip and separating upper and lower case pieces.

• slid spudger across the case to dislodge the remaining three clips.

• top and bottom pieces were washed with soapy water and a sponge in the sink. poured keycaps into a large bowl and covered with warm, soapy water, and rinsed.

• individually wiped each keycap, dried in towel-lined bowl overnight. propped up case pieces to dry as well.

• attempted to clean detritus and soils off of metal surface beneath keys using IPA and q-tips, however rust(?) did not budge, and some filth appears to have eaten into the metal plate.

• following day, gave each keycap a secondary wipe and reassembled the case, refit keycaps, and tested.

reassembly

• tried to apply as little force as possible for each keycap.

• keycaps appear to be retained by a tapered cutout in the cylinderical stem of each keycap, which mates with a protrusion on the inside diameter of the stabilizer shaft.

condition after reassembly

• what got better?
  
  • keys are much cleaner, no visible liquid splotches or scrapes from key-puller
  • no visible splotches on top surface of case

• what got worse?
  
  • possibly my imagination?
    
    • keys strictly feel scratchier/more dry
    • keycaps feel more wobbly, feel more loosely retained by the key stems. possibly more "wiggle" UPDATE: After some discussion with other Type Heaven owners, my "wiggle" fears have been assuaged--comparisons have revealed that there is no noticeable difference between my keyboard post-cleaning and a fresh-from-the-factory Type Heaven; It was purely my imagination.

Conclusions

what did I do right?

• good idea to take care to keep the key-puller from damaging the finish on the keycaps

what did I do wrong?

• some liquid stains(?) remain on the bottom surface of case, and along the top edge.

• top edge and forward edge still show some scratches (pencil?) and marks.

• metal backing plate remains spotted with rust(?) marks and some dried liquid filth(?)

• I was hoping that the metal backplate would be free of all soils, but some soils seemed to have eaten into the metal and I wasn't able to scrape them off

how can I improve next time?

• don't damage the rear label looking for a screw--look for a resource online for proper teardown instructions

• let the keys dry longer--some moisture was still present when keycaps were refit

• try to sand and polish the plastic to remove scratches from the case.

• possibly don't remove all the keycaps to clean the metal mounting plate. it seems that removing them has made them strictly worse, wiggle-wise. UPDATE: see above update concerning key wiggle--this was an unsubstantiated fear.

• don't leave the metal mounting plate in the open air overnight--may have caused factory lubrication to dry out, leading to scratchier key feel. UPDATE: further research has revealed that factory lubrication isn't present on Type Heaven keyboards--keyfeel comparisons with fresh-out-the-box Type Heaven specimens have revealed that any additional "scratchiness" post-cleaning was a product of my imagination.

• take a video and record audio of typing before cleaning, as a sanity check for when you suspect that the wobble wobble/scratchiness has worsened due to the cleaning process.

• I might just be assuming the worst and imagining that the key scratchiness/wobble actually worsened, or that the lubricant dried out...? UPDATE: See above updates.

That was the whole process. The thing i'm most anxious about is the key wobble--i seem to remember that the keys were much more stable before I removed and refit them. could be my imagination, though. UPDATE: See above--long story short, I'm a neurotic worrywart who was worried he ruined his expensive new keyboard. I hope this will be helpful for people looking for info on this board.

There are plenty of resources here on opening and servicing Topre boards. A recent example: viewtopic.php?p=456564

XMIT wrote: 24 Dec 2019, 19:10 There are plenty of resources here on opening and servicing Topre boards. A recent example: viewtopic.php?p=456564

But that isn't the board I have? I literally said that there were no rebuild guides for this board.

Yeah, the Type Heaven is a different keyboard than the regular Realforces, and comes apart slightly differently. I have both, and I think that the Type Heaven is a more solid keyboard, but the perfectly smooth black finish is more delicate than a Realforce's textured plastic. I've taken the keycaps off of my Type Heaven several times, and I haven't noticed that the key caps feel any looser. I also don't think that there's any factory lubrication. Several of the stabilized keys on mine did start to squeak after I installed KBDFans Silence-X rings, which was probably just a coincidence, but I ended up taking the keyboard apart again to lube all of the stabilized key slider mechanisms, and I put dabs of silicone grease on the stabilizer wires where they connect to the slider. That helped immensely. It looks like you did a very nice job of rescuing that poor thing from a life of filth. Someone really didn't know what they had, or didn't care.