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Filco multi-pressing after coffee accident - Help!

Posted: 11 Aug 2020, 13:41
by MaD_ColiN
Hey folks, I’m looking for some help with my Filco keyboard. After accidentally spilling a spoons worth of white sugary coffee over it, it is now pressing multiple keys simultaneously when using the worse affected keys, which are F9 to F12, Backspace, Enter and Tilde/Hash, I use a UK layout keyboard, so ISO format and a tenkeyless variant.

Since the incident all the affected keys are multi-pressing, the tilde key seems to be pressing all the following keys in groups, asdf, jkl# and then oddly the number keys from the non existent keypad, 123.

Backspace and a few of the F keys seem to be putting my laptop into standby while also pressing the Page, Home and CapsLock, Windows keys and Control keys, but all affected keys are multi-pressing from all over the keyboard - exactly which keys is hard to ascertain.

Is this keyboard doomed, I cleaned the spill up and flushed out the affected switches with warm water from a straw as well as removing any residue I could see on the bottom PCB side, and left it to dry, to no avail. All other keys work perfectly, except these ones. Could it be a fault with the controller chip, and replacing it might fix it, or is there possible coffee bridging connectors under the backplate that I cannot see?

Would giving the whole thing a distilled water bath possibly help, without the control chip?

Or perhaps some sort of contact cleaning, but what and where?

Any suggestions or thoughts would be a massive help! My laptop keyboard is truly awful in comparison.
(Apologies if this isn't the correct forum for this question, as it seems to be discussion of older mechanical keyboards but I don't know where to ask otherwise!)

Re: Filco multi-pressing after coffee accident - Help!

Posted: 11 Aug 2020, 13:43
by kelvinhall05
Not sure how much work you want to put into this, but I think the next logical step would be to desolder all the switches and soak the PCB in rubbing alcohol overnight, then scrub with a toothbrush. Maybe also test each switch with a multimeter and clean out ones that aren't working.

Re: Filco multi-pressing after coffee accident - Help!

Posted: 11 Aug 2020, 14:32
by MaD_ColiN
Trying to avoid desoldering until it's the only action left available. I can try continuity testing each affected switch. I assume this can be done while they are still soldered in? Are there any voltage limits I need to worry about?

Testing the switch by bridging the contacts with tweezers on the PCB side still produced the same fault.