One of the values my mother and father instilled in me from an early age was satisfaction in my possessions. “You cannot have good issues except you be taught to maintain them,” my mother used to inform me. That message caught to the purpose the place I used to be semi-obsessed with maintaining issues in tip-top form to final so long as potential.
A typical instance is my keyboard. I’ve been utilizing the Das Keyboard 4 Pro completely since 2014 with out incident. Quality apart, I attribute its longevity to common upkeep cleansing. Every few months or so I do a routine cleansing that entails operating a enterprise card flat edge or craft fashion pipe cleaner between the rows of keys to choose up any stray bits earlier than turning the board the wrong way up and banging The hair fiend removes any unfastened items from it.
A number of blows with a can of compressed air will do the trick, and I’ve even heard of individuals utilizing a store vac to suck out cussed particles.
The entire course of takes lower than 5 minutes and is actually well worth the effort and time, however each every so often, you may wish to take it a step additional and do a radical deep clear. For this, you may want extra instruments and extra time, however once more, it is a worthwhile funding.
The most essential factor to scrub your keyboard correctly is the keycap puller device. I purchased a device equipment and two cleansing brushes on Amazon for $6.99. It’s additionally a good suggestion to maintain some form of all-purpose cleaner (isopropyl alcohol works too) and a microfiber cleansing fabric readily available.
Shut down the pc and unplug the keyboard, and also you’re able to go. Use a keycap puller to drag the important thing off the board. It’s tedious as a result of you need to do it one after the other, but it surely’s simple to do. Simply slide the wire hook finish over and underneath every key and elevate. As lengthy as you employ mild pressure and do not attempt to rush the method, there is not a lot danger of harm. Rinse and repeat till all standard-sized keys have been eliminated.
Larger keys just like the area bar and backspace typically use totally different brackets, together with stabilizer bars. These might be extracted, however since all the opposite keys round them had already been eliminated, I opted to depart them in place and easily clear round them.
I discovered a disgusting quantity of hair, meals crumbs, and different trash hiding underneath the keys. I can solely think about how a lot worse it might have been if I hadn’t completed the common upkeep cleansing.
I used the comb that got here with the important thing puller equipment to take away a lot of the particles, however actually, any brush will do the job. Car detailing brushes or unused make-up brushes could be nice replacements.
How a lot time you spend on this step is totally as much as you. Those in search of a brand new look would possibly wish to whip out some tweezers to take away each single hair and embedded fiber, however I’m very pleased with the 95% enchancment. Plus, you continue to have to babysit the person keys.
That’s the place an all-purpose cleaner is available in. I reached for the keycap brush once more, stepping into the nooks and crannies beneath every key, and gave the outside surfaces a superb wipe down with detergent-soaked microfiber, then dried. A helper or two would tremendously pace up the method as I simply spent hours on this step alone.
Everything snaps clear, all that is left is to snap every key again into place, give the keyboard deck a superb scrub and admire your handiwork.
