Keyboard Cleaning

Hey all,
What's the best method for cleaning the AA1's keyboard? My fiance got a little too excited while playing Rock Band one night while slightly inebriated and knocked his orange juice and vodka all over my keyboard. Now I get this delightful crunching sound while typing because the right side of the keyboard is extremely sticky. You can see the stickiness under the keys. But...it's rather embarrassing when I'm taking notes in an otherwise silent classroom.

Thanks!

 

You will want to completely remove the keyboard, understand this, COMPLETELY! rinse the keyboard with a strong cleaner, and let it air dry. Maybe use a blow drier to help it along. Just make sure it is 100% dry before you reinstall it. If you are unsure of how to remove the keyboard. Find TNKGRL's tutorial on adding ram. Removing the keyboard is one of the first steps.

 

What kind of a cleaner would you recommend?

 

If it's just OJ and vodka, just about anything will do as long as its fully rinsed off. If you're only really having an issue with a few keys, it might be simpler to just pry the key off the keyboard, wipe up with the corner of a moist tissue, reseat the key, and continue. If it's sticking, try something like an alcohol pad or rubbing alcohol-soak q-tip and swipe under the key if possible. Prying off the keyboard isn't hard to do, but might be more irritating than its worth if you're not comfortable with the procedure. Then again, so is prying the key off its seat.

 

Woofer00 is right. I was making the assumption that if it was spilled on the keyboard it covered most of it. Rubbing alcohol is probably the safest best to clean with. It wont damage anything, and it will air dry alot faster than anything else will.

 

I'm also a little OCD when it comes to cleaning out a keyboard. Drives me insane when one key sticks. My m.o. when it comes to cleaning out a keyboad ends up being 1) putting on a movie, 2) removing the keyboard from whatever laptop I"m working on, 3) prying off every key, 4) q-tip swabbing the entire thing with alcohol, then reassembling it. If one of the keys ends up sticking regardless, It's also possible to remove the scissor key assembly underneath very carefully and swabbing it out, but its a pain in the butt to figure out how to put it back in the first couple of times. You get used to it though, since after prying off 76(?) or so keys, a few clips are bound to come off by accident.

 

I'll have to try the q-tip and rubbing alcohol thing. Pity I don't have any rubbing alcohol on me right now. It'd give me something to do! Thanks.

 

Many thanks for the helpful TNKGRL reference. I'd hoped never to get under the hood, but spilled wine into the keyboard and the on/off button last night. Rinsed it under the tap and let it dry til morning, but it would not start - looked like a brick. I was able to get the keyboard off and clean it, but was afraid to dig any further. The mention of alcohol here reminded me of electrical contact / tape head cleaning spray, which I had used in past on stereo equipment. It's pretty expensive, but it's pure quickdry isopropanol that comes with a narrow tube to focus the spray cap and is plastic-safe. A couple of shots into the power switch from the top and from the trap door on the bottom, let it dry for an hour, and presto it boots - fingers still crossed that it's fixed for good. Thank goodness, all the keys work.