Cleaning the keyboard

After Jeff Atwoods outburst on XML I'm not going to link to it, but his latest blog talks about cleaning his keyboard in the dishwasher. OK, Seems fine... but I like my keyboard; it's a M$ ergonomic one, splayed outwards from the centre better matching my wrist angles. Since Sean had an article (update really) on his RSI I had two concience pricks to do a job that's been outstanding for some time. I do get creepy feelings when I inspect my keyboard. So, following this article, I set off to do just that. Rather than take a picture of the kbd and upload it to the PC first, I left the image in the camera and presumed I could use that on the view mode. Grrrr. Daft idea. The power save kicks in far too soon for such usage. Anyway, I dutifully took a couple of close-ups and stripped off the key tops. Dumping them in a jug (A one litre jug, filled with keytops! Amazing) I duly cringed at the crud under them and vacuumed the body. I unsrewed the back, but noting the construction I quickly re-mated the two halves, not wanting to be in the position of being unable to hold eighteen items and close the two halves at the same time. A quick brush with a paint brush, another go with the vacuum and it *looked* clean. Quick wipe down with antiseptic fluid made me feel better, even if it didn't do much. Having soaked the keytops in cleaning fluid (floor cleaning stuff), I swilled them off, washed again with washing up liquid, then clean water. Quick dab with a tea towel and paper towels took most of the liquid away, a hairdryer did the rest. I don't have patience to wait two days for them to dry. Using the pictures it still took me ages to rebuild the keyboard! Then I had to hunt the missing letter A! Sneaky thing was under the cushion on the seat! Finally re-assembled and connected it now works, though the keys feel slightly stiffer for some reason. My BS key was very stiff till I realised the two lugs weren't clipped in. I cleaned the space bar with it's wire clip seperately since it looked so delicate. Job well done... for a while.