this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2024
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Cherry MX water damage, suggestions? (hackertalks.com)
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/hardware
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Spilled some tea on my keyboard today. Didn't think much of it it's just tea right? My A key started to get sticky. I tore down the keyboard, and found some water damage on the a and s keys.

The s key is still springy, and responds. But it has a blue green hue on the metal contact in the photo.

The a key still works, but is very soggy, and requires greater depression than before.

This is a kinesis gaming RGB keyboard. All of the switches are attached to a metal plate, so to replace a single switch I think I have to unsolder all of the switches so I can get the metal plate off. It's an interesting design

For the moment, I cleaned up 6 years of filth and dirt from the keyboard. Looks pretty clean now from my estimation. For the key itself, I got as much stuff out of it as possible. I soaked the a and s keys in 99% alcohol. And then smash the keys over and over and over and over and over again. Trying to wash the keys from the inside. Right now I have a fan pointed directly at the keys, trying to finish the dry out.

Anybody else have success in rescuing a cherry MX key switch? I'm not opposed to soldering on new key switches, but I don't want to have to solder 28 keys just to reach one

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[–] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Have you tried pulling out a switch? Can you see if they're actually soldered? What does the documentation for the keyboard say?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The switches appear to be soldered in, the documentation does not say the keys are hot swappable.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Blue green implies copper corrosion. I'd normally recommend citric acid. (It comes in a tub of crystals so you can make it as strong as you want.)

But because it's sealed and you can't separate the part, I'd recommend actual corrosion cleaner which will evaporate fast.

Amazon sells several. I don't know which to recommend because I haven't had your exact problem. Something like Deoxit with precision needle to get it into the switch?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

After drying out the key, it appears to be functionally normally now. Finished out the process with a 8-hour key cap soak in soapy water... And air drying.

Also ordered mx blue switches to have as a backup if I need to do some soldering

everything is back together and works! Thanks for the advice and help! This community is great.

[–] tyler 2 points 1 week ago

You can open up mx switches, but you'll need a tool. You can also desolder the switch and solder back on when you're done (switches are one of the easiest things on the planet to solder). Green is copper corrosion, so you just need to scrub the contact with some steel wool or sandpaper, or clean with a chemical cleaner. If you can desolder the switch you can always just buy a new one to replace it as well. You should not need to desolder 28 keys to reach it though. Just the one, then they have little tabs holding them in, so you can just push them out with the little nub on the bottom.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It looks like there’s still moisture inside those switches. I would let it fully dry out before troubleshooting further.

You can hasten this with isopropyl alcohol or a hair dryer. Opening the switch would be best but keeping the switch depressed will also allow more air in.

Once internal moisture has evaporated, you might find that after a certain number of presses, the corrosion on the contacts wears enough that the keys become reliable again.