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A Keyboard Vacuum that Sucks?
ewhac writes "Recently, on a whim, I bought one of those tiny little battery-powered vacuums, pitched as effective in cleaning the schmutz out of your keyboard. After trying it out, I found out that it sucks. Or rather, it doesn't suck. Er... It fails to remove the aforementioned schmutz. This came as little surprise to me, since there's obviously an upper limit to the volume of air you can move with a pair of AA batteries. But I suddenly became curious as to whether an effective "keyboard vac" exists at all. So I thought I'd ask here: Has anyone encountered an effective, small hand-held vacuum that doesn't suck? ...er, does suck? Sucks well? Whatever..."
I just wash my keyboard every month or so - unscrew it (or unclip, depending on the case), remove electronics and membrane, place in bath tub or shower cubical, switch water supply to hot and leave for a few minutes. Then shake it about a bit whilst wrapped in a towel, and reassemble. It's worked for me for the last 4 years or so...
James F.
You can buy the Kirby G6 for $900 if you force the dealers down in price. Then get the small sucking attachment. The kirby is a heavy beast but it has a hand held attachment... I would almost be afraid of it sucking the keys out of a keyboard. Seriously... The sucker really sucks!
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
I don't know about the newer USB keyboards but I wouldn't think they are any different. With standard AT and PS/2 keyboards you can wrap the cord around them (tie it up so it doesn't fall into the spinner.) and send them through the dishwasher. Just make sure they are 100000% dry before using them again. I usually sling mine around for a few minutes and then sit mine near a window in the sun or put a fan on it for a day.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
3M has a vacuum, as displayed on this page from the Mouser Electronics catalog.
Costs a couple hundred bucks. 1 HP motor, has a filter that's supposed to be able to trap toner, and looks like it's got all sorts of exciting, elongated attachments for your sucking pleasure.
However, like someone else here, I suggest putting the keyboard through the dishwasher. I tend to take the electronics out of mine first and just run the plastic (keycaps, chassis) through, but there's nothing particularly bad about water and keyboards, or any other modern electronics.
Just make sure things get dried out before the metal bits (fasteners, microswitch parts and other contacts) begin to oxidize, but even a little of that would be far from fatal.
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Kid-proof tablet..
® A registered trademark of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation. ;->
You could've hired me.
There are minor problems with the majority of vacuum cleaners on the market...
Can you say "Van Degraph" (sp?)
After attempting to cool my Athlon puter with mineral oil (I used baby oil and the whole thing smelled nice but didn't get cool nuff) I had all kinds of terrible problems due to a thin film inside all the connectors on the mobo. I couldn't for the life of me get them all cleaned by hand so as a last resort popped out the cmos battery and ran the sucker through the dishwasher with a non-abrasive detergent. Once I got 'er all dry everything ran great!!
as to cruft in my keyboard, I have a nice old clicket-y IBM with the pop-off key covers (missing the darn left ctrl keycap) and one 'o em $200 3M vacuum cleaners with the fancy schmancy filters does it just fine.
*
"I want peace on earth and good will toward men." "We're the U.S. government. We don't do that sort of thing!!"
It's Van Der Graaf.
Yours Sincerely, Michael.
Seriously, compgeeks.com has 5$ keyboards (they're lighteweight but very useable, I actually like the action).
... I usually pop the keys off with a screwdriver and soak them in vinegar or windex. Then you can clean the housing with rag+windex ...
If you dont wanna do that
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
Folks,
LOTS of electronics are run through a dishwasher, only the call them "Circuit Board Cleaners" - My old boss refused to pay the money for a "Circut Board Cleaner" when he saw what it was - he went out and bought a Kitchenaid. Don't laugh, the USAF said "Good Enough"
We used to run all our PWBs through there, right after the vapor degreaser
On top of that, back when, I used to talk with a guy who worked for a keyboard Mfg - he said that they ran them through a dishwasher
-- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso
can o' air.
it doesn't suck.
it blows.
but it does the trick
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