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
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.