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

  • Septimaeus
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    2 days 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.