Keyboards can be dirtier than toilet seats, and after looking at the pictures below I'm sure you'll agree it's certainly possible. This instructable will cover not only how to get your keyboard looking spotless, but also how to rid the keyboard of the pesky microbes that are waiting to launch an assault on your next papercut, or jump into your mouth via turkey sandwich when you're working through lunch.
Our test subject, in this case, will be a Mac keyboard from a first grade classroom. Since the Mac keyboards are nice and white it's easy to see how filthy those little fingers are. The PC keyboard cleaning instructions are identical, but the results are not as photogenic! To give you an idea of the dirt beneath the dirt, I took this a step further.
As a tangent I decided (for a future instructable on culturing bacteria) to put the toliet vs. keyboard claim to the test. I swiped the keyboard, and a toilet seat, and cultured the bacteria on Agar for 3 days at 95F before comparing the bacterial growth, you can see the results below.
Convinced??
Good, lets get to cleaning. Just to demonstrate the effectiveness I'll repeat our cleanliness test in step 6.
If you enjoy this instructable please vote for it in burning questions round 7! Thanks.
***DISCLAIMER*** If you break your keyboard doing this it's not my fault.
Our test subject, in this case, will be a Mac keyboard from a first grade classroom. Since the Mac keyboards are nice and white it's easy to see how filthy those little fingers are. The PC keyboard cleaning instructions are identical, but the results are not as photogenic! To give you an idea of the dirt beneath the dirt, I took this a step further.
As a tangent I decided (for a future instructable on culturing bacteria) to put the toliet vs. keyboard claim to the test. I swiped the keyboard, and a toilet seat, and cultured the bacteria on Agar for 3 days at 95F before comparing the bacterial growth, you can see the results below.
Convinced??
Good, lets get to cleaning. Just to demonstrate the effectiveness I'll repeat our cleanliness test in step 6.
If you enjoy this instructable please vote for it in burning questions round 7! Thanks.
***DISCLAIMER*** If you break your keyboard doing this it's not my fault.
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Signing UpStep 1: Cleaning Materials
Materials List:
1. Isopropyl Alcohol or smililar disinfectant cleaner
2. Q-tips
3. Vacuum Cleaner or Compressed Air
4. Lint-Free Cloth (microfiber works well)
5. Toothpick or similar fine point instrument
6. Flat screwdriver
*Optional: Disinfectant wipes are usually low lint and also work well
Alcohol works well because it's a good organic solvent, and it evaporates very quickly, so you're unlikely to do damage to your keyboard. Be careful though, it is flammable, as are most compressed gas dusters, so do this project away from potential ignition sources.
***DISHWASHER NOTE***
There are several reasons after some careful research that I decided not to attempt this method.
1) It's got a high but not 100% success rate, based on my google searches (NPR Story)
2) I don't want to risk my fancy logitech keyboard (not pictured) or school property (pictured) on anything that's not 100% keyboard safe.
3) Yes, you could probably clean the keys but I'm not confident they won't melt and don't want to babysit my dishwasher.
If you really like clean peripherals check out these dishwasher safe keyboards, TV remotes and mice at SealSheild.com
1. Isopropyl Alcohol or smililar disinfectant cleaner
2. Q-tips
3. Vacuum Cleaner or Compressed Air
4. Lint-Free Cloth (microfiber works well)
5. Toothpick or similar fine point instrument
6. Flat screwdriver
*Optional: Disinfectant wipes are usually low lint and also work well
Alcohol works well because it's a good organic solvent, and it evaporates very quickly, so you're unlikely to do damage to your keyboard. Be careful though, it is flammable, as are most compressed gas dusters, so do this project away from potential ignition sources.
***DISHWASHER NOTE***
There are several reasons after some careful research that I decided not to attempt this method.
1) It's got a high but not 100% success rate, based on my google searches (NPR Story)
2) I don't want to risk my fancy logitech keyboard (not pictured) or school property (pictured) on anything that's not 100% keyboard safe.
3) Yes, you could probably clean the keys but I'm not confident they won't melt and don't want to babysit my dishwasher.
If you really like clean peripherals check out these dishwasher safe keyboards, TV remotes and mice at SealSheild.com
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The thought of doing this for an entire classroom makes me want to write an instructable documenting how I jumped off my roof. : )
I only kid.. I'm sure at some point I will use this, so I'm saving it to my scrapbook -- so thanks in advance.
I don't think you could take the keys on/off with great frequency before the plastic tabs started to break. However, with regular, less extensive cleanings the frequency of thorough cleanings can be minimized. I have a couple other keyboards that I wipe down with antiseptic wipes and use compressed air to blow them out once a week, and those are in much better shape. I went looking for a really nasty keyboard so I'd have a good example, and a good bacterial culture! Thanks for the comment, please vote for me if you liked my Instructable.