[vcf-midatlantic] Success in restoring old mechanical keyboards

Jason Perkins perkins.jason at gmail.com
Thu Apr 20 19:18:36 EDT 2017


Gloves really are a must with the Salon Care 40.

Be very careful with non-white / beige plastic. I "burnt" the brown keys on
my Lisa's keyboard in about 45 minutes :(

-J

On Thu, Apr 20, 2017 at 5:03 PM, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic <
vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:

> Hey folks, You probably all know this but I wanted to report success in
> restoring some old Focus 2001 mechanical keyboards...  I've had these
> around since the BBS era, and they were quite yellowed (and pretty
> disgusting otherwise too.. :( )..
>
> Anyway, after doing some research -- Salon Care 40 Volume Creme is
> basically "retrobright" in a bottle.  $5 for 32 oz, and I still have a lot
> left over (next case to restore = Amiga 1200).
>
> Attached pic shows basically a before and after (two different keyboards,
> but both were equally as bad).
>
> A few things I learned:
>
> - 4 hours of sunlight (UV) is enough, 6 hours with clouds is just enough
> with the solution
>
> - Use cling wrap over top of any plastic you've applied the solution to to
> keep it wet
>
> -Soaking the keycaps in dish soap and hot water for a few hours does
> wonders, then:
>
> - You can be a little lazy with keys by putting them in a glass bowl,
> pouring 3% hydrogen peroxide over everything, and putting aluminum foil
> underneath to make sure UV bounces everywhere.  With this method you'll
> probably need a second bath or manual application of the creme to restore
> all keys properly.
>
> - I used a lot of q-tips and 90% rubbing alcohol to clean the keyboard and
> electronics internals
>
> - Of course wear gloves with this stuff
>
> - Using a keyboard with an XT/AT switch on a modern PC is fun :)
>



-- 
Jason Perkins
313 355 0085



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