Orange or White Alps - Ultrasonic Clean?

[Finners]

Hi all

I am very quickly building quite a collection of keyboards and have two Alps boards, one orange, and the other white (both are Apple extended keyboards).

The switches feel slightly sticky and, granted I have no reference of what good is for Alps switches, I went about removing the keycaps and then the sliders, top housing and springs.

I followed Chyrosran22 video on Alps cleaning, but I didn’t see any dirt or residue of note.

I do have an ultrasonic cleaner, would running the sliders, top housing, springs through it be likely to offer benefit?

Thanks

[motoko]

- Yes to housings and sliders. Give it 30-60 seconds at most then air dry.
- Click leaves and springs no - don't bother.
- Blow dust out the switches with canned air or your mouth.

The key to eliminating stickiness and the gritty feeling is to reassemble the switch properly with the spring perfectly aligned on the nub.

Best way to do it is:
1. put leaf in
2. put spring over nub in switch with toothpick
3. put slider over spring so it connects properly with nub in slider - notch in slider should face switch plate
4. thread top housing over slider then wiggle over switch plate and push down - make sure click leaf pushes into housing by itself and isn't left outside when pushing down

- remember the housing's tiny dot on the outside should face the switch plate (I find the dot easier to orient than the tiny alps logo, but it's the same thing)

[Finners]

Much appreciated, I will follow those steps.

[Finners]

Just about to do this and thought;

Will there be any issue mixing parts when reinstalling as they will no longer be in their original locations?

Unless I clean them one assembly at a time!

[motoko]

It makes virtually no difference if you reassemble them properly. On the other hand, if a particular part is damaged (say a deformed leaf or bent spring), you can happily swap parts from less important keys (print, scroll, pause) to get a switch back to normal.

[Finners]

Thanks again!

[ntv242ver2]

Personally, if i have alps that were factory lubed, such as orange, i would avoid untrasonic clean the slider unless i have to for the purpose of relubing it later.

[matt-pom]

Curious where you were able to get your Apple Extended Keyboards from?

[motoko]

Personally, if i have alps that were factory lubed, such as orange, i would avoid untrasonic clean the slider unless i have to for the purpose of relubing it later.

It really depends on their current condition. If, as reported, they already feel bad, not clean, then most likely the original lube is pretty much gone and/or the slider is worn, so cleaning for a short time (30 seconds or so) is going to help; not make them worse. Lubing Alps oneself is a much more sketchy thing to do successfully, and is more likely to change the feel away from normal.

And all the above really applies when talking about sliders more than the housings, which absolutely should be given a clean if feeling yucky.

[shallot]

absolutely try just housing on oranges first - if they still feel bad you can do sliders afterward, try it on a few switches first.