[:XI:]

If you've got a keyboard with a clear bottom (think Apple Pro Keyboard) I'd like you to flip it over and have a look at what's in it.

Hair, crumbs and bit's of fluff?

Same here.

I need to clean my keyboard.

If you've got anything really strange, try and post pics.

[Brien]

Actually, except dust, mine for the most part is clean.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

There's a chocolate chip wedged in mine.

*goes to get another Mr. Christie*



greg

[scaught]

ugh. keyboards are ****ign repulsive. given my fear of whats inside them, its amazing i use a "public" keyboard at a shared workstation at all. a couple stores so you can share my OCD about keyboards.

1. some tech guys at the last place i worked at were replacing a guys workstation. they picked up the keyboard and it startedd making a sound like a rainstick. they turned it over and many many many fingernail clippings dropped out of it.

2. i took over someone elses workstation at the same place i was working at and some of the keys were sticky. i took them all off and found what looked to me barbeque sauce all under the keys. a thorough washing and all was fine. but damn, that was repulsive.

3. i was watching some show on TV about how people are afraid of toilet seats. so some doctor went around and swabbed toilet seats and other more "normal" things that we arent afraid to use. public phones, keyboards, celphones, and anything else they swabbed were all WAY dirtier than a toilet seat.

ugh. thanks XI.

[Mr. Blur]

cat hair. and then some more cat hair.

[Sherwin]

Ciggie ash.

Must have a look see how to take the thing apart one of these days and give it a once over.

[Brien]

Originally posted by scaught:
ugh. keyboards are ****ign repulsive. given my fear of whats inside them, its amazing i use a "public" keyboard at a shared workstation at all. a couple stores so you can share my OCD about keyboards.

1. some tech guys at the last place i worked at were replacing a guys workstation. they picked up the keyboard and it startedd making a sound like a rainstick. they turned it over and many many many fingernail clippings dropped out of it.

2. i took over someone elses workstation at the same place i was working at and some of the keys were sticky. i took them all off and found what looked to me barbeque sauce all under the keys. a thorough washing and all was fine. but damn, that was repulsive.

3. i was watching some show on TV about how people are afraid of toilet seats. so some doctor went around and swabbed toilet seats and other more "normal" things that we arent afraid to use. public phones, keyboards, celphones, and anything else they swabbed were all WAY dirtier than a toilet seat.

ugh. thanks XI.

Where's that vomit smilie?

[scaught]

Originally posted by Sherwin:
Ciggie ash.

Must have a look see how to take the thing apart one of these days and give it a once over.

ya. someone should find that out. i sold a pro keyboard that i tried like heck to properly clean out but it never quite worked out too well. even with a can or so of compressed air and qtips and whatnot.

[RGB]

There are hairs underneath the keys of my TiBook. How can I clean under there, I don't think laptop keys snap off like standard keys?

[Sherwin]

Originally posted by scaught:
3. i was watching some show on TV about how people are afraid of toilet seats. so some doctor went around and swabbed toilet seats and other more "normal" things that we arent afraid to use. public phones, keyboards, celphones, and anything else they swabbed were all WAY dirtier than a toilet seat.

Ever see the one about the bar-top peanuts?
Scientists tested a dish to see what it had in it and found traces of fourteen different people's urine. Seems peeps don't wash their hands in the bathroom and then just go back and dig into the peanuts.

[kovacs]

Orange juice and its damn sticky

[wdlove]

Mine had dirt of various kinds aned a miscellaneous hairs.

[scadboy]

I clean out the keyboard on my pismo frequently, lots of hairs and dust and crud, but not too bad. I shared my first apartment with three other guys, and one of them asked me for help with their mac, his keyboard had just stopped working. It was a snow iMac with the clear pro keyboard, and I took a look at it. It was filled with bits of weed. Twigs, stems and shake, all worked into it, plus bits of cheetos and dorritos.

Couldn't figure out exactly why the keyboard wouldn't work, though. He asked me if he could just send it back to Apple and get a new one. I recommended against that, and he just bought a new one.

ciao,

[Powaqqatsi]

What's in my keyboard is non of your damn business !

[agentz]

Originally posted by RGB:
There are hairs underneath the keys of my TiBook. How can I clean under there, I don't think laptop keys snap off like standard keys?

Yeah you can pop off the key tops on your TiBook, just a little bit of pressure and off they pop. Just don't get over-zealous or you'll be needing some new bits!

I think the keycaps come off way too easily - I reckon at the moment I probably have to reseat/replace keycaps on up to 10 iBooks a week just now.

[cdhostage]

It's wonderful - you get a little record of every place you go in the stupid dust under your AAARRRRR.

A little New York mountaintop, a little CT swampland, a little MA riverbank, your'e all set.

[The Godfather]

I got reminded of the movie Gattaca somehow.

[philzilla]

a friend of mine is clumsy. totally clumsy. at his place one night, i witnessed him knock not just ONE glass of wine all over his Pro Keyboard, but THREE. he smokes weed too, so the keys are littered with pot holes, and the inside is full of tobacco and chunks of weed.

[teszeract]

Originally posted by scadboy:
I clean out the keyboard on my pismo frequently, lots of hairs and dust and crud, but not too bad.
ciao,

I have a Pismo too. You reckon just a vacuuming would do the job?

[nredman]

i am shocked but i don't have much of anything in my keybroad...my black cat must be staying away from my desk as of late.

[tintub]

Originally posted by teszeract:
I have a Pismo too. You reckon just a vacuuming would do the job?

You can flip the keyboard out and tap a whole load of **** onto the palmrests. just make sure you have the laptop angled correctly so it doesn't all go back into the computer.

[kmkkid]

dust, hair, cheese, chips, popsicle stains, kool-aid stains.... and alot of unidentifiable crumbs.


Chris

[Mediaman_12]

Originally posted by philzilla:
a friend of mine is clumsy. totally clumsy. at his place one night, i witnessed him knock not just ONE glass of wine all over his Pro Keyboard, but THREE. he smokes weed too, so the keys are littered with pot holes, and the inside is full of tobacco and chunks of weed.

One of the guys at work does a lot of 'smoking' One day he brought in a MS Natural keyboard (one of those curved split jobs) that some of the keys had quit working. I pulled it apart to have a look, not only did I find loads of 'rolling tobacco' but a load of the alu traces had been burnt off and part of the membrane had been partially melted. I mentioned this to him and he then remembered that the end of his fag had fell off while over the keyboard.

My brother has just got a new Logitec wireless board, so I'm selling the his old Apple pro, I felt I had to disassemble it before putting it on eBay. I wouldn't want to pay for something full of various cat hairs, random fluff, and nail clippings, so I didn't think anyone else would.

[TheDisaster]

Hair, dust, cracker crumbs (I don't even remember eating crackers at my computer, ever), a few small pieces of ramen, a small bit of flavored tofu, a few pieces of cigarette ash, and what I'm hoping is just dead skin because I have no idea what else it could be. Man, I have to clean this thing...

[Ken Masters]

I'v got dried cordial, and coke in my keyboard. Bread crums, and dust.

Don't even get me started about the dried C�M though

[anarkisst]

Dust, crumbs, ashes, tobacco, seeds and stems...

I want to take the dang thing apart to clean it but it's as easy as defusing a nuclear missile...

Linkage...

[TheDisaster]

Originally posted by Ken Masters:
I'v got dried cordial, and coke SNIP...

Coke..?!? It's pretty expensive, I'd try to salvage what I could with a razor blade...

[TheDisaster]

Ah crap, add Italian salad dressing to that list...

[kiwibabe]

cat hair, toast crumbs, my hair, dust, candy

[Misanthrope]

Originally posted by philzilla:
a friend of mine is clumsy. totally clumsy. at his place one night, i witnessed him knock not just ONE glass of wine all over his Pro Keyboard, but THREE. he smokes weed too, so the keys are littered with pot holes, and the inside is full of tobacco and chunks of weed.

Clean the kb out, collect all the bits, pieces, and goodies, and smoke that ****.

Post here with results (or bbq).

[ZackS]

Originally posted by The Godfather:
I got reminded of the movie Gattaca somehow.

Me too. Cleanliness is next to Godliness! Damn, why'd the kid have to leave a hair on the radiator?

[Ken Masters]

I'v cleaned my keyboard many times before,

doesn't the US use standard hex keys?

I just went to my local hardware store and purchase a pack of hex keys, then tried all of them to see which one fitted. ironically, it was the smallest one.

[rjenkinson]

Originally posted by Ken Masters:
ironically, it was the smallest one.

why is that ironic?

-r.

[m a d r a]

spunk -

damn free porn and graphicconverter's slideshow facility!

[Ken Masters]

Originally posted by rjenkinson:
why is that ironic?

-r.

because it broke after 2 uses, so i went to buy another one.

[:XI:]

Originally posted by m a d r a:
spunk -

damn free porn and graphicconverter's slideshow facility!

No spunk in my keyboard, but it's good to know that I'm not the only one using gc's slideshow for that purpose.

Doesn't this make us members of the church of macnn congregation?

[xtian]

Originally posted by scaught:
ya. someone should find that out. i sold a pro keyboard that i tried like heck to properly clean out but it never quite worked out too well. even with a can or so of compressed air and qtips and whatnot.

I've had the same problem. I wrote down the steps to take to open the case without breaking anything as a PDF. http://www.christiansimon.com/portfolio/ (scroll to the bottom of the page).

[slimshady023]

No food or drinks near the machines... so, my keyboard is clean except for a little dust. Ahh, the benefits of O.C.D!

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by slimshady023:
No food or drinks near the machines... so, my keyboard is clean except for a little dust. Ahh, the benefits of O.C.D!

I have a velvet rope around my system.

I don't even let myself around my computer.

[vmpaul]

What perfect thread timing. I just looked under my clear Apple KB the other day. Blegh.

Has anybody here ever disassembled one of these? And put it back together? I'm going to have to go buy a small hex key for it but I don't want to do it if it's a waste.

I tried using compressed air but that doesn't work on the bottom.

[turtle777]

In my keyboard, ok, let me see...

Cool, just found a dollar
-t

[gorickey]

I (yeah, I'm gorickey) don't have anything; however, I have seen my fair share of things while working for a school district...the Top 20 (in no particular order):

1.) Cheetos crumbs
2.) Kool-Aid
3.) Mildew
4.) Peanuts
5.) Sunflower seeds
6.) Peanut Butter
7.) Jelly
8.) Cookie crumbs
9.) Grass/Dirt
10.) Ink from various pens
11.) Cat hair
12.) Dog hair
13.) Human hair
14.) A "Greenish" acid type liquid
15.) All kinds of Soda Pop
16.) Dorito crumbs
17.) Oil
18.) Fingernail Polish
19.) Hairspray
20.) Gum

Yeah...furkin disgusting to say the least! Needless to say, I learned right away to wash my hands every 5 minutes...

[disectamac]

Woah! there's an Apple logo on the bottom side of my keyboard. I've cleaned underneath the keyboard several times but I never flipped it over. Found some cellophane this time, not sure where it came from.

[Gator Lager]

Jimmy Hoffa and the Head of Alfredo Garcia

[gorickey]

Phew, I just happened to find a 1980 Topps #482 hiding underneath my keyboard...

[dcmacdaddy]

cat hair and various crumbs from breakfast.

I don't have a TV so my morning ritual finds me in front of the computer
reading the news and checking out what happened in this over night.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by gorickey:

14.) A "Greenish" acid type liquid

Hmmm... that makes me nervous.

[xtian]

If you just run your keyboard through the dishwasher, that will clean yer gonk out. sluurrg.

[gorickey]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Hmmm... that makes me nervous.

Yep, that was a "plastic gloves" fix for sure...

[nredman]

black cat hair, just a few though