Ever get a perfect fighting game string of moves and then freeze your character? You pressed the keys just right! You caught on to the situation. However, your computer equipment let you down. This is an infuriating thing that can happen to any of us. We tend to think of cheap switches and bad wiring when we look at this and tend to pick the latter as the problem. But the true foe is typically just below your fingers.
Let’s discuss the curse of uncounted inputs. If you don’t clean your mechanical keyboard, ghosting and key chatter will happen. Micro particles significantly change the way your switches communicate with your PC. We’re going to take you down, clean the grime from your board and bring that factory fresh actuation back.
This is the anatomy of a missed keystroke.This is how a missed keystroke should look.
Hardware Restrictions and physical dirt.
In the real sense of the word, ghosting is a circuit problem with the keyboard itself—the keyboard can’t handle multiple keys being pressed at the same time. This is an ongoing problem with lower priced office boards. But today’s gaming decks have what is called a N-key rollover so this isn’t an issue. Then why are your keystrokes still going astray? There is only one solution: physical barriers. Throughout the months of usage, dead skin, pet hair and snack crumbs travel far into the switch housings.
This junk prevents the flow of water. It literally keeps the metal contacts within your mechanical switches from touching. You press down on the key, and feel a bump, but the electrical circuit does not close. Once, for a client, I took apart a high quality Cherry MX board that was malfunctioning, and only thought about putting new switches on it. Instead, I discovered one eyelash that would not get out of the way from blocking the actuation leaf of the ‘W’ key.
This is a very simple problem fronted as a hardware issue. If you are thinking of tossing a $150 peripheral in the trash, you should do a deep clean before you do. The only way to permanently remove the ghosting from a mechanical keyboard is to get rid of this buildup. Let’s get the proper tools and get ready the workspace.
The Deep Clean Policy
Safety will be maintained when stripping the Board.
Don’t tear off your keycaps with your bare hands. That’s a great way to break the delicate plastic stems clean. Purchase a good wire key puller for five bucks. Gently shake it, pull it straight up and let the caps fall into a bowl of warm, soapy water. In the meantime, pick up a can of compressed air.
Take your naked keyboard outside. Blow it a couple times at an angle of 45 degrees. Don’t expect to see a speck of dust, as it’s going to spew out of the aluminum back plate like a massive dust volcano. After all the loose bits have been removed the real surgery starts. You’ll need a few precision Q-tips and a bottle of 99% isopropyl alcohol. Low concentration is too watery and could be prone to short out your printed circuit board (PCB).
Dip in alcohol and take a Q-tip and clean the gaps between each and every switch. Focus in particular on the stabilisers under your space bar and shift. These are huge junk drawers and they definitely play a part in that “mushy” feeling you may experience while playing a lot.
How to clean a mechanical keyboard and prevent ghosting.
Switch Maintenance for Flawless Actuation
Clear the STEMS and Connections
Next we will go after the switches. For hot-swap boards, remove all switches that cause issues. This will enable you to check whether the delicate copper pins are affected by any corrosion or bending. You must solder the top down on soldered boards. Use an alcohol soaked brush to clean the walls of the inner housing with a plastic spudger to push down the switch stem.
This is very vital in eliminating mechanical keyboard ghost problems at their root cause. The switch’s return rate is significantly hampered by sticky residue on the switch stem. The next fast fingered keystroke will be ignored if the switch doesn’t reset immediately. It’s almost like ghosting, only competitive players are going to be more driven to sanity. For very unresponsive keys, I highly recommend a special electronic contact cleaner.
Sticky oils are instantly removed with a quick spray inside the depressed switch housing. Simply be sure the board is totally unpowered and dry before sending power back to the board. Don’t speed up the drying process. Before reinserting the keycaps, allow the board to sit completely unassembled in a well-ventilated area for 4+ hours.
How to Avoid Future Keystroke Failures
Make good habits at your desk!
You need to wash your equipment after you use it. It’s really very simple to avoid having the mess in the first place. The first and most golden rule to maintain your periphery is to avoid eating at your work station. Just one potato chip crumb can destroy a $2 premium mechanical switch. Have your snacks on another side table.
If you’re an animal lover, you know that you’re doomed against fur fall. Cat hair is quite the sneaky thing – it gets into the crevices of switches just right. Purchase a solid, affordable, acrylic dust cover. Cover with your board each night after turning off your rig. It’s a habit that can add years onto the life of your gaming deck in just 10 seconds.
Lastly, get a soft bristle drafting brush. Place it beside your computer. Sweep your keyboard for 5 seconds in the morning before starting up. The surface dust will not affect the actual electrical ability to a degree if it is removed on a daily basis.
Reclaim Your Responsiveness
A high-quality gaming keyboard can be a costly purchase and is just like a plate at the dinner table. It is rare for inputs to be lost for good or for ghosting to be a permanent hardware death. These are all just cries for simple maintenance. Now pull that board down, scrub the PCB and remove those delicate electrical contacts. You’ll immediately have that snappy, super-receptive typing experience you originally paid for.
This weekend, take your wire keycap puller out of the trash and save your setup! If there is a switch that never turns on after a deep clean, you may need to replace it. Enter the brand & model below, and we can help you determine what is going wrong with your electrical system!
FAQ
May I wash my mechanical keyboard in the dishwasher?
Absolutely not. This will ruin the electronics of a mechanical keyboard, as some older types of membrane keyboards might manage. Your costly switches will be ruined forever when you put water and dish detergent on them.
How do you deep clean your mechanical keyboard?
It’s recommended that you do a deep computer cleaning once every 3 to 6 months if you use the computer regularly. For people with heavy shedding pets or workers that eat at their desk, however, consider upgrading this to monthly to avoid the potential of switch failure.
I’m not seeing anything happening with my spacebar even after cleaning the switches, why?
Probably your stabilizers on your keyboard require a problem. A metal wire or plastic housing used to support larger keys may lose its factory lubrication or develop a thick layer of dust, as time goes by. The stabilizers will have to be carefully removed, cleaned with alcohol, and re-stabilized with a special dielectric grease.
