cleaning laptop keyboard

voxpop

Ive got a laptop keyboard with a few sticky keys - any suggestions on how to clean it ?
Would it be ok to dunk the keyboard (disconnected from the laptop ) into a tub of water and slosh it about to clean it and then leave it sitting on a radiator for a few days to dry out ?

Capt'n Midnight

This is what I would do - you will have to use your own judgement..
The cheapest new external keyboard I've bought was €3 +Vat - so the stuff you hear about cleaning normal keyboards like into a dishwasher don't really apply because the cost of replacement in negligible ( the disposal cost of them was €2 ! )

If the surface of the key is sticky, then cotton buds. could use isopropyl alcohol from a pharmacy but make sure the buds aren't so wet that it drips down between the keys.

If the key action is sticky then more serious, could use a vacuum cleaner on low power but will have to figure out some way of not getting keys sucked up. there is a risk of the airflow carrying dirt under the contacts bus should be less than for blowing air.

Do not use solvents or any patented keyboard cleaning liquid on a laptop ever, they are just too expensive to replace if you screw up, better to live with stickie keys in that case.

Or buy an external keyboard for a tenner.

Duffman

I drew a rough keyboard map then "clicked" off all my laptop keys. Then I wiped the surface underneath and washed the keys in a bowl of soapy water.

Replaced them easily enough. You might want to try it with a relatively useless key first though!