Archive for October, 2012

Recently I noticed that my Wireless Logitech Wave Keyboard was beginning to sound a bit loud and that some of the keys were starting to stick. I’ve had my Wave Keyboard for about three years now. In hopes of avoiding replacing it, I figured a good cleaning might solve the issue and what better way to clean something than the dishwasher.

Step 1 – Taking it Apart

Overall, keyboards are very simple devices. First thing I did was turn off the keyboard and remove all the black screws from the back in order to separate the two halves. This proved quite easy and simple.

Step 2 – Removing the palm rest

I noticed some silver screws on the inside of the keyboard holding the palm rest in place and figured I would separate that as well.

Step 3 – Putting it in the dishwasher

I placed only the side of the keyboard with the keys facing down on the bottom rack of my dishwasher with the palm rest along side of it. I did not put in the side that had the rubber membrane and circuit board. From my inspection, the issue was not with the membrane and figured a simple wipe down of the rubber with a damp cloth would suffice for that side.

I added some dishwasher detergent, set it to a “Normal Cycle”, closed the hatch and crossed my fingers.

Step 4 – Drying it out

I did not use the heat dry function of the dishwasher. Once it was done, I took out the keyboard components and all seemed okay. No keys had popped off and the letters on them were still visible. I used a blow dryer to speed up the drying time but still let the keyboard lay out on my desk for a couple of hours to air dry.

The Result

After letting it dry out, I reassembled the keyboard and turned it back on. First thing I noticed, other than that it looked very clean, was that it was much quieter. Also the keys don’t seem to stick as much. Every once in awhile a key still sticks so I may have to try another cleaning cycle or perhaps some sort of grease, however it’s nowhere as bad as it used to be.