Help Request: HOW TO Guide for Cleaning an Apple Extended Keyboard II (AEK II)?

[sinisterpisces]

Full of much excitement and Big Retro Energy from watching all our favorite Vintage Mac YouTubers ( ), I finally bought a reasonably-priced AEK II on eBay. I took care to pick a listing whose written description actually mentioned that the keyboard was clean.

tl;dr I have been lied to.

This thing is not just dirty. It is disgustingly dirty, with what is possibly 30+ year old petrified who-knows-what organic matter on the keys. The ADB cable is enough of a mess that it's going in the trash as soon as I make sure I can get a replacement.
I will be cleaning it with gloves on. I'm not thrilled.

But, Question: I was not prepared to have to clean this thing, and have never cleaned one before. Is there a guide somewhere for getting it as clean as possible without breaking it?

I'm going to try putting the keys in some warm water with a lot of denture cleaner tablets first. That seems to get good results on the YouTubes; I'll scrub after that if needed.

It's the rest of the board I'm not sure what to do with. I've overcome the urge to throw it off the balcony in disgust, though. #Winning

Tools: Do I need to buy anything aside from a keypuller and more alcohol (70, 91, or 99?)?

Difficulty level: I live in a 9th story apartment with no usable balcony--there's just enough room for one (1) human to stand outside without moving. I can't just take it outside and hose it down. I do have a very shallow (2-3 inches) plastic tub thing I can put on my bed and fill with water/alcohol as necessary.

Thanks!

 

[rikerjoe]

I used the iFixit guide when I did the same with my AEKII, and the guide seemed fine to me. https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+Extended+Keyboard+II+Teardown/42138

 

[sinisterpisces]

I used the iFixit guide when I did the same with my AEKII, and the guide seemed fine to me. https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+Extended+Keyboard+II+Teardown/42138

Thanks! It didn't occur to me that they would have teardown guides for antiques.

I will admit I wasn't planning to completely disassemble the case. I did want to get the top off so I could clean around the switches, but I'm wary of destroying the plastic if I start messing with the clips. Even the one who wrote the teardown guide lost a clip; I'm wary I'd lose two and not be able to put it back together.

My immediate goal is to clean the PCB and switches/keys, and get the outer case into a shape that doesn't make me feel gross to touch.

How did you clean the outer case? I'm thinking of getting a sponge, but I'm not sure if I should just use soapy water, windex/glass cleaner, or something else.

 

[rikerjoe]

I did a complete disassembly and immersed the case in soapy water to clean, then used IPA to clean stubborn stains and sticky residue from stickers. I found disassembly to be the sure way to clean out the dust bunnies, stains, and other grime that accumulates over time. If you have doubts about disassembly and only want to do a surface clean, grab your IPA and cotton swabs and go to town.

 

[sinisterpisces]

I did a complete disassembly and immersed the case in soapy water to clean, then used IPA to clean stubborn stains and sticky residue from stickers. I found disassembly to be the sure way to clean out the dust bunnies, stains, and other grime that accumulates over time. If you have doubts about disassembly and only want to do a surface clean, grab your IPA and cotton swabs and go to town.

Did you run into any issues with brittle plastics?

I want to do a full clean, but I'm wary of the plastic clips just disintegrating to the point I can't reassemble the board.

I'm assuming you just used IPA on the PCB itself? What about the switches?

 

[rikerjoe]

The plastics in the AEKII seem more robust than the later plastics, but I still took care in the disassembly process. I had no issues with any of the plastics breaking. Some of the tinkerers more knowledgeable than me might know more about the ABS formulation that led to the brittleness in the 90’s and early 00’s that we all know and hate.

Yes, I cleaned the PCB with IPA and cotton swabs. I did nothing to the key switches other than clean around them - all of mine appeared to be functioning normally.

Hope this helps.

 

[SteveHere]

I also recently cleaned an AEK II. I was able to take it completely apart and I can confirm that I had a similar experience as @rikerjoe . The plastics were not brittle and if you work slowly around the board edges with guitar picks you should be able to release the clips without any breakage.

 

[retr01]

The ADB cable is enough of a mess that it's going in the trash as soon as I make sure I can get a replacement.

On eBay, the coiled ADB cables are priced like crazy. So, I came across reasonably priced at Operator Headgap Systems for ADB coiled cable in reasonable condition (scroll down to around the middle of that page):