I somehow got something under my arrow keys that is causing it to stick. From what I can tell removing the keys isn’t an easy task, as getting them back on it difficult without the proper experience. Does anyone know if this is true, or if it would be safe to power the laptop off and fire some rubbing alcohol under there?
You’re correct, the keycaps aren’t designed to be removed. However a handful of people have had success with it, so it should be possible with some care.
3 Likes
I take no responsibility if your keyboard doesn’t snap together as nicely as it came apart… I never did get all the juice out. A single key though, should be no problem
For the larger keys, there are one or more stabilizers. Make sure you go in on the side of the key with the Framework Spudger (the back side of the driver) and unhook the metal bars from the top and bottom clips (the space bar has 3 clips on each side).
While you’re doing that, be cognizant of the butterfly scissor things, they’re very delicate and like to pop out of place. If that happens, make sure it doesn’t happen. I broke both of the scissors on the spacebar, and have to order a new keyboard. At least shipping is super fast!
2 Likes
Hi @Brian_Hellman. If you want to clean your keyboard, we highly recommend following our step-by-step guide on how to open the laptop and remove the keyboard through this link: Keyboard Replacement Guide - Framework Guides
Thank you and stay safe!
3 Likes
Hey @Val thanks for the posts. I need to clean under my spacebar - that juice…!
You say “Make sure you go in on the side of the key” - which side? In the gif shown on the clear keyboard post they go in from the screen side.
1 Like
@artfulrobot I actually wouldn’t recommend going in from any direction; getting the keys back on once they’re off is a nightmare in and of itself.
I meant the right side, though. On most of the keys they should pop off well enough. The clips are on the top and bottom, and your one and only goal is to make absolutely sure the butterfly mechanism doesn’t come apart. The hinges are so fragile, it’s hard to get back together without breaking them irreparably.
2 Likes
If one does take the big risk to remove a key-cap,
& the cap is damaged & absolutely can’t be fitted back onto the top of the now-naked key-post,
isn’t it probable that the key-post will still work?
(That assumes that:
- The fingertip presses down well on the key-post,
- The dust or other blockage has been removed from the key-post.
- The user seeks to avoid the downsides of the alternative approaches, i.e opening the entire keyboard for cleaning, or buying a replacement Input Cover that contains an entire replacement keyboard.
)
Today, I removed 14 of my keycaps to clean and put them back without breaking a single one. It requires a lot of precision and patience, but it’s doable. I did it because I spilled a Coke on the keyboard, and it was hard to press, and cleaning it with a can of isopropyl alcohol from the outside did not help. Removing the keyboard from the laptop also didn’t fix my problem since it’s not possible to clean it even when removed without removing keycaps
Here are a few tips for others who want to do the same:
- It’s recommended to remove the keyboard from the laptop before doing this, otherwise, the aluminum body makes work more difficult
- To remove a key:
- Slightly lift a keycap on the top side
- Find a place where the keycap connects to the butterfly mechanism (it looks like a tiny Lego hand)
- Put the handle of the framework screwdriver (or something else thin) as near to this place as possible
- Gently apply pressure between the keycap and butterfly mechanism to separate the keycap. It should come out easily
- If there is any metal reinforcement in the button remove it the same way (it’s typical for large buttons, usually on both button and top)
- After all top couplings are removed, carefully move the keycap in the direction of the touchpad to disconnect the bottom couplings
- To put a key back:
- Slightly lift a butterfly mechanism
- Carefully place the keycap on top with a movement in the direction towards the touchbar. Make sure bottom couplings are connected to the keycap
- Slowly press down the keycap to connect the top couplings, and make sure the bottom couplings stay connected
- If the button has metal reinforcement it’s convenient to put it a bit up towards the screen before putting on the keycap
6 Likes
A little while ago, I spilled some soda on my laptop (Framework Laptop 13, Ryzen 5). I powered it down and cleaned it up with toilet paper, as that seemed to absorb a lot of liquid. I then got a few little pieces of toilet paper stuck under my keyboard. I managed to get them out without removing keys, I just used a little toothpick to get the little pieces out. It’s a little annoying but definitely worth it and pretty easy 
I also recently spilled some soda on my keyboard, cleaned it up with paper towel had a few keys sticking. I ended up taking the keyboard out and laying it on a baking tray and pouring a bit of rubbing alcohol over the keys that were sticking and scrubbing around and under as best i could with one of the dental floss trees for braces (i bought a cheap pack of them off amazon for cleaning my airbrush) then mashing the keys a a few dozen times and then scrubbing them again then tipping it up to let all the rubbing alcohol run out then did a quick rinse with more rubbing alcohol and then wiped it off with a dry paper towel and then waved it around a bit to get the alcohol to evaporate faster. not too difficult if you have the patience to remove 100 tiny screws on the keyboard, took me about 1.5 hours, from turning it off to turning it back on
1 Like
Hi.
I just had a weird problem that seemingly a metal part was stuck under my ‘I’ key. It blocked the movement of the key, making me fear I’d have to replace the keyboard. I know framework discourages you to remove the keys, but for me it was an act of desparation.
Luckily, I was able to remove the keycap and replace it without any issues thereafter. Since I didn’t make a video I’ll try to explain what I did (note that this applies to the ‘I’ key and probably to the other square keys - but quite likely not to the other keys on the keyboard, as their switches may be constructed differently). Someone else recorded a video on Youtube which helped me a lot as well to figure this out:
First to describe how the keycap looks like, let’s say the trackpad is south, and the screen is north.
Underneath, the keycap has one little hook left and right on right along the southern edge that look inwards. These hooks slide into the south side of the butterfly mechanism. Along the northern edge, there are two little protusions that are best described as ‘pincers’ - these click into the butterfly mechanism.
It’s very important to ‘unclick’ the keycap fromthe northern side - doing this on the southern side could break the key. I carefully put the spudger under the northern side on one corder of the key, and by twisting carefully, I could pop one of the pincers off the butterfly mecha. Then I did the same on the other corner of the northern edge. After that, the cap slides out of the mechanism on the sourthern side.
To put the keys back in, I lifted the butterfly mechanism with the spudger carefully up to be able to slide the key cap’s hooks into the mechanism on the southern side, and then I pressed the key down directly on each of the pincers on the northern edge to click it back in place.
Good to have strong nerves on this one - the delicate keyboard mechanism is easily broken…
2 Likes
is this the official way to dislodge and remove the keycaps from the normal alpha numerical keys? i have a stuck key on my keyboard, the pipe/greaterthan/lessthan/anglebrackets key next to the left shift key, there seems to me something small stuck beneath i can hardly use that key any more properly. or is there an official guide and howto on handling individual keys and the keyboard? thanks.
No official guide, because laptop keyboard manufacturers just seem to go with saying that the keys a not officially removable. Framework has said this too. Understandable I guess when the keys don’t have room for large durable clips.
1 Like
No, I’m not a Framework official 
. The official response to this problem implies ‘buy a new keyboard’.
Nonetheless, the keyboard has worked since my little ‘treatment’, without issues. Like I said, it takes some nerves to fix it yourself, but you can do it. One thing to be careful about: What my article explains about the hooks being on the northern and southern side: This may not be true for the other keys (space bar, function keys, etc)! In your case, I’d guess it’s the same butterfly, so I reckon you could give it a try like I did. But of course: can’t guarantee this won’t break the key entirely!
1 Like
i fixed my stuck key. removed the keycap coming from north
didnt really see any stuck crumbs or debris but somehow the butterfly mechanism on its left size was kind of stuck or blocked the right side of the butterfly was working more normally. anyhow thanks for this thread and video and all the help.