Hello, does anyone have recommendations on how to clean the Framework 16 modular keyboard?
I have a few sticky keys, probably from some drink spilled by my kids.
I have seen tips online of using distilled water or Isopropyl alcohol to rinse it out, but I am hesitant and don’t want to destroy it.
Does anyone have experience or recommendations for that?
IsoProp should not harm it in any way.
Heck, even distilled water shouldn’t.
I need to find someone who can lend me ad ultrasound cleaner to try and clean mine…
Fun fact: IIRC Der8auer used to wash GPUs and Mobos in the dishwasher… using distilled water. Madlad.
when cleaning it,
make sure to dry it well afterwards. Isopropyl alcohol is best since it dries up quickly, while destilled water does or is eletric conductive than IPA.
So use isopropyl alcohol, begin putting it on a cloth and wipe over keys and make sure to remove the keyboard fully from laptop first. Then do the clean and dry it fully and then see if keys are as sticky as before, if they still are you can probably bathe the keyboard into isopropyl alcohol, but again make sure it dries fully before you install it.
Also to get best result get 90% or higher IPA to get best chance it’s pure.
I’d suggest isopropyl alcohol as well. It’s non-conductive and dries quickly. Very useful on electronics.
Thanks for the advice!
I will try it out and report my success.
Distilled water does not conduct electricity, well, very little at least.
Distilled water: 0.5–3 µS/cm
Tap Water: 50,000 µS/cm
So, distilled water conducts considerably less than normal tap water.
I would hope that you would not be doing the cleaning while the keyboard is attached to the laptop.
I would recommend cleaning with distilled water instead of alcohol. Distilled water would dissolve spilled / sticky keys better than alcohol because the sticky stuff would have been dissolved in the drink(water) that was spilled in the first place.
Alcohol evaporates quickly, leaving the residue behind, whereas distilled water will dissolve the sticky bits and carry them away with it.
You can use an external keyboard, while the washed keyboard dries.
On that note, if you want to make something short in water at a relatively low voltage (~3v), it can actually be quite difficult. I had to do this at work once and it astounded me how much it took to get a sensor to short-circuit.
Did anybody try to clean the FW16 keyboard in an Ultrasonic Cleaner? I want to buy it for 3d printing and was wondering if it’s safe to dunk the keyboard for a quick bath to clean it from the inside as well, since it’s not recommended to disassemble the keys.
Also, as a total noob on the subject, how can one know what type of plastic is used in the FW16 keyboard? Is the paint job going to be affected?
Sorry for the late reply, took quiet a while to actually get around doing it.
I tried using Isopropyl Alcohol now because it was what I had on Hand. Flushed it out while hammering the buttons for about 5 minutes and gave it a couple of Hours of Rest afterwards to dry off properly.
Impression so far very good. I can not tell the difference between the previously jammed button and the others anymore. Typing on the keyboard right now, so electronics have souvived it just fine 
Thank you for everybodies reply!
I would be curious regarding the Ultrasonic Cleaner, have thought about getting one myself for a while as well for stuff like this.
I have to say, this subject makes me really appreciate the modularity of the FW16, and the repairability of Framework in general. Being able to simply remove the keyboard to clean it is unthinkable for any other laptop…
On the subject of ultrasonic cleaners…
Well, the keyboard is a little over 11” X 5” including the connector (about 283mm by 130mm), so you’d need one with a tank bigger than that clean it (at least, not without the keyboard being put in at an angle and possibly sticking out). Just doing a quick glance on Amazon, I’ve seen one that’s just big enough with a 10L tank for about $139. I don’t know if it’s any good, and I don’t want to endorse a product I know nothing about. But, I’m guessing that would be an average price of one in that size.
I would in no way recommend an ultrasonic cleaner (and I have one large enough). They are simply too strong. Those microscopic bubbles will penetrate and separate materials that were not designed to be separated. You have been warned.