How To Properly Clean And Care For Your Anime Keycaps

Getting new keycaps is an amazing feeling. It makes your keyboard look fresh and brand new, the beautiful designs are extremely eye-catching and it makes your keyboard the hottest out of all your friends. To make sure your keyboard keeps looking this great though, you have to know how to properly look after your new keys and how to clean them, because dirt and damage are a surefire way to ruin the appeal of your beautiful new keycaps.

Step 1 - Getting The Supplies Ready

There’s a few items you’re going to need to make sure you're ready to get cleaning. The majority of these are inexpensive and can easily be picked up at your local supermarket or hardware store. To keep your keycaps looking brand new you will need:

Dishwashing Soap: Any basic dishwashing detergent will do the trick. You most likely already have plenty of this laying around for doing the dishes.

Antibacterial Wipes: These will be used for scrubbing off any particularly stubborn stains that may accumulate on your keys overtime.

Keycap Puller: This one may be a little tougher to find as you’re unlikely to find it at a regular supermarket or hardware store. We suggest using our very own key puller or any local PC part store should also stock them.

Towel: Any ordinary towel or hand towel will do. We’ll just be using this to dry the keys off after we’ve given them a good clean.

Waterproof Containers: I personally like to use 2 medium sized tupperware containers, however any containers that can hold all of your keys as well as some water will do the trick.

Step 2 - Removing Your Keycaps

This is where your handy dandy keycap puller is going to be used. Many people opt to not use a keycap puller and instead use a knife or pull the keys off with their bare fingers. We strongly advise against this as it can easily lead to scratching the designs on your keys or even damaging the keys themselves. Using the keycap puller is very straight forward, simply slide the 2 pieces of metal down between the key you want to remove, then rotate the keycap puller slightly to make sure the metal is under the keys and then pull up. The keycap should pop up with minimal force.

Step 3 - Preparing Your Cleaning Solution

Take your container and fill it ½ to ⅔ full of warm but not hot water. Next give your washing detergent a good squirt into the container and use your hands to mix up the solution till it’s all bubbly and you can’t see any streaks of detergent.

Step 4 - Cleaning Your Keys

When your cleaning solution is all ready to go, carefully begin placing your keys into the solution. You can do this one by one or a few at a time but avoid dumping them all at once as this can cause your solution to splash and potentially damage your keys. After you’ve placed all your keys into the solution, give them a good swish around in the water to make sure they’re all covered in the solution before placing the lid of the container on and putting it somewhere safe to let the keys soak. After 30 to 60 minutes have passed, take the lid off, drain your cleaning solution from the container and get your antibacterial wipes. Inspect each of your keycaps one by one and using your antibacterial wipe, scrub off any stubborn gunk or debris that is still attached to the pieces.

Step 5 - Rinsing And Drying

Now that your keys are looking absolutely gorgeous, it’s time to give them a rinse. Going piece by piece, pick up your keycaps and gently run them under cold to warm water, making sure to remove any soapy residue and suds from the keycaps before placing them down in your second, soap-free container. Once your keycaps are all rinsed and clean, carefully dry each of them one by one using a fresh, clean towel.

Step 6 - Reassembling Your Keyboard

Putting your keyboard back together is a super simple process that requires no extra tools. The hardest part is making sure you’re putting each key back in the right place. Once you’ve figured out which keys go where, simply place the key over the switch and with medium force, push your keycap down until you hear the key snap into place. Repeat this process until your keyboard is re-assembled.

Now that you’re in the know-how when it comes to keeping your keycaps clean, simply follow these steps every 1 to 2 months and you’ll be sure to keep them looking as gorgeous and spectacular as the day they arrived for years to come.