Cleaning My Synth?

[Dennis747]

I cover my synth whenever i don't play it, to prevent dust and such.

But still overtime, there has been dust and things collecting in between the keys.


Just wondering, is it a good idea to take it apart to clean out all that dust?
Or should I not risk it?


Thanks a bunch
-Dennis

[synthjoe]

Vacuum cleaner and a brush would be my recipe, that's what i'd try first. What's left after is probably not worth cleaning - getting to the keys might take a lot of disassembling...

[Dennis747]

Vacuum cleaner and a brush would be my recipe, that's what i'd try first. What's left after is probably not worth cleaning - getting to the keys might take a lot of disassembling...

Thanks for the response Joe, ill give that a try.

Appreciate it
-Dennis

[billbaker]

Best thing for dust in cracks (IMO) is pressurized air - either a small compressor or a can of compressed air with an extended nozzle. Canned air is a computer store staple so it's not hard to find.

A toothbrush will get stubborn crud out of detailed crannies like between keys.

You can use a vacuum cleaner to catch what comes out.

Note, however, that a vacuum cleaner on blow will put more dust in than take it out.


BB

[synthjoe]

Best thing for dust in cracks (IMO) is pressurized air - either a small compressor or a can of compressed air with an extended nozzle.
...
Note, however, that a vacuum cleaner on blow will put more dust in than take it out.

When you use a compressor (or other form of pressurized air) it might happen that you blow the dust to an even worse location (i.e. between contacts, etc.) where it was. So while I use this method often and I think BB's advice is good in general, just make sure you know where the dust will fly off when you blow air onto it. That's why my preference is a vacuum cleaner with a brush - or maybe both combined (i.e. compressed air to blow the dust off and a vacuum cleaner on the opposite side to know where it'll go... )

I use compressed air often when cleaning surfaces and pits/gaps from where dust will fly out to the open air not damaging anything inside the kit. Avoid blowing in holes and other openings from where dust will fly to the inside of the equipment.

[Dazman]

I bought my M1 second hand and before that the previous owner had it stored under a bed for about a decade.

The keys were sticky and the grease had perished so I opened it up to have a look. It was FULL of dust, general crap and lint.

I found some videos on U-tube on servicing the keyboard so armed with a screwdriver and a small tube of ceramic grease, I pulled the whole lot to bits - circuit boards, mounting brackets and all the keys.

I labelled everything as i pulled it out and took photos of what went where as a reference.

The whole lot got a good vacuum and a wipe, the keys got a good clean, the old dead grease scraped out and re-lubed with new grease... the only thing I didnt touch was the round push button controls which you press on the top of the synth.

Anyway - I reverse engineered the strip down and fortunately I didn't have any bits left over..

Now it's the spankiest M1 out there!

To keep the keyboard clean now, I keep it under wraps and give it a bit of a polish with a damp cloth to collect crap off the keys.

All good!

[Dennis747]

Again thanks for your replies everyone , i really appreciate it!

And thanx for the toll replies too.

-Dennis