March 22, 2025
Description
Sometimes, dust and debris work their way into a keyboard key switch, causing the switch to be 'sticky' or to repeat key strokes. You can try to blow out the mechanism, but most blower nozzles are too big and they will not depress the switch while directing air into the switch. There is a similar difficulty with the thin straws on canned compressed air dusters. This key switch nozzle allows you to depress the switch while applying air.
Note: I have only tested this nozzle on one specific brand of keyboard. I don't know how uniform the key switch dimensions are for different manufacturers' keyboards (see photo for what my key switches look like). Also, the tip is fragile, be gentle with it. It is strong enough to do the job, but excessive lateral force on the tip could snap off a piece. :)
The Fine Flat nozzle was simply an early revision stage of the Key Switch nozzle, but it is useful for providing a fine air stream.
I printed these nozzles using Bambu Indigo Purple PLA, at 0.12 layer height, using auto tree supports. The small quantity of support debris actually helps the nozzle to feel more secure when it is installed on the Wolfbox; it tightens up the connection.
Background: I have a Wolfbox 100 air duster, which I use for cleaning and removing dust from computers and keyboards. None of the included nozzles worked well for blowing dust out of keyboard key switches. Also, there was no included nozzle that provided a fine air stream directed straight forward. I started the process of designing some solutions from scratch, but fortunately discovered that myxfit had already designed replacement nozzles. I just needed to modify the tip of the thinnest stock nozzle, the inflator, and I was good to go!
Thanks, myxfit!
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution — Noncommercial — Share Alike
9