Brasso tends to be recommended when people need to clean video game cartridges, or sometimes a rubber eraser, but those things get a lot dirtier than PC components typically do.

Neco wrote:

i.e best way to clean up and re-lube a joystick

Is that a thing people do?

or get a ball mouse properly clean

I would prefer not to use them at all. I think they get dirty no matter what you do.

I basically just wanna get things as new looking as possible and get any years of caked on dust, etc off them. I am dealing with all used items.

The joystick and mouse especially. I have no idea where those things have been or what they have seen 😒

If you're really enthusiastic about cleaning mechanical devices, then I suppose there's no substitute for taking things apart completely, but it's pretty risky. There's just no standard way for putting a lot of these things together, and I usually wind up snapping some tiny plastic tab or another whenever I try. Plus, there's always the possibility of losing some irreplaceable tiny screw.

Useful tools include a "case opener" tool (basically a slightly-curved flathead screwdriver) and maybe a nice guitar pick.

Re-lubing a joystick, Is that what the kids are calling it these days lmao.

No seriously all joking aside what I do normally is I get an old toothbrush and 91% rubbing alcohol and give it a quick scrub, not to hard and use a light amount of alcohol. When you're done with that take some braso and put some on an old rag and scrub the gold contact of you're pci, isa and agp cards.

For accessories that are really dirty (keyboards for example) the best I've seen in action to this day is taking it apart completely, and washing the plastic with laundry detergent and hot water. The result is squeaky clean. You can also use wet wipes, the ones that are used for surfaces, stuff meant for skin usually leave some creamy stuff behind.

For PCBs I've began using auto shampoo (composition varies, the one I use lacks salt and has some anticorrosive agents in it) with warm water. Final rinse with distilled water, and right now the mainboard is still on the heater under the window (about 50-60 C right now).

I might add that I've seen this cleaning putty around, but I've never tried it myself. (No doubt ordering it from Hong Kong is cheaper than shelling out for the fancy brand name.)

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll probably go with washing stuff that's real bad (done that to keyboards before), and maybe a final dip in isopropyl before drying to help with water disposal.

You have to be careful with isopropyl alcohol; sometimes labels are written in ink that isopropyl alcohol will wipe right off. It is a good idea to test with a small area first.

True. although I don't really intend to wipe, more like dip it in a bath and stick it in front of a fan for a day or two.