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All of a sudden, the D5 key on my Yamaha Motif XS8 was sticking.

I bought it new and have been using it a few years now.

A lot of dust builds up over time.
Some compressed air between the keys solved the problem for now, until a bit later on, when I will open it up and clean the whole key-bed properly.

As far as I know, most (metal and plastic) actions also require regular re greasing of the moving parts - plain white grease I believe it is ( lithium grease )

Thanks Goss
I will keep that in mind when I open it up.

Yes, it's usually old grease collecting dust. I cleaned the complete keyboard of a Korg 01/W some 10 years back with several sticky keys. Cleaned of everything and used just a little silicone grease. Haven't had any issue since then. It's a lot of work but rewarding in the end when you feel every key play smooth again.

Silicone grease will not do - it will not stay put enough to lubricate for any period of time - next servicing you give it, best use lithium again but unfortunately you will have to clean the silicone grease very thoroughly.

Silicone is pretty damn terrible.. Once used it will remain as a little film on the surface ( again, not enough to lubricate mechanical actions like keyboards ) and prevent the proper adhesion of the lithium grease -_-

I will get some lithium grease beforehand, since I only have other grease around a.t.m.
Thanks for the tip, Goss.
I don't know yet what it looks like in there, but the design likely includes some thin plastic sheets do deflect dust and dirt from getting into the conductive innards of the touch sensitive strips etc.

Well, like I said It's been like 10 years ago now since I serviced the 01/W and it still works like a charm. It might depend on the keyboard mechanism but for me it worked fine.

If I might say so, silicon grease does it's job precisely because it leaves a film which is hard to get rid of. You only need the slightest amount, it's not the grease that lubricates, but only that portion between the surfaces which should be microscopically thin. Anything more will clog stuff up.

IMO that's just what you want, a thin layer of grease that is hard to get rid of? It has been working already for 10 years for me and I've been playing this thing regularly. You don't want loads of grease of what ever kind it is. Any excessive grease will just start collecting more dust.

Anyway it worked for me. And I also did the Kurzweil PC88 about 5 years or so ago and this baby I played a lot up until a year back or so. Until today still no issues.

So use what you want. But I'll stick to silicone grease because it did the job for me.

If silicone was what worked well for this purpose, it would be factory installed.
It does not and isn't ^^ Look up any manufacturer's recommendations making either product

A thin film merely prevents things collecting on the surface
A thicker film actually mitigates thermal induced wear - rubbing plastic together makes it warm, and ablates the plastic..

Sometimes it may actually be possible to find some extra grease in a place where a factory worker has applied it excessively.
I've seen that in foot pedals and other gear and made use of it.

I guess the most important thing for DIYers is to avoid anything that over time will deteriorate the plastic parts. That would be even worse than not working well as a lubricant.

Some spray-on stuff might e.g. include some solvents, perhaps. Better read the small print on the can carefully.

What's the absolute no-no-list?

I use WD40 for everything XD
If it was good enough to protect submarine launched ICBM's, it's good enough for me ^^

This is such a devastating tragedy indeed!!! First world problems...

Well it was, because I was deep into my practice session and hit that key with the little finger. There was this extra resistance and the key was sticking.
I've played this keyboard for years now, without a single hitch.
I lost my concentration, and a minute or so of practice time.
So it was a shock!

https://boingboing.net/2017/02/15/source-tells-motherboard-that.html anyone living there might want to weigh in on the legislative discussion to legally be able to repair and maintain your possessions ^^