Cleaning those old push switches...

SX550

Well-Known Member
121772708324_1.jpg


Anyone have a decent way to clean these switches without destroying them?

I have managed it once by opening them up completely by lifting the white clips and taking them completely apart and flushing with contact 60, wl and 61 (european deoxit, flusher and lube).

But it took me an entire morning to put it back together with pincers and a very steady hand.
The slightest misalignment bends the copper contacts inside.

I was thinking with a very fine injection needle and compressed air?
 
Wow... that sounds intense!

In most cases Deoxit it will dissolve or displace the contaminant. However you seem to have gone above and beyond, can't see much else that can be done... :dunno:
 
Yes but the problem is getting the deoxit inside the sealed switch :D One the cover is lifted, be prepared to re-align the whole thing.
 
I just sprayed Deoxit in the front of the switch and then pressed it in and out several times. I did not remove the board, I put the nozzle at the front of the push button and worked it in by the spring. This cleaned the switches and they work great now. No need to remove anything.
 
look at all those holes in the top!! Put the deoxit straw against the hole (use a center hole) and let fly - trying to keep the majority of the spray going into the hole.

Slide the contacts out through the front, keeping them in their pockets of the central shaft.

Of course the switches have to come off the board then be freed from the metal channel that holds them.

I do it all the time as a matter of course in all my restorations.
 
Can an amateur drill the smallest of a hole, in a certain place on the outside, on a sealed switch? ex below from QX-8000A
 

Attachments

  • 2016-01-09 14.51.44.jpg
    2016-01-09 14.51.44.jpg
    100.4 KB · Views: 206
  • 2016-01-09 14.58.25.jpg
    2016-01-09 14.58.25.jpg
    60.3 KB · Views: 180
  • 2016-01-09 14.58.51.jpg
    2016-01-09 14.58.51.jpg
    143.6 KB · Views: 182
Drilling will create shredded residue which may or may not find its way into the worst places possible. I dilute D100 with 50% non aqueous isopropyl alcohol and put it in a needle bottle which I use to flush switches like that. It works well for me.
 
I'd rather hit my thumb with a hammer than drill a switch.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/sx-1980-rescue.359203/page-4#post-4698440

I can usually thread the thing THROUGH the switch all the way from the front to the back.

edit - when making this, shave away a bit of the red plastic straw BEFORE the end under where the heat shrink will go, to help grip the shrink to the straw (smaller diameter a bit PLUS a lip to grip) - there's enough pressure squirt the whole shebang off.

index.php
 
Last edited:
yep--and if you don't go in looking like a junkie, they will probably give you a few or sell you a few for a couple bucks--or if you know a diabetic friend/relative on insulin, they will have boxes of them lying around
 
Blunt the end of the needle, then it is a long thin tube and not a prescription item.

OR you could have your MD write you a script for them.

Personally my MD gave me some samples, and I blunted them.

Insulin needles are pretty short, but they are thin.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, my pharmacist just gives me a few whenever I ask, but he knows me from getting my blood pressure medication for years. Various gauges and sizes of syringes. He laughs about what I use them for. They come in really handy for lubing bearings/motors, cleaning switches/pots and filling the hydraulic tonearm lifts/dampers.
 
NOTHING works really well except dismantling and physically removing the corrosion.
I use a sheet of blotting paper to push the tiny clips onto the edge of, then run them along it, with a suitable solvent. The stationary part of the switch can be probed with a pipe cleaner.
Blotting paper and pipe cleaners are becoming vintage collectibe items too now!
 
Bringing one back from the dead .... what's the best method to blunt the hypodermics? Fine metal file?
 
NOTHING works really well except dismantling and physically removing the corrosion.
I use a sheet of blotting paper to push the tiny clips onto the edge of, then run them along it, with a suitable solvent. The stationary part of the switch can be probed with a pipe cleaner.
Blotting paper and pipe cleaners are becoming vintage collectibe items too now!
Those particular push switches cannot be dismantled, some can some can't... I drill a hole in the end of the ones that can't be dismantled and shoot the doxit and shield up there....
 
They can be dismantled but it doesn't get you that far. The way the switch is constructed, makes it difficult to clean the housing contacts. The slider can be cleaned externally but why bother when the best way is to use a syringe or what MTF mentions in the posts above.
The switch also has that silicone dielectric grease in the workings, at least the ones I had experimented with did.
I had dismantled a push switch and a complete assembled switch from a spare board and tried the ultrasonic cleaner with the "Branson Ec" solution diluted to the specs they provide. I didn't get far with that experiment either.
 
blunt syringe needless can be had on ebay CHEAP. ive got a 20 yr old used supply from a bone infection i had. they are bd leuer lok"s. you will find that the rubber will swell to the point of the syringe being useless with deoxit or petroleum based items. simply sub a buna "N" 'o'ring in its place.it doesnt seal as well but it will work damned near forever
 
Back
Top Bottom