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Go easy with those contact cleaners!

Morden2004

Morden2004

Relaxin'
Contact cleaners, like De-Oxit and Nu-Trol, are meant to be applied to the MATING SURFACES of electrical contacts, like switch contacts, potentiometer wiper arms, relay points etc.

It is not a wash or a flush. It is not a cleaner per se. Excessive amounts of De-Oxit while not especially dangerous, is nevertheless a waste of expensive cleaner.

You need a drop -- a single drop -- per contact point. Those aerosol spray versions are wasteful but sometimes necessary to force liquid into odd locations. When you have clear access to the contact or the entry point of a closed switch or pot, spray a little into a bottle cap or small dish and apply with a dropper or screw driver. One drop is all you will usually need -- the rest of the process is mechanical -- work those contatcs in and out, back and forth etc.

Waste not -- want not. :thmbsp:

Paul
 
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Couldn’t agree more. There is grease in them pots and switches and its best not to wash that out. I believe there is no way to replenish that grease short of disassembly.
 
besides discharging an aerosol can into a bottle, does deoxit come in a liquid form? i have a needle oiler (unused) i can see using for just this purpose. it's a small plastic squeeze bottle with a 2" metal needle (blunt) on the top.

i use one when i have to oil my sax rods, and the tiny aperture on the needle does a fine job of minimising the mess.
 
For your older gear, use Faderlube (also by caig, makers of DeOxIt). On certain older controls, the DeOxIt will actually attack the conductive surface, not clean it.
 
ok, define "older".:D

everyone here seems pretty sold on deoxit for their ss stuff. is that for tube stuff? or?

sometimes i just don't know how to handle all this infor*ma*tion :sigh:
 
There's a more detailed discussion of the issue HERE, but on older gear that has carbon tracks in the pots, if there is any release of the carbon, the DeOxIt will complete the job for you. Spray it in, work the pot 100 times, and no more carbon on the pad, so no more conductivity.

I know because I've done it, taken an intermittent problem and turned it into a terminal one. This was a little tube amp from the late 50's, and the carbon was already lifting a little. I would not have made the connection to using the cleaner except for other threads on AK. I have no idea at what age a pot will start "losing its grip" on the carbon. YMMV.

<EDIT>Post #9 in the thread linked above has the most pertinent info.<END EDIT>
<EDIT 2>Took me a minute, but Post #35 is what I was looking for - the straight skinny from Caig Corp. <END EDIT2>
 
Thanks, madwing. I wanted to follow up with a quote straight from the link to Caig's site:

Caig Tech Support said:
"Normal" carbon surfaces will not be adversely affected by the D5 spray, however, you are working with vintage equipment, and it’s highly probable that the already fragile or mechanically weak pots will sustain damage after exposure to solvent, causing the removal of carbon.
Click to expand...

In my case, the pots were "already fragile or mechanically weak", so the solvent stripped the tracks down to bare surfaces :tears: . (I take that back: I stripped the tracks down to bare surfaces by grinding off the carbon as I worked the pots after applying the spray...) I was thankfully able to find appropriate replacements. On most modern SS gear, the likelihood of damage is much lower.

There should be some old saw in here about "Better safe than..." or something like that.
 
!00% Deoxit is apparently not a problem with pots, it's the solvent in the spray and 5% bottles that can do harm. Please, anyone correct me if I am wrong. Faderlube is what it says it is, a lube. It has some cleaning qualities but is not a contact cleaner. I have had good success with flushing with 92% or 100% isopropyl alcohol and following with either Deoxit or Faderlube. Both Faderlube and 100% Deoxit come in bottles with built in needle dispensers. Parts Express has the full line of Caig product and supplies and .pdf files of all the info you need about the products. I'm sure there are other venders that provide the same products and services.
 
madwing said:
besides discharging an aerosol can into a bottle, does deoxit come in a liquid form? i have a needle oiler (unused) i can see using for just this purpose. it's a small plastic squeeze bottle with a 2" metal needle (blunt) on the top.

i use one when i have to oil my sax rods, and the tiny aperture on the needle does a fine job of minimising the mess.
Click to expand...

Yes it does, I have a tiny bottle of it. :yes:
 
KingBubba said:
Please, anyone correct me if I am wrong. Faderlube is what it says it is, a lube.
Click to expand...
You are correct. The point made in the other thread was that the carbon tracks will not oxidize, therefore require no cleaning. A carbon-to-carbon pot would require no "deoxidizing", but would benefit from the lube to reduce wear. In a pot with carbon tracks and a metal wiper, the metal tip of the wiper would require cleaning - nice little catch 22, huh? Dis-assembly looks to be the only truly safe solution for that one, but only with the 5% D5 solution. The 100% D5 contains no solvent, according to Caig.
 
ozmoid said:
For your older gear, use Faderlube (also by caig, makers of DeOxIt). On certain older controls, the DeOxIt will actually attack the conductive surface, not clean it.
Click to expand...

I was told exactly that when I talked to the nice woman from Caig about their products. I now only use DeOxit when faderlube won't fix the problem. On my new 9090DB which has multiple issues with noisey pots and souce selectors, Faderlube worked the trick. I think it's also important to cycle the pots/switches MANY times. Someone here suggested 100 times and that's what I do.
 
So are you saying...

...That i shouldn't spray deoxit into the controls of my "new" 9090DB?:scratch2: Does anyone know off the top of their head if these are carbon track pots or something else vulnerable?
 
Speaking of which

Hey, I just picked up a case of 5% 5oz cans in the spray pump (non-aerosol) cans, and I can't use all of this DeOxit, anybody a few cans for say $10 bucks each? I got the pump instead of the aerosol just for the reasona that Morden mentions, the aerosol cans just seemd hard to control the spurt into the contacts...these pumps come with the little micro straw too.

I would love it if you could pick it up local to Ft. Worth, but hey, I will ship it if anyone is interested paying the priority shipping cost?

K

Edit - I haven't seen any of these carbon pots in my 9090, they all look like mroe modern contacts, I don;t think there is ny problem with the DeOxit in these - at least it has worked great for me, with no problems
 
deoxit

I typically overuse deoxit, mostly to ensure I get it into where it needs to go, but always flush with alcohol and follow with compressed air. Then a small dash of the 100% version for preservation.
Even with the dangers of using the stuff it is necessary for our vintage gear.
For lubrication I like WD40 or a better but spendy product called triflow.
Casey
 
nosirrah said:
I typically overuse deoxit, mostly to ensure I get it into where it needs to go, but always flush with alcohol and follow with compressed air. Then a small dash of the 100% version for preservation.
Even with the dangers of using the stuff it is necessary for our vintage gear.
For lubrication I like WD40 or a better but spendy product called triflow.
Casey
Click to expand...

WD-40 makes for a poor lubricant. It also has properties that are intended to remove rust, which makes it very bad for blued surfaces, commonly found on guns. :thumbsdn:
 
outlawmws said:
WD-40 makes for a poor lubricant. It also has properties that are intended to remove rust, which makes it very bad for blued surfaces, commonly found on guns. :thumbsdn:
Click to expand...


It also tends to attract moisture, which promotes rust and other yucky stuff. Definitely NOT for electronic devices and especially our beloved Sansuis. A better choice might be something with silicone in it, but again you gotta watch those solvents. Several made-for-electronics lubes have been mentioned here; I'd stick with them. WD40? No way! And kerosene? Wow! One spark somewhere and whoosh! It's gone.

I don't know if ALL Sansuis use the type of volume control that I have in my Seven, with the discrete stepped switches, but there is no carbon in them. Just need a bit of cleaner and lots of switching back and forth.

My Deoxit Pro Gold kit came with an extra spray can of ProGold. It claims to enhance, lubricate and protect metal connections. I haven't used it yet, but it might be good for a final treatment on switches and connectors. The regular Deoxit also has a lubricant. The package recommends another product, Cailube MCL, for moving contact surfaces, including carbon potentiometers. They also list needle dispensers, squeeze tubes, mini sprays, brush, pen and wipes, all at 100%, without solvents. (More lubricant) Anyway, it's good stuff, tho not cheap.
 
PC Bob said:
It also tends to attract moisture [WD-40], which promotes rust and other yucky stuff. Definitely NOT for electronic devices and especially our beloved Sansuis. A better choice might be something with silicone in it, but again you gotta watch those solvents. Several made-for-electronics lubes have been mentioned here; I'd stick with them. WD40? No way! SNIP
Click to expand...


Actually, it was intended to displace moisture, and does a decent job of that.

What you are probably seeing is it goes away in short order and leaves little to nothing to resist condensations and the resulting rust. I'm hose wet tools down with it to remove the water, especially inside joints and such, but I always get a real lubricant appropriate for the job after...
 
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