How to clean a tuner (analog)
- Thread starter dr*audio
- Start date
Not likely, I'd opine. The treatments here are focused on electrical properties.
That being said, there are ball bearing races on at least the pulley end of most tuning caps, and the races can sometimes benefit from refreshed lubricant. I use a small drop of light-ish penetrating oil like 3-in-1, but your judgement is probably better than mine.
A key question is whether the excessive friction is from the tuning cap or elsewhere, such as the tuning knob shaft. I don't know how to express this idea well, but one thing that can be helpful in figuring out what's resisting motion is to observe how the tuning cord tautens or slackens at various places as the tuning knob is turned.
Cheers,
chazix
Thanks Chazix. Those are excellent thoughts. Mystery Oil can work well for this sort of thing but I'll (obviously) need to be very careful how it's applied. The viscosity might be too much for this though.
Paying attention to the string is also a very good point. I'll play around with it.
satan165
New Member
i picked up a marantz SR340 this weekend. looks great and everything seems to work (really i just put it for the phono pre) but the tuner did not work. ironically AM worked fine, but FM i just got consistent static across the dial.
read this thread and got to work. i could see a very small amount of green corrosion at the ends of the shaft where it went through the 'walls' of the variable cap. i got a can of CRC QD (the red can) and squirted some on there and IMMEDIATELY the tuner came to life! i moved it back and forth a bunch of times and could tune in numerous stations.
but the story does not end there.it was like that movie 'awakenings' where they get the catatonic guy to wake up but his time is limited and soon he goes back to sleep. i must have had some additional internal corrosion and ask i messed with the tuner slowly id lose most of the stations, or lose one 'end' of the thing (like lose all stations above 100FM) and then go back to nothing.
So I hit it again with the QD and yes, it would come back to life. i think now ive been through this game three times over a couple days. ive gotten now to where i turn the thing on as soon as i wake up to see if it is still alive. this morning, it is. the problem is i want to put the cover back on, put the thing in my cabinet and hook it up to the rest of the system but i cant do that until i know it is good.
along the way i have also used 99% IPA with a toothbrush to get rid of visable nastiness. and i have been using canned air also to help dry and get rid of excess IPA/QD
i also got some CRC 2-26 lube after seeing some recommendations but there is no way i am going to try and use an aerosol lube in such tight areas. was thinking about squirting some into a small container then using an eye dropper to apply
so if you are reading this, be patient, all kinds of odd things can happen. right now my alignment is off less than 1hz (97.1 is about 96.6). the funny thing is that the board is super duper clean, zero dust and like i said, the little corrosion i could see was so minimal. ive been watching youtube videos and looking at photos and seeing tuner caps that are totally encrusted in filth. everything here looks very clean, but as you can see from the story above, there was more than meets the eye. so if you are having issues, be prepared to go through a marathon if you want to get your cap running properly.
read this thread and got to work. i could see a very small amount of green corrosion at the ends of the shaft where it went through the 'walls' of the variable cap. i got a can of CRC QD (the red can) and squirted some on there and IMMEDIATELY the tuner came to life! i moved it back and forth a bunch of times and could tune in numerous stations.
but the story does not end there.it was like that movie 'awakenings' where they get the catatonic guy to wake up but his time is limited and soon he goes back to sleep. i must have had some additional internal corrosion and ask i messed with the tuner slowly id lose most of the stations, or lose one 'end' of the thing (like lose all stations above 100FM) and then go back to nothing.
So I hit it again with the QD and yes, it would come back to life. i think now ive been through this game three times over a couple days. ive gotten now to where i turn the thing on as soon as i wake up to see if it is still alive. this morning, it is. the problem is i want to put the cover back on, put the thing in my cabinet and hook it up to the rest of the system but i cant do that until i know it is good.
along the way i have also used 99% IPA with a toothbrush to get rid of visable nastiness. and i have been using canned air also to help dry and get rid of excess IPA/QD
i also got some CRC 2-26 lube after seeing some recommendations but there is no way i am going to try and use an aerosol lube in such tight areas. was thinking about squirting some into a small container then using an eye dropper to apply
so if you are reading this, be patient, all kinds of odd things can happen. right now my alignment is off less than 1hz (97.1 is about 96.6). the funny thing is that the board is super duper clean, zero dust and like i said, the little corrosion i could see was so minimal. ive been watching youtube videos and looking at photos and seeing tuner caps that are totally encrusted in filth. everything here looks very clean, but as you can see from the story above, there was more than meets the eye. so if you are having issues, be prepared to go through a marathon if you want to get your cap running properly.
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I assume this WD40 is ok? It does says quick dry, safe for plastic n leave no residue.
Are these green films oxidation/corrosion to be cleaned off? They seems some kind of lubricant to me? Is that possible?This is a Sony STR 5800SD
Are these green films oxidation/corrosion to be cleaned off? They seems some kind of lubricant to me? Is that possible?This is a Sony STR 5800SD
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wd40 is designed to displace water. So, unless that is your problem, i wouldn't use it on anything.
amptramp
Well-Known Member
The WD-40 ingredients are not the best for this type of thing. First, heptane will damage any rubber parts. Isopropanol will absorb humidity and perhaps not get rid of all the water. Difluoroethane has too few halogen atoms per molecule and is therefore flammable. Every part of this concoction is flammable.
The CRC QD is even worse. It uses naphtha which tends to stay where it is put and you may get difficulties if it is used near tuned circuits since it will increase the relative permittivity. Hexane is even better at softening rubber than heptane - in fact, it is used in fan belt dressing to make rubber sticky. Methylpentane is another hydrocarbon that can damage rubber.
I use Lloyd's Non-Flammable Electrical Contact Cleaner. It contains only tetrachloroethylene and carbon dioxide as a propellant. Tetrachloroethylene has two carbon atoms and no hydrogen and the chlorine is bonded so securely to the carbon that it is non-flammable - oxygen will not displace chlorine so it won't burn. I prefer contact cleaners that are non-flammable because you never know when that is going to matter and no hydrocarbons because there is rubber in a lot of electrical equipment.
The CRC QD is even worse. It uses naphtha which tends to stay where it is put and you may get difficulties if it is used near tuned circuits since it will increase the relative permittivity. Hexane is even better at softening rubber than heptane - in fact, it is used in fan belt dressing to make rubber sticky. Methylpentane is another hydrocarbon that can damage rubber.
I use Lloyd's Non-Flammable Electrical Contact Cleaner. It contains only tetrachloroethylene and carbon dioxide as a propellant. Tetrachloroethylene has two carbon atoms and no hydrogen and the chlorine is bonded so securely to the carbon that it is non-flammable - oxygen will not displace chlorine so it won't burn. I prefer contact cleaners that are non-flammable because you never know when that is going to matter and no hydrocarbons because there is rubber in a lot of electrical equipment.
https://www.princessauto.com/en/det...rength-electrical-contact-cleaner/A-p8180507e
These reviews say it might not be safe for plastic?
Not to be picky, just try to learn new stuffs here.
These reviews say it might not be safe for plastic?
Not to be picky, just try to learn new stuffs here.
amptramp
Well-Known Member
Thius stuff is d
This stuff is definitely not suitable for styrene like some meter faces - I wrecked a tube tester by using this stuff indiscriminately to blast every contact in the tube sockets of this tester. Maybe someone can suggest something that works without any problems and is non-flammable so if you get some vapour in the on-off switch, it won't go off like a bomb.
This stuff is definitely not suitable for styrene like some meter faces - I wrecked a tube tester by using this stuff indiscriminately to blast every contact in the tube sockets of this tester. Maybe someone can suggest something that works without any problems and is non-flammable so if you get some vapour in the on-off switch, it won't go off like a bomb.
birdhunter02
New Member
attempted to clean my tuner with deoxit. it was very scratchy when tuning and the deoxit cleared that up wonderfully. However, it would no longer tune in any station. Then I read this thread and oops, now what? Bought the non residue cleaner and it all came back better then before. About to use the fader lube then new lamps and close her up. Just as a side note, I have a coax antenna and when it was hooked up to the unbalanced connection it gave lousy reception. Was ready to take it in, but I tried the balanced side and everything works great now. Crazy thing.
I have one of those highly respected oval antennas that were all the rage a few years back, cost me 30 bucks. I finally (3 years later) got around to hooking it up, and the reception is really good, but I have noise. I can adjust where the noise is gone, but signal strength plummets.
To further muddy the waters, literally moving the coaxial cable I have connecting it makes a HUGE difference. WTF is that??? It doesn't seem to like to be looped, or anything other than straight.
I suspect no shielding??
dr*audio
Fish fingers and custard!
Bad cable or loose rf connector.
Well, I tried 2 different cables, so it may very well be that little adaptor, which is indeed dirty and old. We'll try a new one. Thank you!
Hi,
I'm not cleaning a tuner, but an older receiver with an all-analog tuner section. The advisory regarding the tuning capacitor is well understood. However, the rest of the tuner board has many tuned inductor coils. How should I go about cleaning the board w/o causing detrimental effects to those?
Thanks and regards,
Rob
I'm not cleaning a tuner, but an older receiver with an all-analog tuner section. The advisory regarding the tuning capacitor is well understood. However, the rest of the tuner board has many tuned inductor coils. How should I go about cleaning the board w/o causing detrimental effects to those?
Thanks and regards,
Rob