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How to clean these switches?

waggs098

waggs098

Super Member
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So you can see in the pics all of the small choke wires and chokes themselves. They are very dirty obviously. How would you all clean this? What chemicals can I use that won't hurt the choke glues, insulation, plastic? What should I lube it with after done? I don't really want to desolder them obviously (what a b"%$h).

Iso alcohol? Doexit? Contact cleaner? Dawn dish soap? Such a mess.
 
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:idea::idea:Hmmm. What if I could find something that had an adjustable mist from soft to powerful and could inject soap. Essentially a model sized car wash sprayer.

Does it exist??
 
Because of the chokes, I think I'd either use alcohol then fader lube. You could use contact cleaner but I'd use a hypodermic style to outside and exercise until it's worked in. I'd be paranoid about over-spray causing more harm than good.
 
I would be afraid to touch it with anything other then a spray. The wires look very delicate.
Use some contact cleaner on it, wait for it to dry, then deoxit
 
I'm thinking 2 of these. One with distilled water for rinsing and the other with a mixture of water and dawn dish soap. To start with.
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Maybe I misunderstood.
I was thinking you wanted to clean switch contacts, not physically clean the area. I wouldn't go that route.
That's a lot of fluid.

I'm thinking compressed air for dust.
I wouldn't soak or man handle that area.
 
Any liquid - especially water - in the trimmer caps and choke cores and forms is gonna mess with the alignment. Leave it alone, or blow very gently with air. If your goal is just to clean the switches, put it up on end so the ends of the switches are up, then inject a very small amount of deoxit into the end of the switch such that it runs down the switch. You do NOT want to get any on the coils nor the trimmer capacitors.
 
w3jn said:
Any liquid - especially water - in the trimmer caps and choke cores and forms is gonna mess with the alignment. Leave it alone, or blow very gently with air. If your goal is just to clean the switches, put it up on end so the ends of the switches are up, then inject a very small amount of deoxit into the end of the switch such that it runs down the switch. You do NOT want to get any on the coils nor the trimmer capacitors.
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Didn't think water would hurt anything on the switches. I know I don't want to get the large silver tuning coils and caps on the board wet.

The trimmer caps you mention I assume are the white components with the screw.

Its just that this thing is so dirty, I can use needles and get cleaner inside the switch easily. Want to stop any kind of corrosion in the future. Air wont just blow it off.
 
What if I remove the switches from the board? Major undertaking I know. Could I remove all the coils and tuning caps from the tops of the switches without damage? Hmmm
 
I wouldn't risk it. Dust on plastic isn't going to cause any corrosion. There's a much higher chance of damage from disassembling a working component. If air won't blow it off, it's probably there until you wipe it off. You can use a Q tip with alcohol to clean between the switches, but regarding the switches themselves, I'd clean the contacts as discussed above and leave the rest as-is.
 
swechsler said:
I wouldn't risk it. Dust on plastic isn't going to cause any corrosion. There's a much higher chance of damage from disassembling a working component. If air won't blow it off, it's probably there until you wipe it off. You can use a Q tip with alcohol to clean between the switches, but regarding the switches themselves, I'd clean the contacts as discussed above and leave the rest as-is.
Click to expand...

So say "someone" :rolleyes:wanted to attempt removal. Anyone have any suggestions? Is there any certain process you might take or attempt?

You all might be looking at a guinea pig here. :rflmao:
 
I'm pretty adventurous in disassembling switches to do deep cleaning, but I've never seen this type before, nor have I run into external components placed right on the switch. Being these are tunable components, I'd not do anything that might remotely change their alignment. And those lead wires are hair thin, giving them no real strength to protect against breakage. My best advice is to proceed very carefully and avoid getting any cleaning agents in/on any part other than the switches themselves.

What the heck are these switches on, if I may ask?
 
Sansuiman said:
I'm pretty adventurous in disassembling switches to do deep cleaning, but I've never seen this type before, nor have I run into external components placed right on the switch. Being these are tunable components, I'd not do anything that might remotely change their alignment. And those lead wires are hair thin, giving them no real strength to protect against breakage. My best advice is to proceed very carefully and avoid getting any cleaning agents in/on any part other than the switches themselves.

What the heck are these switches on, if I may ask?
Click to expand...
They are on the Telefunken console I've been trying to repair.

Telefunken console repair help please.

I got this console about 8 years ago. Used it for a little bit and the left channel started sounding distorted. I pulled it apart and the power amp is solid state but the preamp has a few tubes so I decided to post here, due to age also. The power amp portion has the major issue. In the...
audiokarma.org
 
Are those Mica trimming capacitors in between the coils? If so, I would be careful about getting anything inside them. If you are going to spray/blow anything I would cover those up. It looks like there may already be some damage to the front coil second from the left? That strip next to the resistors has a bent contact in the front, also. I think the sliding strips could be safely cleaned with a gentle spray of Deoxit, but I would be inclined to leave all this stuff on the top side alone for now.
 
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