JVC SEA-80 EQUALIZER SLIDER CONTACTS

[garage inc.]

JVC SEA-80 Equalizer: Are the slider contact tracks made of carbon? Thanks if anyone knows vintage equalizers.

 

[swechsler]

I'm not sure; just curious why you need to know.

 

[garage inc.]

I want to manually clean the contacts with a small brush dipped in the proper cleaner suspecting the contacts are greasy dirty from the previous owner spraying the contacts blindly with deoxit which washes the old grease all over the place so I want to start from scratch with dry clean contacts, I have conductive faderlube fl100l-2c to apply lightly after removing all contaminates.

 

[Artie]

Almost all potentiometers are made with carbon tracks. There are exceptions, like conductive plastics and ceramics, but those are rare and expensive. Shine a flashlight into the slot. If they're black, they're carbon.

 

[garage inc.]

Almost all potentiometers are made with carbon tracks. There are exceptions, like conductive plastics and ceramics, but those are rare and expensive. Shine a flashlight into the slot. If they're black, they're carbon.

Yeah I will take the faceplate off along with the felt sandwiched in between, that will give me more seeing & cleaning room to operate, thanks.

 

[Artie]

When you take the faceplate off, look closely at the back. I've got an old JVC 4-ch EQ, and when I took the faceplate off, you could see where the aluminum had been stamped with some piece of Nikko equipment. It was pretty odd.

 

[f0427ea]

The carbon track directly ahead as you look into the pot should be as clean as possible..but that is not where you want to apply any kind of lubricant. You want the lubricant applied on the inside edge of the slider opening. Bending a hairclip into a U shape and adding just a *tiny* amount of silcone grease on the reverse face of the actual slot opening (both sides of the slider itself) should restore smoothness.
The carbon track directly ahead as you look into the slider pot can be carefully cleaned with a cotton bud dipped in switch cleaner with a built in lubricant but be careful not to dilute the silicone grease on the underside(reverse side) of the slot opening.
Clean the track first...then add a tiny bit of silicone on the reverse face of the slot opening using the hairclip second and work the slider through the full length of travel a few times very slowly to distribute it.

 

[garage inc.]

Yes I seen this drawing before, when someone sprays a blast of deoxit the old grease & crud contaminates the carbon track defeating what you are trying to clean, I want to manually clean the tracks with a brush or some thing lint free, I don't like q-tips they leave strands of cotton all over the place. I also read that distilled warm water & a drop of soap is best to clean carbon tracks but that's probably when you have the sliders/faders taken apart. Is it true I read that contact spray can dissolve the adhesive holding the carbon tracks in place? thus me leaning towards using warm distilled water with a brush or a cotton pipe cleaner bent like an "L" just dampened with water not dripping wet gently wiping the tracks until there is no more visible black crud on the white cotton pipe cleaner.

 

[f0427ea]

HiFi Engine's got the service manual available (most of it anyways) for this one.

 

[garage inc.]

HiFi Engine's got the service manual available (most of it anyways) for this one.

Yes I print the downloads on Hi-Fi Engine on all my equipment.