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Reposting: McIntosh MA6100—how do you get to the switches and potentiometers?

LZ130

New Member
I’m reposting this one. I enjoy the banter and back-and-forth we get on this forum, but I really need an answer. If you don’t know, please don't respond and please don’t hi-jack the post.


I’ve emailed with McIntosh and got no help. Does anyone know, really know, how to get to the potentiometers and switches on the MA6100? I need to clean them. I can’t get to them.
 
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Those of us who really know are usually busy taking care of client's units.

First off, you do not use Deoxit in the potentiometers, you use Faderlube. Faderlube does not affect the glue that holds the carbon film to the phenolic wafer.

If you can not bend the "straw" to get back there, just like on many other units built in the 60s and 70s, you need to remove the circuit board where the pots are soldered in mass. This means pulling the glass, removing the nuts and then clearing the way to ease the board out.

This correct procedure to deep clean the controls is time consuming and why your local tech needs to charge an hour or so of labor to do this correctly.
 
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Thanks. Could you help with a little more detail? I don't know what the “straw” is. I remove the screws holding the glass frame, but the front won't pull off and I don't want to force it. There also seems to be a sub-chassis behind the front, to which the potentiometers/rotary switches are screwed.
 
Maybe I was unclear and confusing. I am talking about the rotary switches, potentiometers, volume control, on the front of the unit.
 
Spend some time searching around this forum--there are many good threads in which people have documented with photos their restorations of the MA6100, which will give you ideas as to what things should look like to be able to access the controls.

The MA6100 has a split chassis--the switches and selectors are mounted on the bottom half, and the pots on the top half. The switches and selectors are accessible from the bottom with the bottom cover off. You'll have to carefully aim deoxit at the switches by threading the deoxit can straw through the various wires to the switches. If you want to physically take the switches out to clean them, make some really good wiring notes and then break out the soldering iron.

The front glass is two panels held in a metal frame. Take off the knobs, then unscrew the screws that hold the metal frame of the glass to the chassis. The glass should be able to be helped off carefully once the screws have been undone. (Note: take off the glass before you spray chemicals inside, as the chemicals can peel the paint off the inside of the glass).

The pots (use faderlube only) are accessed by taking off the top, then removing the front black metal cover over the circuit board, and then moving the circuit board. To find the screws, you may have to hunt around on the top, bottom, or sides of the chassis. Once the circuit board is exposed, you will have to find the screws holding it in place, and remove them. If you can move the circuit board around, great, you can thread the faderlube straw around it and hit the pots to clean them. If you can't get at the pots by moving the circuit board, you may well again have to make some good notes and then break out the soldering iron.
 
Just double check that you've got all the frame screws out, and the knobs and the felt washers are off. Have you taken off the front black metal cover over the potentiometers? There may be two screws hidden under these that hold the metal frame to the chassis.
 
Yes, thanks. All the knobs are off as are the screws fastening the frame. I did not remove the screws holding the aluminum trim at the sides. Under the black metal box, there is just the back of a circuit board.
 
You may have missed another screw(s), or you may have to deconstruct the entire frame and aluminum trim. Be careful. It's also possible that whoever worked on the machine previously touched up the paint on the back of the glass and put the glass back on before the paint was dry, sticking the glass to the chassis. With old McIntosh, there is always a bit of hide and seek--I recently redid the preamp boards in my previously-untouched preamp, and one board had tantalum caps, and the other had some ancient sprague aluminum caps in the same position--the hide and seek is why I like this hobby.
 
Thanks you for the time you took to write such a detailed response. I suspect it is the glass sticking to the chassis. I am working on it!
 
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