"Hell, you're wasting your money on all that crap. I've been cleaning
hifi, PA and organ contacts with WD40, which is very cheap and easy to
find without going to the most expensive electronic repair company and
paying their exhorbitant prices. I've been doing it for lots of years
with no returns or complaints. I think because it leaves a lube residue
on anything it touches the contacts stayed cleaner because they weren't
exposed to the moisture in the air."

Well, let's see.

WD-40 is basically petroleum oil, diluted with a mixture of more
volatile hydrocarbons (the current MSDS says "Aliphatic hydrocarbon"
and "LVP aliphatic hydrocarbon", and I believe older versions said
"Stoddard solvent"). There's some carbon dioxide as a pressurizer,
and some surfactant. It was originally designed as a penetrating oil
and a moisture-barrier, not primarily as a lubricant.

Using it as a contact-and-control cleaner does seem to be a popular
use. It would probably do a decent job as a flush-out (thanks to the
volatile hydrocarbons and the CO2) and would leave a surface barrier
of petroleum oil on the contact surfaces (which would reduce wear and
perhaps act as an oxygen and moisture barrier). I doubt that it has
any substantial ability to strip oxide and tarnish off of the
contacts, though... it seems as if it'd be rather chemically inert.

I've had some people say that the oils in WD-40 can become somewhat
gummy over time, and thus might attract and hold dust, and thus cause
re-contamination in the future.

As to DeOxIt - the ingredients list is proprietary, and I'm not sure
that anyone outside the company is certain of what's in it. However,
it appears to be similar to the "Cramolin Red" product, and I've read
articles which strongly suggest that this is oleic acid, diluted in a
solvent/carrier of some sort. Metal workers (e.g. watch- and
clock-makers) used to use a dilution of oleic acid in acetone or
naptha as a gentle-but-effective cleaner for brass and copper, so this
would make sense.

Cramolin used to (and perhaps still does) come in a matched-pair set
of bottles - a "red" formula for cleaning the contacts, and a "blue"
formula for an after-treatment and preservative. The instructions
recommended *not* to leave the "red" formula on the contacts after
cleaning... and since oleic acid can have some long-term corrosive
effects on certain metals, this could make sense. I think I read that
the "blue" Cramolin was simply a lubricant and partial oxygen barrier
(somebody suggested palm oil was involved) which would not have
long-term ill effects.

I don't think I'd use WD-40 as a cleaner and residual treatment (due
to its possible tendency to gum up), *or* leave DeOxIt on the contacts
long-term (due to possible active effects from the active ingredients).

A three-step process might be best:

- Flush and clean the control using DeOxIt (or a 10% dilution of
oleic acid in naptha or in a nonflammable and generally-
considered-safe chlorinated solvent).

- Flush out the residues (straight naptha or other solvent)

- Lubricate with a light, high-quality, stable hydrocarbon oil or
grease... maybe Fader Lube, or perhaps sewing machine or
watchmaker's oil. An oil could be diluted in a suitable solvent to
allow a suitably-small amount to be applied evenly.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
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