It's always good to see Phil at the top of his game.

Sure is. His fulminations are typically in inverse proportion to the correctness of his position.

I keep WD-40 by the unpressurized gallon, and use it in refillable pressurized aerosol cans filled from my handy compressor. I will rinse all sorts of stuff, even soak stuff in a small ultrasound in WD-40 when I am sure that it is compatible with whatever it is. But in 40 years around it, I have never used it for or relied on it as a lubricant, rust protectant, rust remover or any of many other 'off label' "2,000 uses" supported by many. It is a handy, pretty benign solvent that even when contaminated with old skunge may be used as a safe fire-starter, mixed with kitty-litter and bagged for proper disposal, and any of several other environmentally neutral purposes.

For a fact, it will get _everything_ off an old clock mechanism, and when mixed with a bit of Oleic acid, gets the brass nice and bright (another discussion).

Point being that there are many other, better, no more/less costly preparations for electronic purposes than WD-40 (nor am I including the Caig Laboratories products in this group) that I would go off-label electronically with WD-40. WD-40's virtue is also its bane: It dissolves old skunge and spreads it nice and thin - unless rinsed off thoroughly one gets that varnish-like sticky coating leaving things far worse than before.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA