DIYbanter - View Single Post - Safe to use WD40 as switch or potentiometer cleaner?

(mitch perkins) wrote in message om...
"Keith Willcocks" wrote in message ...

"mitch perkins" wrote in message
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"Richard Henry" wrote in message
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Just this week I used WD-40 to lubricate the garden gate hinges and
sprayed
some on the cutters after pruning some shrubs.

Years ago in youthful ignorance I tried to clean a coffee spill out of a
computer keyboard with it. I eventually just got a new keyboard.

If you can manage to sneak a squirt of WD40 into your slot-car motor
just before a race, victory will be yours! Not, however, if the track
is full-living-room sized and the race is more than 15 laps. Also the
resulting aroma, while exceedingly pleasant, will give you away.
Make sure not to spill any on the rear wheels, or you're *done*.

You reminded me that you can drastically extend the life of a worn out
ribbon on a dot matrix printer by opening the cassette and spraying the
ribbon with WD40. Sounds daft but works extremely well, a friend has
ribbons that have been sprayed 3 or 4 times and are years old and still
working.

Really? Me? I had an old VCR that had an audio-dub feature. We would
tape Star Trek and The X Files and then dub in the most ridiculous
dialogue. Always something to do with hats or cheese or the captains
Bovril stash. Those two shows were perfect because the actors are so
*serious*.
Anyway, when it began to die, (the thing had a fake wood finish!), I
somehow got the idea to open the tape slot and - *spray everything
inside with alcohol*.
Punchline: it added at least a year to the life of a dear old
friend. (I think the alcohol "re-stickied" the belts.)
Moral: they don't make 'em like they used to.

Mitch

I had a track-drive garage door opener that was sticking. I sprayed
it with WD40 and it worked like a charm to keep the thing operating
trouble free for a couple more months.

The plastic links in the track-drive suffered catastrophic failure,
probably due to exposure of the plastic to the solvent in WD40! Had
to replace the whole thing.

Some people use WD40 on their arthritic knees (well if it works on
hinges...). Fact is that the solvent in WD40 is DMSO, the same
substance once touted for its miraculous healing qualities. So yes,
WD40 can give at least temporary relief for the arthritic knee. But
one must consider the toxins in WD40 that are being absorbed into the
body along with the medicating solvent.

Not recommended. Your body might suffer a catastrophic failure just
like my garage door opener!

Double-A