On another list we have been discussing using Caig DeOxit on pots (e.g.
Volume, balance, etc controls).

Caig has another product called "Fader Lube", which I assume is designed
for such a use.

The question I have is has anyone used the regular DeOxit on such controls
and the results? A web search yielded many hits of people using DeOxit and
having good results, and even a YouTube videos of it.

It's hard to tell from the postings, and the videos, how many the people
posting have done. Some of them are obviously people who have done
one or two, and others are not. I'm interested in hearing long term
experience.

Thanks in advance,

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to misquote it.

On Tue, 8 Feb 2011 13:34:05 +0000 (UTC), "Geoffrey S. Mendelson"
wrote:

On another list we have been discussing using Caig DeOxit on pots (e.g.
Volume, balance, etc controls).

Caig has another product called "Fader Lube", which I assume is designed
for such a use.

The question I have is has anyone used the regular DeOxit on such controls
and the results? A web search yielded many hits of people using DeOxit and
having good results, and even a YouTube videos of it.

It's hard to tell from the postings, and the videos, how many the people
posting have done. Some of them are obviously people who have done
one or two, and others are not. I'm interested in hearing long term
experience.

Thanks in advance,

Geoff.


In rare cases, deoxit will cause the slidepots to slightly bind so I
use Fader Lube on them and deoxit on rotating pots. Chuck

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote in message
...
On another list we have been discussing using Caig DeOxit on pots (e.g.
Volume, balance, etc controls).

Caig has another product called "Fader Lube", which I assume is designed
for such a use.

The question I have is has anyone used the regular DeOxit on such controls
and the results? A web search yielded many hits of people using DeOxit and
having good results, and even a YouTube videos of it.

It's hard to tell from the postings, and the videos, how many the people
posting have done. Some of them are obviously people who have done
one or two, and others are not. I'm interested in hearing long term
experience.

Thanks in advance,

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to misquote it.

Why is it everyone else gets corroded or dirty pots and I always get the
worn ones?
Then there is the plague of microscopic Alps ones where the grease migrates
from shaft area to the wiper area and lifts the hair-thin metal from the no
sign of wear resistive track - 6 on one 2 yearold Korg last week, unusable
because all with this failing

N_Cook wrote:
Why is it everyone else gets corroded or dirty pots and I always get the
worn ones?
Then there is the plague of microscopic Alps ones where the grease migrates
from shaft area to the wiper area and lifts the hair-thin metal from the no
sign of wear resistive track - 6 on one 2 yearold Korg last week, unusable
because all with this failing

What do you do to repair them? Replace?

Thanks, Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to misquote it.

Chuck wrote:
In rare cases, deoxit will cause the slidepots to slightly bind so I
use Fader Lube on them and deoxit on rotating pots. Chuck

Thanks, I never thought of that.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to misquote it.

"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote in
:

On another list we have been discussing using Caig DeOxit on pots
(e.g. Volume, balance, etc controls).

Caig has another product called "Fader Lube", which I assume is
designed for such a use.

The question I have is has anyone used the regular DeOxit on such
controls and the results? A web search yielded many hits of people
using DeOxit and having good results, and even a YouTube videos of it.

It's hard to tell from the postings, and the videos, how many the
people posting have done. Some of them are obviously people who have
done one or two, and others are not. I'm interested in hearing long
term experience.

Thanks in advance,

Geoff.


Decades ago, I met an old organ repair technician at a Roland tech
seminar to become a certified Roland repair station. Most of the rest of
the participants were much younger than us, so we gravitated together and
had lunch.

I was spending a fortune each year buying products like DeOxit to clean
organ controls, the thousands of metal to metal contacts before
everything became conductive rubber. Talking about the price of this
stuff, which would make you think a pharmaceutical company produced it in
a lab, he said something to me that simply shocked me.

"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."

We both had to fight the horribly humid coastal swamp gas we live in, he
in NC and I in SC. So, I had some old organs that were just awful coming
up so I tried it. I used WD40 ever since with fantastic results. It
makes a 40 year old, almost worn out expression pedal pot work like new
with audio as smooth as glass. Some of those pots are nearly unobtanium
because of their queer shafts and mountings.

Another nice thing about WD40 is its effects upon dragging or frozen pot
bearings, of course. One drop in a pot bearing and you wonder why noone
did it instead of twisting off the knob!

The new WD40 isn't even flammable any more. I'm still using it, but now
that I'm retired not so often...(c;]

Try it on something really nasty and see for yourselves. Crap on this
$20-40 a can nonsense. The cleaners are more expensive than a new pot!

......available at fine hardware emporiums, worldwide.....
.....and WalMart!

If it'll make you feel better, buy it from Ace Hdwe and pay double.

"N_Cook" wrote in -
september.org:

Korg

My condolences on the Korg. Here in the USA they fled and there are no
parts so we have to go through their US parts distributor,
tubesandmore.com, which is a fine company but the parts are in Japan and
they only order when there's a pile, not one at a time. tubesandmore.com,
AKA Antique Radio Supply, Tempe, AZ, is a great company, but getting Korg
parts is measured in Months, not weeks or days.

I service Korg keyboards since the 1980s. Nice stuff, no support.

On Feb 8, 9:44*am, Chuck wrote:
On Tue, 8 Feb 2011 13:34:05 +0000 (UTC), "Geoffrey S. Mendelson"



wrote:
On another list we have been discussing using Caig DeOxit on pots (e.g.
Volume, balance, etc controls).

Caig has another product called "Fader Lube", which I assume is designed
for such a use.

The question I have is has anyone used the regular DeOxit on such controls
and the results? A web search yielded many hits of people using DeOxit and
having good results, and even a YouTube videos of it.

It's hard to tell from the postings, and the videos, how many the people
posting have done. Some of them are obviously people who have done
one or two, and others are not. I'm interested in hearing long term
experience.

Thanks in advance,

Geoff.

In rare cases, deoxit will cause the slidepots to slightly bind so I
use *Fader Lube on them and deoxit on rotating pots. *Chuck

Its easy to screw up sliders. i have used white grease and heavy duty
silicon oil to relube just the metal rails.
There used to be a spray white grease product for pots. I'm NOT
talking about Blue Stuff.

greg

On Feb 8, 12:36*pm, Fred wrote:
"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote :



On another list we have been discussing using Caig DeOxit on pots
(e.g. Volume, balance, etc controls).

Caig has another product called "Fader Lube", which I assume is
designed for such a use.

The question I have is has anyone used the regular DeOxit on such
controls and the results? A web search yielded many hits of people
using DeOxit and having good results, and even a YouTube videos of it.

It's hard to tell from the postings, and the videos, how many the
people posting have done. Some of them are obviously people who have
done one or two, and others are not. I'm interested in hearing long
term experience.

Thanks in advance,

Geoff.

Decades ago, I met an old organ repair technician at a Roland tech
seminar to become a certified Roland repair station. *Most of the rest of
the participants were much younger than us, so we gravitated together and
had lunch.

I was spending a fortune each year buying products like DeOxit to clean
organ controls, the thousands of metal to metal contacts before
everything became conductive rubber. *Talking about the price of this
stuff, which would make you think a pharmaceutical company produced it in
a lab, he said something to me that simply shocked me.

"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."

We both had to fight the horribly humid coastal swamp gas we live in, he
in NC and I in SC. *So, I had some old organs that were just awful coming
up so I tried it. *I used WD40 ever since with fantastic results. *It
makes a 40 year old, almost worn out expression pedal pot work like new
with audio as smooth as glass. *Some of those pots are nearly unobtanium
because of their queer shafts and mountings.

Another nice thing about WD40 is its effects upon dragging or frozen pot
bearings, of course. *One drop in a pot bearing and you wonder why noone
did it instead of twisting off the knob!

The new WD40 isn't even flammable any more. *I'm still using it, but now
that I'm retired not so often...(c;]

Try it on something really nasty and see for yourselves. *Crap on this
$20-40 a can nonsense. *The cleaners are more expensive than a new pot!

.....available at fine hardware emporiums, worldwide.....
....and WalMart!

If it'll make you feel better, buy it from Ace Hdwe and pay double.

If you like WD-40 you will LOVE CRC 2-26

greg

On 2/8/2011 9:36 AM Fred spake thus:

Decades ago, I met an old organ repair technician at a Roland tech
seminar to become a certified Roland repair station. Most of the rest of
the participants were much younger than us, so we gravitated together and
had lunch.

I was spending a fortune each year buying products like DeOxit to clean
organ controls, the thousands of metal to metal contacts before
everything became conductive rubber. Talking about the price of this
stuff, which would make you think a pharmaceutical company produced it in
a lab, he said something to me that simply shocked me.

"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."

While not the same application, I've had good luck also using WD-40, or
at least WD-40-like substances on pots.

Someone gave me a 3/8" variable-speed drill that had a flaky speed
control. Since it was a freebie, I thought what the hell, sprayed the
control with some stuff I had for lube jobs (something called "EZ-Lube"
that I picked up several years ago, similar to WD-40 but a little better).

That drill works fine still, and is my go-to drill. So no need to use
that expen$ive cleaning product.


--
Comment on quaint Usenet customs, from Usenet:

To me, the *plonk...* reminds me of the old man at the public hearing
who stands to make his point, then removes his hearing aid as a sign
that he is not going to hear any rebuttals.

"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
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

GS wrote in news:77d6df9a-ff2d-4a31-b045-43308597e734
@c10g2000vbv.googlegroups.com:

If you like WD-40 you will LOVE CRC 2-26

greg



Bought a couple of cases of CRC at a hamfest when EPA banned it for CFCs...

Most of the cans leaked propellant before I could get to use it....useless.

Some of them leaked product with the propellant, not sure how. Good thing
the cans were in the box. CRC is far more expensive than WD40 which works
great. Does the cheap price cause you to resist using it?

(Dave Platt) wrote in news:ih4928-a76.ln1
@radagast.org:

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).



I'll put your mind at ease. It's simply not true. Expression pedal pots
in old organs are run CONSTANTLY up and down by the organists foot the
whole time it's being played, especially in spinet organs with one octave
of pedals for only the left foot. They pump those volume level pedals
even fast to get Leslie-like effects. The pots are the sealed, heavy use
types in "some" organs. Others, they're just pots with specially made-
for-that-model shaft lenghts that lock to a plate to keep them spinning
around pumped too hard. They all go through hell if the organist is
halfway decent.

I sprayed WD 40 into those sealed pots by removing the shell 10, 20, 30
years ago! They're still pumping them! Many of them, I never heard from
again and only checked the pots when I was fixing other problems with the
organs having their keys beaten off!

Not a single one of those pots was all gummed up with WD40 in all those
years. It's bunk.

In article ,
Fred wrote:

I'll put your mind at ease. It's simply not true.

Thanks for the real-world feedback, Fred - it's good to hear.

A bit of Googling on the subject of "WD-40 sticky" suggests that the
problem with stickiness developing, seems to involve use of too-large
amounts of WD-40 in situations where the lubricated device is exposed
to significant amounts of dust and dirt in use (e.g. pocket knives,
hand tools, etc). The residual oil (the nonvolatile part of WD-40) is
apparently rather viscous, and can be prone to pick up dust/dirt and
form a sticky sludge under these conditions.

In a mostly-sealed potentiometer, inside a mostly-sealed electronic
cabinet, this probably would not be an issue.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

In article ,
(Dave Platt) wrote:

A bit of Googling on the subject of "WD-40 sticky" suggests that the
problem with stickiness developing, seems to involve use of too-large
amounts of WD-40 in situations where the lubricated device is exposed
to significant amounts of dust and dirt in use (e.g. pocket knives,
hand tools, etc). The residual oil (the nonvolatile part of WD-40) is
apparently rather viscous, and can be prone to pick up dust/dirt and
form a sticky sludge under these conditions.

I think it's just the opposite; stickiness developing from using *too
little* WD to flush out the dirt that was there to begin with. For
instance, a common use of the stuff if for locks, and there's a whole
militia of detractors who oppose that quite strongly. Yet in 40 years of
using it on all manner of locks, I've never had one go sticky on me
later. I spray copious amounts in, flushing everything out, then operate
the lock a dozen times, then spray in gobs more. Rinse and repeat.
Cleans and lubricates. More is better. No matter how much you use, only
one layer will remain after the volatiles are gone, so make sure that
layer is squeaky clean to start with.

I've been using the DeoxIT products for over 2 decades, and have rarely used
anything else on pots or switches. The products work well enough that I
haven't needed to use anything else.

I don't flood the parts, but instead use a small bottle with a needle tip
for aplying the liquid. This prevents washing the grease out of the shaft
bushing, which then results in a control with no stiffness.

I also use the grease/paste deoxidizer products for pots and switches. When
possible, I'll put a small dollop of grease on the end of a toothpick, and
place the pot wiper in full CW rotation to add a small amount of grease
directly to the wiper, then repeat this in the full CCW position.
After a couple of rotations, the track and wiper are fully lubricated and
preserved.

When I would service VCR mode switches, I'd open the housing and first clean
the swicch tracks with the liquid on a cotton swab, or the angled end of a
cut wooden swab stick to remove all traces of oxidation, then add a small
amounr of grease/paste to the tracks before closing the housing.

Some pots and swiches are sealed, or nearly sealed, and I'll try to get some
liquid inside without disassembling the parts. The liquid migrates thru
small seams fairly easily, so many can be improved with a little patience.

For larger areas of oxidation such as silver-plated XLR pins or other large
parts, I generally use Tarn-X to remove the oxidation, then rinse/wipe with
a water wetted swab. After the parts are dry, I'll briskly rub the part with
a swab with the liquid on it.

I almost never use abrasive materials on items such as relay contacts, as
cleaning them is generally a better practice. For badly pitted contacts,
especially if they carry significant currents, it's better to replace the
part, IMO.
Physical and mechanical faults generally require replacement, since applied
products won't be very effective.

Checking pots and switches with an analog ohm meter will reveal whether the
application of products is successful. Cycling the part numerous times will
typically give a good indication of worthiness.

I started using the liquid fader lube a couple of years ago, and although
the formula is probably different, it seems to act about the same as the
regular liquid. If it's not too difficult, I'll try to get the grease/paste
onto the track, similar to the method for pots.

The liquid products are very effective for lubricating small bearing
surfaces and ball bearing assemblies.. they also work very well for removing
stickers and sticky residues from adhesive tape or other gunk.

I've found that when applied to aged/faded black plastic, they also give the
plastic a dark luster, not just shiney.. and don't leave the plastic
slippery, like silicone or Armorall-type products.

As far as the comments regarding WD40, some folks just couldn't live without
that stuff, but the best use for it is as a degreaser.. stoddard solvent.
Oh, and it will attract fish when applied to bait.

--
Cheers,
WB
..............


"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote in message
...
On another list we have been discussing using Caig DeOxit on pots (e.g.
Volume, balance, etc controls).

Caig has another product called "Fader Lube", which I assume is designed
for such a use.

The question I have is has anyone used the regular DeOxit on such controls
and the results? A web search yielded many hits of people using DeOxit and
having good results, and even a YouTube videos of it.

It's hard to tell from the postings, and the videos, how many the people
posting have done. Some of them are obviously people who have done
one or two, and others are not. I'm interested in hearing long term
experience.

Thanks in advance,

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to misquote it.

"Fred"

I was spending a fortune each year buying products like DeOxit to clean
organ controls, the thousands of metal to metal contacts before
everything became conductive rubber. Talking about the price of this
stuff, which would make you think a pharmaceutical company produced it in
a lab, he said something to me that simply shocked me.

"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."

We both had to fight the horribly humid coastal swamp gas we live in, he
in NC and I in SC. So, I had some old organs that were just awful coming
up so I tried it. I used WD40 ever since with fantastic results. It
makes a 40 year old, almost worn out expression pedal pot work like new
with audio as smooth as glass. Some of those pots are nearly unobtanium
because of their queer shafts and mountings.

Another nice thing about WD40 is its effects upon dragging or frozen pot
bearings, of course. One drop in a pot bearing and you wonder why noone
did it instead of twisting off the knob!

The new WD40 isn't even flammable any more.

** The propellant gas changed to CO2 decades ago - but the mist and liquid
certainly are flammable if exposed to a flame or sufficient heat. The can is
labelled " Flammable Gas 2".

It is a very bad idea to spray copious amounts of WD40 onto an electrical
switchboards as sometimes fuse and switch contacts get very hot and will
ignite the liquid.

Other than that warning, the stuff is indefensible in the service workshop.
Practically all the griping about it comes from folk who have never tried at
all it or used it in very inappropriate ways.

Anecdote:
------------

A customer told me about an unfortunate incident he had with a can of
"contact cleaner". In order to self treat some intermittent fault in his
tube amp head - he introduced the spray via the input and speaker jack
holes. He pretty much used up the whole damn can. Then he switched on and
the inside of the amp instantly exploded into fames.

Like many such evaporative cleaners - the solvent was alcohol, the vapour of
which can ignites with a single spark.



..... Phil

"Phil Allison"


Other than that warning, the stuff is indispensable in the service
workshop.


** I'll kill that damn spell checker...


.... Phil

"Nutcase Kook "


Why is it everyone else gets corroded or dirty pots and I always get the
worn ones?

** Try working on some newer gear ....

Then there is the plague of microscopic Alps ones where the grease
migrates
from shaft area to the wiper area and lifts the hair-thin metal from the
no
sign of wear resistive track

** Are these the nice looking, 9mm square, green backed ones with metal
shafts and very smooth feel ?

http://cdn1.iofferphoto.com/img/item...9/195/jewN.jpg




..... Phil