Help with contact cleaning spray?

[rmorris]

1 hour ago, franzbassist said:

 

I think D5 is the cleaner and the first choice.  F5 the lubricant.

 

Also be aware that the D5 comes in flushable / non-flush versions.

 

As it happens I recently picked up a Marshall Guitar Combo.

All pots were crackly or unusable.

A first round of D5 sprayed into the 'hole' on the pot casing and a good exercise of the pots made a huge improvement with only two pots showing some crackling these were the 'Driver' channel

treble and contour potrs so maybe greater audible sensitivity.

A bit more twisting of the pots next day and crackling almost, but not quite gone.

second round of D5 and all good since.

[agedhorse]

17 hours ago, Baxlin said:

I wish this thread had run a year or so ago.  While I knew not to use WD40, I used the electrical contact cleaner I had in the garage (I’m into kit cars) on the scratchy pots on my practice amp.  They are all now noisy again, but one in particular is worse than ever, and which I think I’ll have to replace.

 

So some good advice been given in earlier posts.

Unfortunately, I see thing often enough to suggest that your next step is a new set of pots. They will probably continue to deteriorate due to the element being damaged.

 

15 hours ago, franzbassist said:

 

I think D5 is the cleaner and the first choice.  F5 the lubricant.

D5 contains all the lubricant necessary for regular rotary pots, just the tiniest amount possible is plenty. The F5 is for faders, it's way more oily and frankly doesn't work well on fader or rotary pots. Faders, being so exposed, are particularly vulnerable to debris and all that lube does is attract more debris. 

[Bigguy2017]

On 17/09/2021 at 23:48, agedhorse said:

Unfortunately, I see thing often enough to suggest that your next step is a new set of pots. They will probably continue to deteriorate due to the element being damaged.

 

D5 contains all the lubricant necessary for regular rotary pots, just the tiniest amount possible is plenty. The F5 is for faders, it's way more oily and frankly doesn't work well on fader or rotary pots. Faders, being so exposed, are particularly vulnerable to debris and all that lube does is attract more debris. 

Yes, if you spray some Deoxit D5 on some black plastic, like a CD case, and let it evaporate it leaves a lube residue.

[agedhorse]

4 hours ago, Bigguy2017 said:

Yes, if you spray some Deoxit D5 on some black plastic, like a CD case, and let it evaporate it leaves a lube residue.

The lube residue is a very thin, almost microscopic layer. The D-5 is a 5% solution of Deoxit (red) and 95% carrier. If you were to place one drop on the surface and then remove 95%, you can see how little we are talking about.

[dmccombe7]

I've been using a stuff called Dylek Electronic cleaner i got from work many many years ago. It freezes and then evaporates very quickly but it clears dirty pots really well.

Its classed as an electronics cleaner but i wasn't aware of the grease element on the pots so that's news for me. I've had the can since the late 90's and its only just gone empty.

I used to use it to clean cassette heads back in the old days. Spray onto a cotton bud and clean the heads. Worked a treat.

I'm going to order some Deoxit D5 from Amazon as it seems to get most praise out of them all.

Dave

[rmorris]

4 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

I've been using a stuff called Dylek Electronic cleaner i got from work many many years ago. It freezes and then evaporates very quickly but it clears dirty pots really well.

Its classed as an electronics cleaner but i wasn't aware of the grease element on the pots so that's news for me. I've had the can since the late 90's and its only just gone empty.

I used to use it to clean cassette heads back in the old days. Spray onto a cotton bud and clean the heads. Worked a treat.

I'm going to order some Deoxit D5 from Amazon as it seems to get most praise out of them all.

Dave

 Ha! I guess cassette heads are a very niche interest now - some retro interest notwithstanding. It's never going to be like Vinyl. Young people have never experienced seeing long lengths of cassette tape in gutters after a jammed cassette was thrown out of a Ford Capri in frustration 🤣

 

But I guess there are still some Big Reel tape decks where the same cleaning is applicable. For that it's hard to beat IPA tbh (Isopropyl not Pale Ale 🙄) although I recall that it was important not to use the pure stuff on the rubber capstan wheel as it would dry it out and cause it to crack.

 

+1 for DeOxit 5 btw. Think whether the flushable or non-flushable version is best for your application.

Edited November 16, 2021 by rmorris
Additional info'.

[dmccombe7]

14 minutes ago, rmorris said:

 Ha! I guess cassette heads are a very niche interest now - some retro interest notwithstanding. It's never going to be like Vinyl. Young people have never experienced seeing long lengths of cassette tape in gutters after a jammed cassette was thrown out of a Ford Capri in frustration 🤣

 

But I guess there are still some Big Reel tape decks where the same cleaning is applicable. For that it's hard to beat IPA tbh (Isopropyl not Pale Ale 🙄) although I recall that it was important not to use the pure stuff on the rubber capstan wheel as it would dry it out and cause it to crack.

 

+1 for DeOxit 5 btw. Think whether the flushable or non-flushable version is best for your application.

Oddly enough i still have a cassette player but no cassettes. Decided to throw them out altho i did copy some of my better recordings onto CD's.

The DeoxIT D5 will be here mid week so i might try it on some of the 2nd hand kit i've bought recently that has minor crackling when pots moved.

Dave

[agedhorse]

Use the tiniest amount of D-5 possible. Less is more in this case.