Deoxit on "pots"?

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

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.

Thanks, I never thought of that.

Geoff.

"N_Cook" wrote in news:iirleg$cio$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal- september.org:

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.

ls

nd

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

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

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?

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

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.

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.

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 .............

"Phil Allison"

... Phil

"Nutcase Kook "

.... Phil