What to use to clean old, dirty pots?

Old time TV repair guy here.Worked in a TV shop in the 60's and now repair vintage electronics of all kinds(*except* TV's....don't like high voltages anymore!) in my home based shop.

Many contact cleaners work well.Some are ridiculously overpriced because the field lends itself to what is called "perceived value marketing" and so few people understand chemical terms.

Many TV shops used WD-40 on a regular basis.I tested it

***extensively*** and was unable to force it (even in purposely large quantities)to cause any significant residue build up. In conversations with the WD-40 people they agree that excessive use is not desirable in electronics but unless you use it every few weeks or so ,you won't get a waxy build up problem.Many old timer ham operators use WD-40 also.No problems even at high frequencies.

CRC contact cleaner and even CRC brake drum cleaner will work and leave no residue. Deantured (not isopropyl medical) alcohol works fairly well.

No cause for alarm with WD-40 though in any normal amount of usage.

Some very high priced contact cleaners consist of refined olive oil with a fancy sounding name(Oleac acid)and traces of surfacants and lighter(naptha) fluid and can cost you $20.00 a can.I cannot break a trust by giving the product name in that case as a friend plans to market it under a different name. Malcolm Leonard

Caig De-Oxit for potentiometers and controls. It's believed by many techs that WD-40 will degrade the carbon elements of potentiometers.

Mark Z.

You can find lots of praise for Caig products in the SER archives. I've never been fond of flooding a pot or switch with an aerosol can.. I use a small plastic bottle with a needle tip for the DeOxit liquid. I started using the Caig products several decades ago, and they're so effective that I haven't felt the need to try other products to see if they're as good or better.

Flooding will generally wash away the original lubricant in the bushing of a panel pot, and cause the adjustment to feel loose.

I've never been a fan of the WD40 product for any application, and particularly not for any electro-mechanical application. I know that to a lot of folks, it's a miracle in a can.

Cheers WB ..............

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Older than you? We used to use carbon tet, then later trichloroethane. It's a wonder my liver still works!

N

Me too - CRC contact cleaner always did the trick on pots and tuner contacts

David

snipped-for-privacy@m> Old time TV repair guy here.Worked in a TV shop in the 60's and