Slide/push switches and DeoxIT

[DragonMaster]

Hi,

I've just applied DeoxIT on a few switches that weren't working well, and, while it cleans the contacts very well, it makes the mechanical action work quite poorly as it seems to remove any oil or grease that was there.

I bought D5 and G5 in spray cans only, not in every single formats available as it's quite expensive.

[peace brainerd]

when I've cleaned switches I like to use a pretty liberal amount of aerosol deox (brand/type of choice) with some modification of a vacuum cleaner nozzle tucked behind the switch as I spray in order to remove what's getting flushed out. The flushings from switches are going to be particle laden and conductive. Exactly why you don't want them inside in the first place, and also why you don't want them near anything else on your circuit.

Seems like pure silicone would be the best replacement for lubricity. It'll be interesting to see what others here say. I found that many available "100percent" silicone aerosols have pretty harsh ingredients, including acetone! Oddly enough the labels say safe for all plastics. I use a USDA food-grade brand without any of these.

[DragonMaster]

Would this work?
http://www.asalco.com/pdf/FOODGRADESILICONE_en.pdf

By the way, I have a contact cleaner ( http://www.asalco.com/pdf/CONTACT%202000_en.pdf ) which is pretty good at removing the dried residue the DeoxIT leaves, the only problem is that when I spray it, contacts stop working well...

Should I clean things up well with it and re-spray DeoxIT afterwards?

[dnsey]

when I've cleaned switches I like to use a pretty liberal amount of aerosol deox (brand/type of choice) with some modification of a vacuum cleaner nozzle tucked behind the switch as I spray in order to remove what's getting flushed out.

Don't do this with flammable cleaners - if the vapour gets near the motor brushgear...

[I_Forgot]

Originally posted by bluebeard
... I found that many available "100percent" silicone aerosols have pretty harsh ingredients, including acetone! ...

I don't know what you mean by "harsh" but acetone is actually pretty benign stuff. It is a great solvent for some applications, produced by bacteria, just like ethanol, or synthesized from isopropyl alcohol. If water won't dissolve a particular "target", try acetone. Water works for negatively charged ions, acetone for positively charged ions.

I_F

[imix500]

At work, if its D5 spray we follow it up with
MCL spray. If its D100, you should soak up the excess and then use the MCL.

[AudioFreak]

Caig MCL is now called DeOxit FaderLube. Really good stuff. It's the final thing I put on faders / slides on pro audio gear when I service consoles and the like.

[DragonMaster]

Hi all,
thanks!

It turns out I bought FaderLube as well. What should be the cleaning method then?

*The D5 dissolves lots of particles, but they all dry out after a few minutes. Should I then use alcohol and/or acetone to remove most of the flushed residue?
*Following the cleanup, do I reapply D5 in case the cleaning products caused oxydation on the contacts? (When using isopropyl alcohol, for example -> contains water)
*Then should I apply ProGold or FaderLube depending on the contacts, or both? Reasons :

• When I cleaned the contacts in my amp, the source selector only started working after I applied ProGold, D5 didn't improve things much. If I only use FaderLube, will it work well?
• FaderLube is made for conductive plastics, does it mean it's conductive or only that it contains lubrificant?

[imix500]

When we clean faders or pots, we use d5 for regular cleaning and d100 for heavily oxidized parts. Then clean the excess and use MCL (faderlube). Progold should only be used on gold surfaces because it contains water. Not a problem for gold, but bad for other metals.

[Ty_Bower]

Caig has a "how-to" document for fader and potentiometer maintenance.

http://store.caig.com/s.nl/it.I/id.5...&category=-117