Cleaning Faders...

The fader element looks great! :)

Okay, no sweat on that broken wire. Man if you were close I'd jaunt over and fix it up, but you're not soooo...:o

The same things in my soldering tips thread work here too. That lug has a hole in it for the wire and you can heat it up and suck the junk out of it, trim the end of the wire just to get a clean end, strip a little off and solder it back in.

Let me know if I can help but I've had this happen several times so, again, it happens.

Not that it isn't a bummer, but totally fixable.

Cory, thanks! I'll get to it. :)

Here's a couple of before and after pics from my cleaning session.

Thanks for the pictorial before and afters. It really does help when others chime in. Keep us updated. :)
 
Everybody, I know how to get the tall "optional" ALPS faders open...its easier than the standard "low-profile" faders.

There are 8 sets of tabs (4 for each side of the fader) that hold each side to the fader chassis. I circled the 4 sets of tabs on one side of the fader below.

Take your needlenose pliers and gently squeeze the two tangs on each set together...the aluminum cover and PCB will come right off.

Once you have done the cleaning and want to reinstall youll have to find a way to bend the tangs back to where they were to hold the board and cover on again. You can likely take a simple center-punch and even just push the point in between the tangs to spread them apart.

I suggest you just remove the board that has the element on it...no reason to remove the side with no element. With the element board off you'll be able to access the wipers and the rails for the wiper carriage and get everything cleaned up.

Let me know if you need more explaination
 

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Thanks so much Cory. Still haven't opened up the m-312b again, but when I do (and it will be soon) I will post some pics... I figured that it had something to do with those tabs, but I didn't want to damage anything. Hopefully a thorough cleaning will bring these scratchy faders back to life!
 
A few updates:

I was motivated to try my hand at opening up those "high profile" (upgrade) faders, as per Cory's latest post. I tried before, indeed trying to pry open those little tangs but with no result, the needle nose pliers bending and complaining at the effort. Forward to present, I tried again but this time with serrated, heavier duty long nose pliers. Success! I will say tho that one indeed needs to figure out a way to close em back up again 'cause those tabs don't retract on their own and can break off if too many times they're pried open or closed. That said, they're really nice inside, well engineered but, maybe it's just me but I find the low profile (aka: cheap) faders to be easier to clean, disassemble and generally deal with. Tho I must say those upgrade ones have their pluses too and, should something go astray with one of the cheap ones, I'll mount the upgrade (sweet.. ;) ).

Moving on to my low profile faders.... I opened one, which I knew was alright with no spills in it. Despite dust, dirt and crud on the rubber, on top of the faders, none of it migrated inside and the element / wiper looked virtually new with just a few specs of dust away from the tracks. It was a good example to see exactly if the original element had any lubrication on it or was dry, as it left the factory. I can now say that there's but a hint of lubrication on the element. They're not dry. After cleaning, a light wipe with something like F5 is indeed warranted with the D100 perhaps being used after on the tracks and wiper. Guys, chime in if I'm off.
 
FYI I move the video found in post #1 to YouTube and updated the link in post #1.
 
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