Tascam M-216 mixer pots

Abominable ID

New member
Hey all,

Just thought I would ask on the off chance somebody knows about this. It involves the pots on this mixer. I would like to spray De-Oxit inside them to clean up. I tried looking for a little hole to spray in and I could not find one and they seem completely sealed. They are ALPS brand made in Japan. Then I looked at the shaft underneath the actual knob and I see a hole that seems to go down into the pot. Is it possible that this is where I should spray De-Oxit for cleaning? There is definitely some sort of grease leaking out of some of the pots around the base of the shaft, as if someone added it at some point.

If this is not the right hole, does anyone know how to clean the pots on this board? Do I have to remove the faceplate? Some of them are pretty bad...thanks in advance!



-AshIMG_20180703_1812513.jpgIMG_20180703_1813421.jpg
 
Have you actually opened a panel to see if they are sealed?

If I'm interpreting you right, that 'hole' isn't really a hole.
However, where the shaft (that the knob goes onto) meets the metal casing, that can be sprayed into.

Just spray at that area and the cleaner will wick into the pot.
Theres a technique known as "massaging" the pot, where you take a shoelace and wrap it around the shaft. Pull the ends of the shoelace back and forth and it will turn the pot much more, and faster than you can by hand.
Spray some more, massage some more, and it usually takes care of it.
:D
 
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You can’t flush/treat the pots from the top. The grease you see is normal shaft lubricant. If you try to leach cleaner into the pot around the base of the shaft where you see the grease, you will just get a minimal amount of greasy cleaner into the body of the pot with the elements and wipers...not good. That hole you see, as mentioned above, is just the locating pin for the pot body. It won’t help your cause. The only way to properly clean/flush/treat the pots from the outside is to access the body of the pot living under the dress panel, the actual pot mounted to the printed circuit board. Once you get to the actual body you’ll see a couple of holes. Jet the cleaner (and I do hope you are using DeoxIT F5 Faderlube, yes? D5, Gold or D100 is not for carbon element pots but for metal-to-metal contacts...) into one of the holes, sweep the pot by hand a bunch of times or use the shoelace method mentioned above, then flush again, then position the pot so the cleaner can drain out of a hole. Mop up what you can off the board...let it sit and dry out. Sweeping or “exercising” the pot after it’s dry may be necessary. If you are still having crackles/skritchies consider a recap. Don’t expect 100% cure with the cleaning. It definitely helps, but depending on the environment the board has lived in during its long life thus far, as well as how well it’s been cared for, you may have to exercise pots and switches periodically to reduce those skritchies even after cleaning.
 
You can’t flush/treat the pots from the top.

Maybe I'm an idiot, and gave bad advice, but I've been successful at getting the scratchy to go away with my method on both pots and switches. But to be fair, I only wicked in the slightest amount of cleaner.

Ok, I'll shut the F up now.:D
 
Maybe I'm an idiot, and gave bad advice, but I've been successful at getting the scratchy to go away with my method on both pots and switches. But to be fair, I only wicked in the slightest amount of cleaner.

Ok, I'll shut the F up now.:D

[MENTION=185883]RFR[/MENTION] wasn’t attempting to discredit at all...I’m only speaking from my own personal experience, including disassembling those pots and understanding how they’re put together and what might be the most effective method of cleaning. A lot of times even just exercising them with the shoelace method does a lot of good too. Anyway, all just my opinion, YMMV, etc., etc.
 
If you can take the base off the mixer and spray the pots from underneath it will work better. If you look at the pick I attached of a typical pot, there should be an opening at the bottom of the pot where it looks like a cut out (indent) spray in there.

Alan.

images.jpeg
 
[MENTION=185883]RFR[/MENTION] wasn’t attempting to discredit at all...I’m only speaking from my own personal experience, including disassembling those pots and understanding how they’re put together and what might be the most effective method of cleaning. A lot of times even just exercising them with the shoelace method does a lot of good too. Anyway, all just my opinion, YMMV, etc., etc.

I've taken apart and restored old centralab pots before, and that's a total in depth clean up job.
But with a console, a sealed pot or pots can be quite a bit of work just to get to. I don't know if the OP's pots are sealed or pcb mounted or anything.
Just know for me, a little spritz of cleaner gets it better.
I figure in a sealed pot there's really no dirt in there, just some corrosion.

And yes sometimes just dry massaging them works. There's also something magical about just some electricity flowing through the circuit, I think it rearranges the molecules? ? These things like juice. I can't tell you how many times just using a device has chased away the electrical gremlins.

But on open pots, it's much better to clean them through the 'spray window' (for lack of a better term)

Ok going back to shut up mode. :D
 
I have to agree...the TASCAM pots are hard to get at, and hard to get stuff into.
You really do have to pop out the entire strip, and attack the pots from the back side...and even then, they are pretty tightly sealed, if not completely.

What I use for pots is a small plastic "funnel" that fits on the end of the typical spray can extender "straw". It has a very skinny/tapered end that will fit into those small "holes" you find on many pots, or in the narrowest of open edges.
I think I got that with some crazy glue bottles I bought in bulk from Stew-Mac...and they included that small tip...but I never used it for the glue, and instantly saw a better use for it, so I stuck it on the end one spray can extender straw, and I dabbed a small amount 100% silicone adhesive around the sleeve & straw, so it wouldn't fly off from the spray pressure.
It works great.

The other trick, which I use for more involved work...is to get some of those inkjet cartridge refill injection syringe needles. You can find them on eBay.
They are not like sharp medical needles, and I think they may come in 2-3 needle sizes.
I'll then take some of my bottled, 100% Caig De-Oxit solution...this stuff:

DeoxIT(R), #D100L-2

...draw some into the needle, and then I can stick that thin needle right into the crack/hole on pots and what have you...and put a single drop if I want, directly into it. You can also get the Caig solution in a bottle w/needle tip...but then you're handling a full bottle, of expensive cleaner, and if you drop it, you will have a mess and be pissed.
I prefer to use the syringes.

Like these:
5 x 10ml BLUNT NEEDLE SYRINGES TO REFILL INK CISS CIS REFILLABLE CARTRIDGES | eBay
 
Wow, thats great advice, thanks everyone! I did take the back panel of the board off, and there is no hole on the back of the pot. So I guess I will have to pull the whole channel out and try to find a crack. I'm glad I didn't find one originally because I would have sprayed the wrong De-Oxit Gold on there (thanks sweetbeats!). Its also true that just using the unit seems to "bring it back to life" in many ways. I'm about to recap the PS, and I wondered if I should do the same on the monitor and foldback PCB's as well? There is a ton of hiss coming from the headphones and foldback channels...
 
Regarding the DeoxIT, I think you are fine to use the Gold product on the pots. I thought about what I said after I read Miroslav’s post...it is not a good idea to use F5 on metal-to-metal contacts because it has lubricants in it as well, but the same risk doesn’t exist in reverse necessarily. When in doubt, talk to the folks at DeoxIT or consult their website. But if Miroslav used D100 on pots with success it should be considered...he’s cleaned a pot or two in his time. :D

Regarding the recap question, bad caps downstream from the power supply won’t generally cause increased hiss, but more skritchies/crackles or in the worst case complete loss of signal. The headphone amps are notoriously noisy...I can’t get to my M-200 Service Manual at the moment so I can’t verify, but if the M-200 uses the LM386 opamp for the headphone amp like a lot of other period Tascam units, it’s a noisy amp. I’d start with the power supply.
 
I can tell you for experience that the M-216 is not a quiet mixer to start with, I had one new when they came out. I traded it for a M2524 (new) and it was so much better.

One trick I did with the M-216 was to mix the stereo out through 2 of the busses as for some reason the buss outs are quieter than the stereo out, or they were on mine anyway.

Alan.
 
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