Cleaning knob pots?

  • Thread starter Thread starter RideTheCrash
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RideTheCrash

RideTheCrash

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A few weeks ago I had my girlfriend's dad come over to help me clean out my old Audiopro 16-S board. It was incredibly dirty inside and still needs some more work, but it's better than it was. We discovered you can actually unplug and unscrew the fader pots to replace them, so I'm in the process of asking Yorkville if I can still order some (because a while back they told me they still had some in supply), because the dust protectors on the track are ripped up, and the more ripped up they, the more they don't run as smoothly...plus he got some degreaser spray in there, so the lubrication on them suck and I'm barely using them to avoid damage...but they were like that before anyhow...

But my question is the knobs, we cleaned them out with the degreaser -- is that okay? Basically he sprayed over all the pots and then we turned each knob to work it in and it seemed to work but I'm not sure if it's damaging like it is to strip lube off the slider pots. Help?
 
I've used electronics cleaner which cleans and quickly evaporates - but never degreaser (which noramlly leaves a residue.
 
Pots usually don't get fixed by cleanning. These cleaner don't get rid of oxidation properly _ there is wear too. Best way I found to fix really bad pots "toa degree" is to spray WD40 inside. It leaves oil and the pots often work much better. But nothing fixes bad pots as a replacement.
 
jim01 said:
Best way I found to fix really bad pots "toa degree" is to spray WD40 inside. It leaves oil and the pots often work much better. But nothing fixes bad pots as a replacement.
Click to expand...

Bad Idea (in the long run). WD40 is a water displacement agent. That means that when the crap does dry, it leaves this nasty sticky gunk that originally lubricated the pot. Try deoxit; I've never used it, but it's supposed to work really well.

http://store.caig.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.188/.f

I think this is it. It's like electronics cleaner, but also eliminates some oxidation effects and does a better job of cleaning.

edit: Sorry, never read the original post. I think if degreaser is electronics cleaner, you should be ok.
 
Deoxit 5% is the ultimate cleaner/lubricant. You may have to order it, most shops don't stock it. Another really good one is ReserveriTIP5. Both are available in spray. Since I discovered Deoxit I haven't used anything else, it is simply the best thing to use to clean/lube pots, sliders etc... BTW someone else on the forum told me about it, it was some of the best advice I ever had on this subject. I cleaned some really scratchy sliders with it, a year later they still sound good as new.
 
An electrical contact cleaner which evaporates quickly leaving no residue will be more beneficial than a degreaser, however replacement of the pots is going to be the best solution.

The prevention is better than the cure!
 
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