sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
So I pulled a stacked pot off of a spare M-520 channel card to try and see if there was a way I could safely extract the upper pot shaft and retro fit it into another pot that has a broken shaft. Don't know if that is going to work out, but it sure is interesting to pull one apart!
As I laid the parts out I started think/wondering about how I've been trying to clean pots with DeoxIT. I haven't had a lot of success getting the scratchies to go away for good, and I have some suppositions and thoughts about what might be best when trying to clean these things.
Let me know what you think.
Here is a picture of a stacked ALPS pot mostly disassembled. Lots of parts in there! You can see the pot shaft I was indeed able to extract on the right. Had to drill it out as the end is punch riveted...not sure how I would reattach it, but I'm thinking of soldering it to the end plate (the second part from the left) or using epoxy.
Here's the issue I started thinking about...At first, in my ignorance, I tried to drive DeoxIT into the pot by spraying from the top down the pot shaft(s). The problem with that is that there is grease in there. That's why these stacked pots get stiff in their age and why when you turn one knob the other follows. Not sure what the best remedy is for that yet, but I can tell you that it wouldn't be a good idea to spray cleaner down the shafts because then that grease, and whatever nasty stuff is stuck to it, is potentially going to get into the body of the pot and potentially contaminate the resistive elements and wipers.
Anatomy: in this shot you can see the resistive element on the left, the semi-circular thingy with the solder lugs on it, and then the thing on the right is looking up inside the body of the pot...the things that look like little combs are the wipers.
NOW...spraying cleaner down the shafts = no-no. I realized some time ago (and was told this many times too) that there are holes in the body of the pot. You can spray cleaner into the holes, but there might be some strategy to maximize the effect of the application of cleaner. We're trying to wash the resistive element off right? And hopefully the wiper as well right? Well... I've been spraying that stuff into the holes with the pot laying on its side and the hole facing up and then working the shaft back and forth and then just letting it sit. I would say it would be better to try and have the hole facing down so you can spray in there and hopefully allow contaminates to drain out.
This picture is of a single pot, but it has two variable resistors or conductive elements in it, marked with the light blue arrows. See, one faces up and one faces down. You spray cleaner in there with the put pointing up and all the crud is going to dribble down onto the bottom element. The red circle shows a spot where you could spray the cleaner in, but it is not the best...there is a round hole on the other side of the pot. You can see other examples of good ports to use in the next picture. The green arrow marks the place where the grease is inside. So in this case I'd be laying this thing on its side, fill it up, turn it over so the hole faces down, let it drain, work the shaft, repeat...or better yet work the shaft while spraying.
Here is a stacked pot. Same thing...green arrows = internally greased shafts, blue arrows point to resistive elements...3 on this pot...and the red circles are around the better holes through which to spray and drain cleaner. Notice that the bottom pot only has one resistive element! I would clean the upper pot section with the pot on its side, but the lower pot section with the pot upright just as it is in the picture.
Thoughts/suggestions/comments/advice...?
As I laid the parts out I started think/wondering about how I've been trying to clean pots with DeoxIT. I haven't had a lot of success getting the scratchies to go away for good, and I have some suppositions and thoughts about what might be best when trying to clean these things.
Let me know what you think.
Here is a picture of a stacked ALPS pot mostly disassembled. Lots of parts in there! You can see the pot shaft I was indeed able to extract on the right. Had to drill it out as the end is punch riveted...not sure how I would reattach it, but I'm thinking of soldering it to the end plate (the second part from the left) or using epoxy.
Here's the issue I started thinking about...At first, in my ignorance, I tried to drive DeoxIT into the pot by spraying from the top down the pot shaft(s). The problem with that is that there is grease in there. That's why these stacked pots get stiff in their age and why when you turn one knob the other follows. Not sure what the best remedy is for that yet, but I can tell you that it wouldn't be a good idea to spray cleaner down the shafts because then that grease, and whatever nasty stuff is stuck to it, is potentially going to get into the body of the pot and potentially contaminate the resistive elements and wipers.
Anatomy: in this shot you can see the resistive element on the left, the semi-circular thingy with the solder lugs on it, and then the thing on the right is looking up inside the body of the pot...the things that look like little combs are the wipers.
NOW...spraying cleaner down the shafts = no-no. I realized some time ago (and was told this many times too) that there are holes in the body of the pot. You can spray cleaner into the holes, but there might be some strategy to maximize the effect of the application of cleaner. We're trying to wash the resistive element off right? And hopefully the wiper as well right? Well... I've been spraying that stuff into the holes with the pot laying on its side and the hole facing up and then working the shaft back and forth and then just letting it sit. I would say it would be better to try and have the hole facing down so you can spray in there and hopefully allow contaminates to drain out.
This picture is of a single pot, but it has two variable resistors or conductive elements in it, marked with the light blue arrows. See, one faces up and one faces down. You spray cleaner in there with the put pointing up and all the crud is going to dribble down onto the bottom element. The red circle shows a spot where you could spray the cleaner in, but it is not the best...there is a round hole on the other side of the pot. You can see other examples of good ports to use in the next picture. The green arrow marks the place where the grease is inside. So in this case I'd be laying this thing on its side, fill it up, turn it over so the hole faces down, let it drain, work the shaft, repeat...or better yet work the shaft while spraying.
Here is a stacked pot. Same thing...green arrows = internally greased shafts, blue arrows point to resistive elements...3 on this pot...and the red circles are around the better holes through which to spray and drain cleaner. Notice that the bottom pot only has one resistive element! I would clean the upper pot section with the pot on its side, but the lower pot section with the pot upright just as it is in the picture.
Thoughts/suggestions/comments/advice...?
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