Metal Contact Cleaners?

[ken]

Am experiencing some electrical contact problems.

Took a look and seems to be oxidation on the mating surfaces.

Am wondering if metal contact cleaners like DeoxIT will clean and
protect these surfaces?

Am interested in any experiences with any contact cleaners.

Thanks

Ken

 

[William Sommerwerck]

Am experiencing some electrical contact problems.
Took a look and seems to be oxidation on the mating surfaces.
Am wondering if metal contact cleaners like DeoxIT will clean and
protect these surfaces?
Am interested in any experiences with any contact cleaners.

The Caig products are generally very good. The red stuff does an excellent
job of lifting crud from nickel, tin, and similar surfaces. The yellow stuff
does a good job with gold surfaces. I use them on all my equipment. Whether
there is any "real" improvement is debatable, but the surfaces certainly
_look_ better. And you can see shmutz on the cloth when you wipe off the
cleaner.

 

[Mr. Land]

Am experiencing some electrical contact problems.

Took a look and seems to be oxidation on the mating surfaces.

Am wondering if metal contact cleaners like DeoxIT will clean and
protect these surfaces?

Am interested in any experiences with any contact cleaners.

Thanks

Ken

I think I posted this info before, so at the risk of being
repetitive...

Back in the day one of my work-thru-college jobs was working in the
repair
department of the largest hi-fi/video dealer in the area. It was a
pretty big
shop with 8 of us doing repair. Times were good so we were free to
try
a lot of products.

The best I've ever used was called "Blue Stuff" at the time. Pretty
low-tech
name but it worked better than anything else we'd tried. You spray it
on
and literally coats the contacts with sort of a wet paste, blue-
colored. Along
with the usual contact cleaning agents, the paste contained fine
abrasives
which over time burnished the oxidation off.

After we began ordering this stuff (by the case!) we learned that once
we treated
any potentiometer, relay contact, etc. with this stuff, we could
assume we'd
never see it in our shop again. It worked really well.

Of course, for real relay contacts which were heavily oxidized, we
used the GC
"Contact Burnishing Kit" - a bottle of solvent with a small metal
burnishing tool
(sort of like very fine grit emery board) and hand-cleaned the
contacts.

Cheers.

 

[Mr. Land]

Am experiencing some electrical contact problems.

Took a look and seems to be oxidation on the mating surfaces.

Am wondering if metal contact cleaners like DeoxIT will clean and
protect these surfaces?

Am interested in any experiences with any contact cleaners.

Thanks

Ken

I think I posted this info before, so at the risk of being
repetitive...

Back in the day one of my work-thru-college jobs was working in the
repair
department of the largest hi-fi/video dealer in the area. It was a
pretty big
shop with 8 of us doing repair. Times were good so we were free to
try
a lot of products.

The best I've ever used was called "Blue Stuff" at the time. Pretty
low-tech
name but it worked better than anything else we'd tried. You spray it
on
and literally coats the contacts with sort of a wet paste, blue-
colored. Along
with the usual contact cleaning agents, the paste contained fine
abrasives
which over time burnished the oxidation off.

After we began ordering this stuff (by the case!) we learned that once
we treated
any potentiometer, relay contact, etc. with it, we could pretty much
assume we'd
never see it in our shop again. It worked really well.

Of course, for real relay contacts which were heavily oxidized, we
used the GC
"Contact Burnishing Kit" - a bottle of solvent with a small metal
burnishing tool
(sort of like very fine grit emery board) and hand-cleaned the
contacts.

I just Google'd this and found it here, appears they have quite a
variety of
contact cleaning products (we used a lot of Blue Shower, also):

http://www.techspray.com/msdspg.htm

Cheers.

 

[clifto]

Back in the day one of my work-thru-college jobs was working in the
repair
department of the largest hi-fi/video dealer in the area. It was a
pretty big
shop with 8 of us doing repair. Times were good so we were free to
try
a lot of products.

Our shop got a lot of work from that stuff. Other shops had liberally
sprayed tuners with it, and when we got them, it was nearly impossible
to get the tuners to work halfway decently unless we sent them out for
tanking and rebuild.

 

[[email protected]]

Am experiencing some electrical contact problems.

Took a look and seems to be oxidation on the mating surfaces.

Am wondering if metal contact cleaners like DeoxIT will clean and
protect these surfaces?

Am interested in any experiences with any contact cleaners.

Thanks

Ken

I've found DeOxit to be quite useful for removing corrosion from
contacts, particularly with A/V equipment exposed to a lot of
moisture. However, as for lasting protection, it would depend on what
is causing the oxidation. In some cases it can be caused by frequent
connection and/or disconnection. It could be due to high humidity
environments. Who knows? We use a product called eGloop to protect
microphone connectors used in fitness studios. It's a di-electric
paste which prevents oxidation and acts as a moisture barrier as well
(to prevent sweat from running into transmitters). Another part of
the solution is the use of heat-shrink as a physical moisture
barrier. You will get the best solution by first figuring out what is
causing the oxidation, cleaning it off once, and re-assembling/
modifying your setup in a way that oxidation is prevented. For
frequent connect/disconnect, it might be a good idea to look into a
different material for your connector (I believe gold is quite good at
resisting oxidation).

 

[ken]

William...,

"The Caig products are generally very good. The red stuff does an
excellent job of lifting crud from nickel, tin, and similar surfaces.
The yellow stuff does a good job with gold surfaces. I use them on all
my equipment. Whether there is any "real" improvement is debatable,
but the surfaces certainly_look_ better. And you can see shmutz on the
cloth when you wipe off the cleaner."

Thanks, my contacts are all non gold so seems Red is the one to try.

Ken

 

[ken]

Mr. Land,

"The best I've ever used was called "Blue Stuff" at the time. Pretty
low-tech name but it worked better than anything else we'd tried. You
spray itonand literally coats the contacts with sort of a wet paste,
blue-colored. Along with the usual contact cleaning agents, the paste
contained fine abrasives"which over time burnished the oxidation off."

Thanks for the tip! Do you have any contact info for it?

Ken

 

[ken]

MisterSt...,
We use a product called eGloop to protect microphone connectors used
in fitness studios. It's a di-electric paste which prevents oxidation
and acts as a moisture barrier as well (to prevent sweat from running
into transmitters).

Thanks any info on eGloop? Did a quick search and found it
http://www.fitnessav.ca/eGloop-Contact-Protector-p/egloop-10.htm but
not the mfr...

Ken

 

[G]

Mr. Land,

"The best I've ever used was called "Blue Stuff" at the time. Pretty
low-tech name but it worked better than anything else we'd tried. You
spray itonand literally coats the contacts with sort of a wet paste,
blue-colored. Along with the usual contact cleaning agents, the paste
contained fine abrasives"which over time burnished the oxidation off."

Thanks for the tip! Do you have any contact info for it?

I just got a couple cans of Blue Stuff. I'm new on its use, but I may have
bought the last cans in existance. Well at least i'm in.

greg

 

[ken]

greg,

Where did you get it?

Thanks

Ken

 

[G]

greg,

Where did you get it?

Thanks

Newark Electronics.

greg

 

[Mr. Land]

Our shop got a lot of work from that stuff. Other shops had liberally
sprayed tuners with it, and when we got them, it was nearly impossible
to get the tuners to work halfway decently unless we sent them out for
tanking and rebuild.

--
One meter, to within 0.0125% accuracy (off by just under .005 inches):
Three feet
Three inches
Three eights of an inch

Really? That's a little surprising. Unless the shops sprayed so much
of
it around the tuner electronics that it screwed up all the impedances/
tuning.

When used properly on contacts and pot wipers, it worked very well
for us.

 

[Mr. Land]

Mr. Land,

"The best I've ever used was called "Blue Stuff" at the time. Pretty
low-tech name but it worked better than anything else we'd tried. You
spray itonand literally coats the contacts with sort of a wet paste,
blue-colored. Along with the usual contact cleaning agents, the paste
contained fine abrasives"which over time burnished the oxidation off."

Thanks for the tip! Do you have any contact info for it?

Ken

See other replies - apparently it's been discontinued (too many ruined
tuners?)

I would try Googling: "envi-ro-tech" "blue stuff". You might luck out
and find
a dealer with a few cans left.

The good news is that there seems to be a wealth of other products to
take
its place.

Good luck.

 

[clifto]

Really? That's a little surprising. Unless the shops sprayed so much
of
it around the tuner electronics that it screwed up all the impedances/
tuning.

That's the problem with field cleaning of tuners. Further, I don't know
if they were any more careful when doing it in the shop. Just drop the
shield covers, stick the nozzle in and spray every place they can.

We tried cleaning one out once with regular tuner spray (GC "Action").
Figured we could make some money if we could. We had zero success;
didn't even get close.

 

[G]

See other replies - apparently it's been discontinued (too many ruined
tuners?)

I would try Googling: "envi-ro-tech" "blue stuff". You might luck out
and find
a dealer with a few cans left.

The good news is that there seems to be a wealth of other products to
take
its place.

I don't see anything like Blue Stuff. Well I guess one can try making his
own by getting some white grease spray and Diatomaceous earth, mixing
with a little blue coloring and there you go.

greg

 

[Mr. Land]

I don't see anything like Blue Stuff. Well I guess one can try making his
own by getting some white grease spray and Diatomaceous earth, mixing
with a little blue coloring and there you go.

greg

http://www.techspray.com/pindex2.htm (item 2422)
http://www.vancebaldwin.com/products/?2411-12S
http://www.svseq.com/items/purchase.aspx?id=279
http://www.hbfelectronics.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=293951
http://www.foxsales.ca/electronics_.asp?groupid=161&page=10

....and there're probably more.

The challenge would be to find a place with a few cans left to sell.

 

[G]

http://www.techspray.com/pindex2.htm (item 2422)
http://www.vancebaldwin.com/products/?2411-12S
http://www.svseq.com/items/purchase.aspx?id=279
http://www.hbfelectronics.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=293951
http://www.foxsales.ca/electronics_.asp?groupid=161&page=10

....and there're probably more.

The challenge would be to find a place with a few cans left to sell.

The first place Vance Baldwin above says 0 stock.

greg

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

See other replies - apparently it's been discontinued (too many ruined
tuners?)

I would try Googling: "envi-ro-tech" "blue stuff". You might luck out
and find
a dealer with a few cans left.

The good news is that there seems to be a wealth of other products to
take
its place.

Good luck.

Techspray "Blue Shower":
<http://www.google.com/search?q=blue...ox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GWYA>


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida