[sdiy] Cleaning silver keyboard contacts

[Glen]

At 08:21 AM 7/6/03 , Neil Johnson wrote:

>- lubricant reduces oxidization of the contacts, but helps bind dust to
>the surface;

<SNIP>

>Opinions especially welcome from those who service keyboards and so likely
>to see keyboards with and without contact lubricant.

The vast majority of metal key contacts that I have had to clean appeared
to be oxidized. For gold plated contacts, I've had great results with
Caig's DeOxit cleaner (it's a red liquid). You can follow that with Caig's
Preservit. (I think that's the correct name. I do know that this is a blue
liquid.) It's best if you can swab the contacts when applying the cleaner,
and not simply rely on merely spraying the contacts with cleaner.

Since your contacts are silver, that might be a complication. Silver is so
easy to oxidize, or otherwise damage. I would advise you to contact the
Caig people and ask them which cleaner and/or preservative to use. I know
they make a special cleaner just for gold, and they might have something
especially recommended for silver as well.

For the record, DeOxit works much better than WD-40 for such purposes, at
least with all the metal contacts that I've cleaned. (Don't *EVER* use
*either* product on rubber contacts, but that's a different story.) 

Eventually WD-40 will become thick and gummy (also sticky). My best friend
is a sewing machine mechanic and he avoids the stuff like the plague. I
also have had friends that work on firearms, and they do likewise. WD-40
has its uses, but I would keep it away from delicate mechanisms and synth
contacts. 

Just for trivia, if I'm not mistaken, WD-40 stands for "Water Displacement"
formula #40. It was the inventors's 40th attempt to create a product that
would displace moisture. I don't think it was primarily intended to be a
lubricant, as most people think of it. Displacing moisture is all well and
good, but I'd rather clean synth contacts with a product whose primary goal
is fighting oxidation, since most poor key contacts seem to be oxidized.


Here's where you can reach Caig:

http://www.caig.com/

Petty simple, eh?


later,
Glen Berry