[sdiy] Oberheim OB-8

[Roy J. Tellason]

On Monday 14 March 2005 11:53 pm, Kevin Lightner wrote:
> >You know doof, these pots are extremely hard to come by.  Not only
> >is the spacing of solder pins not found on any currently
> >manufactured pots, but the shaft-length is also an odd size.  A few
> >hours of research and you'll come to the same conclusion.
> >
> >Your best bet is to squirt some radio shack model #: 64-4315 (which
> >simultaneously cleans + lubricates) into the convenient shaft
> >opening and work the wiper over the wafer repeatedly.  Yep, the pot
> >doesn't even need to be disassembled as the wiper assembly is
> >clearly visible through a small opening. Just solder those old
> >suckers right back on.  For future reference: don't desolder if
> >there's an easier solution.  The OB-8 pots can be cleaned simply by
> >removing both pot pcbs (held in place by about 12 hex nuts).
> >
> >
> >{all of which I did. Now there's not a snap, crackle or pop on
> >tweakage of the former problem pots.  Miracle juice.}
>
> Not to sub up and start criticizing, but cleaners with lubes are
> generally a bad idea.
> You want to flush out what's in there. Any good solvent will remove a
> lube though.
> Flushing out a pot with a cleaner and lube mixture will result in
> lube on the pcb, attracting dust and causing increased capacitance
> and lower resistance paths. Really bad for high impedance circuits.
>
> Usually when this type of service is attempted, the pots work great
> at first, gather more dust over time and fail, worse than before,
> sometime later. There's a reason that pros don't go to Radio Shack
> and this is one of them. There is no magic elixer or miracle juice
> and if there is, it doesn't have Radio Shack or Caig on it's label.
> Fwiw, you could spray cooking oil or WD40 in a pot and it will quiet
> it up, but it's not the right thing to do either.
>
>
> Sorry for the opinion. This is all I do.. everyday... for years... decades.

Agreed about the lubes in cleaners being a bad idea...

There are times,  though,  when just cleaning the pots doesn't quite do it.  
On those occasions I've used various sprays that had midly abrasive 
properties as well,  after the initial cleaning,  but getting them only 
exactly where you want them is another issue.

Then there's pots with lube in places already.  Sliders are bad for this,  
some of them anyhow,  using a spray cleaner takes it all away and they don't 
slide so well afterwards.  Anybody know a fix for this?

And then there's whatever the heck was used in some of the older Tapco mixers, 
on the pot shafts,  which in some cases I know of has solidified to the point 
where you can't turn the shaft at all.  Anybody know of a good solvent for 
that stuff?  Something that won't dissolve a plastic shaft,  anyhow...