Sorry but No!!! - Don't use the pencil eraser and/r contact cleaner!!
When I got my first optigan back in 1992, I cleaned the contacts with 99%
isopropanol, and it did wonders for the machine. This also worked on
subsequent optigans as well.
Some years later I tried the pencil eraser / contact cleaner method on
another optigan and regretted it. Don't use this method!
The pencil eraser (being a petroleum product) leaves a slight oily residue
which becomes evident after the optigan has been on for a while. This
problem gets worse when contact cleaner (which may have a lubricant) is
added to it.
Combine the original pencil eraser residue with the contact cleaner residue
and you'll get more severe gunk problems with the contacts. What's worse,
you may not be able to remove the gunk because it can become like glue after
mixing with the residues left by the original latex sheet.
Stick with one simple cleaner - never mix oil based chemicals/products on
the optigan contacts. Use only 99% alcohol to clean the contacts the way you
would on mellotron/chamberlin tape heads and you'll do no wrong. I now have
5 operational optigans with no crosstalk and some even have (dare I say it)
a more "clean and even" sound.
Chris
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jack Younger" <e4103s@...>
To: "Colin Crawford" <g-colin.crawford@...>
Cc: "Mellotronists" <mellotronists@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2005 6:41 PM
Subject: Re: [Mellotronists] Optigan buttons gone awry...
> Not a problem,
> If the contacts still give you a problem, hit
> them with a pencil eraser and then some contact
> cleaner. Just like electric race-car contacts. It
> was built by a toy company, it is essentially a toy, I
> find it's best to follow suit and use toy repair
> methods. I also find that striking the unit can be
> helpful as well.
> Oh, and, regretfully, no relation to the beer.
> -Jack
>
> --- Colin Crawford <g-colin.crawford@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > On 28 Apr 2005, at 22:50, Jack Younger wrote:
> >
> > > Greetings,
> > > The buttons on the optigan have a rubber
> > sheet
> > > over them to protect them from dust. It decays,
> > > fragments over time and pieces of it get stuck
> > between
> > > the contacts. Open the top panel and disassemble
> > the
> > > button assembly. It will be orange (the same
> > color as
> > > a Hot Wheels track strip, ahhhh, Mattel). Remove
> > the
> > > sheet (or what's left of it), clean out any
> > leftover
> > > chunks and wipe the contacts down with contact
> > > cleaner. Now they should work. Please disregard
> > if
> > > this is old news to you.
> > > -Jack Younger, former optigan owner and current
> > 'tron
> > > owner
> >
> > Thanks for that!
> >
> > I loved your beer.
> >
> > The same is slowly happening to mine. I thought the
> > only way out would
> > be to coax every button into life with deft prodding
> > and then sample
> > the loop!
> > >
> > > --- Mattias <Mattias.olsson5@...> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> On my Optigan the autokomp buttons have
> > died...sort
> > >> of. They all play at once creating kind of a Tom
> > >> Waits vibe...
> >
> > Surely ∗everything∗ played on an Optigan sounds like
> > Tom Waits?
> >
> > Cx
> >
> > http://www.s-club.co.uk
> > Sundae Club∗
> > PO Box 862
> > Cheltenham
> > GL52 2XT
> >
> >
>
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