Vintage Synth Repair

*Never* use steel wool to clean up connectors.  Even assuming a steel hair 
doesn't short out something you'd rather not have shorted, you're 
coating/embedding the contact with steel, which *will* rust.  It may work 
well for a while, but you've guaranteed future trouble.

If mechanical cleaning is necessary, I'd recommend ScotchBrite instead of 
steel wool.  I cut a pad or strip, squirt some CAIG Labs ProGold or DeOxIt 
onto the ScotchBrite, and then do the rubbing.  Seems not to leave any bad 
things behind, and if you don't get too aggressive (ScotchBrite comes with 
a range of grits, just like sandpaper and steel wool) you'll leave the 
plating on the connector, assuming the plating survived the corrosion that 
caused the poor connection in the first place.

It's really a pity that connectors didn't use stainless steel; would have 
prevented a lot of problems.

Th.B. Nast
Seattle



At 03:18 AM 5/7/2005, you wrote:
>Message: 3
>    Date: Fri, 06 May 2005 18:49:59 -0000
>    From: "daniel_muschinsky" <daniel@...>
>Subject: Re: minimoog problem! -fixed
>
>oh oh!!!
>hope i didn't ruin something!
>
>i only scratched it lightly though! otherwise i'll have to replace
>those connectors if they start to fail...
>
>thanks for your advice!
>
>by the way. i wouldn't dream of using steelwool on the printboards!
>i've used an eraeser on that, but it was to big for the connectors,
>so i couldn't use it...
>
>Daniel