Vintage Synth Repair

I find that you can divide contact cleaners into roughly three categories:

1. Stuff that just cleans.  I used to use a lot of "Tun-O-Wash" which blasts 
pretty good,  though I hear that the formula has changed since the whole CFC 
thing and is not quite as effective.  Also "Lectra-clean" for stubborn cases,  
used to buy that in a gallon can,  I don't even think it's available any 
more,  and it will attack some plastics.

2. Stuff that "cleans and lubricates".  The key word there is "lubricate" and 
if you see that on the can you'll know that this stuff leaves a residue 
behind,   typically some kind of silicone but it could be any number of 
things.  Because of dust and other considerations,  I tended not to use this 
much.

3. Stuff with abrasive cleaners in it.  There have been a number of different 
kinds of this out there,  it's typically got a bit of some really fine 
abrasive (think "jeweler's rouge" or similar) in it,  and leaves some of that 
no the contacts to get them to continue to get a nasty case cleaned 
off.  "Blue stuff" and RCA's "Big Red" come to mind,  I'm sure there are 
others.

More recent stuff like de-oxit and whatnot would be something I'd put into the 
first category.

Not ever WD-40,  no way!  :-)

-- 
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space,  a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed.  --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James 
M Dakin

--- In vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com, "Roy J. Tellason" 
<rtellason@...> wrote:
.

> More recent stuff like de-oxit and whatnot would be something I'd put 
into the 
> first category.

I´ve read on the Audio Asylum Forum that De-oxit is just a mix of 
rubbing alcohol and nafta (lighter fluid). Probably belongs to the 2nd 
category...

Paulo.

On Monday 07 April 2008 19:10, timothy kosiorek wrote:
> This company used to make another great cleaner that is not available
> anymore called Cramolin.

I've heard of that stuff,  though I've never used it.  Didn't know it wasn't 
being made any more,  either.

-- 
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space,  a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed.  --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James 
M Dakin

Search a bit, it's not just naphtha and alcohol : If you look at the 
DeoxIT 5% solutions MSDS, you see they use 75% naphtha as the solvent, 
and 20% propane, but the remaining 5% is the DeoxIT product, which Caig 
will obviously not describe.

http://www.caig.com/caigbb/view_topic.php?id=29&forum_id=1
http://www.atmos.umd.edu/~russ/MSDS/deoxIT.pdf


inocencio66 a \ufffdcrit :

> --- In vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com, "Roy J. Tellason" 
> <rtellason@...> wrote:
>
>   
>> More recent stuff like de-oxit and whatnot would be something I'd put into the first category.
>>     
>
> I\ufffdve read on the Audio Asylum Forum that De-oxit is just a mix of 
> rubbing alcohol and nafta (lighter fluid). Probably belongs to the 2nd 
> category...
>
> Paulo.
>
>

--- In vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com, JRogersjr@... wrote:
>
> Could you provide a link to the Audio Asylum Forum post that says 
Caig  
> De-Oxit is "just a mix of 
> rubbing alcohol and nafta (lighter fluid)"?
>  
> I'd like to read the responses.  :)
>  
> Actually I'd be surprised to read a post that stated something like 
this as  
> fact. Especially the idea of using rubbing alcohol (real bad idea 
with all the 
>  water and often oil involved) and the confusion between nafta 
(North 
> American  Free Trade Agreement) vs. naptha (rather like lighter 
fluid).
>  
> -- Sonar

Well I seriously goofed here! 

Here´s the link to the post: 
http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/tweaks/messages/7/77960.html  
If you search the forum with deoxit as keyword you´ll find several 
mentions about rubbing alcohol, mostly from uneducated, inquiring 
users. Seems like I kept a distorted memory of it all.
I very much know the difference between rubbing and isopropyl alcohol 
(I use the latter with distilled water to clean my vinyl records) 
btw :-) 

Sorry about the mispelling. I wrote naphta as I would in my native 
language.

Anyway, my point being that given the deoxit composition, there will 
be somekind of residue left, right?

Apologies for spreading wrong info and thanks for the clarification.

Paulo.

DeoxIT doesn t come off, it dries. Only the solvent in the D5 does. The dried residue continues to remove oxydation (new residues to remove after a few days).

--- In vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com, "Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason@...> wrote:

..........> 2. Stuff that "cleans and lubricates".  The key word there is "lubricate" and 
> if you see that on the can you'll know that this stuff leaves a residue 
> behind,   typically some kind of silicone but it could be any number of 
> things.  Because of dust and other considerations,  I tended not to use this 
> much.

> Not ever WD-40,  no way!  :-)........

Hi,
OK, WD40 is in my Garage and only for Motorcycle Maintenance, but what the hell is the right 
stuff for lubricate my 30 Years old Rockerswitches of my Minimoog? They are much harder to 
operate than the new ones in my Voyager. My Tuner-Spray is only for cleaning the contacts... 
the old dust of the last 30 Years will not dissapear. May I oil the switches? With a really nice 
Sewing-machine-oil? Please help me and i will love you all....
Best regards
Martin

On Tuesday 15 April 2008 17:04, martinreuter wrote:
> --- In vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com, "Roy J. Tellason"
> <rtellason@...> wrote:
>
> ..........> 2. Stuff that "cleans and lubricates".  The key word there is
> "lubricate" and
>
> > if you see that on the can you'll know that this stuff leaves a residue
> > behind,   typically some kind of silicone but it could be any number of
> > things.  Because of dust and other considerations,  I tended not to use
> > this much.
> >
> > Not ever WD-40,  no way!  :-)........
>
> Hi,
> OK, WD40 is in my Garage and only for Motorcycle Maintenance, but what the
> hell is the right stuff for lubricate my 30 Years old Rockerswitches of my
> Minimoog? They are much harder to operate than the new ones in my Voyager.
> My Tuner-Spray is only for cleaning the contacts... the old dust of the
> last 30 Years will not dissapear. May I oil the switches? With a really
> nice Sewing-machine-oil? Please help me and i will love you all....
> Best regards
> Martin

Depends on whether you can put a drop of it on just the moving bits that are 
giving you trouble and be sure that it ain't gonna get in the contacts,  
since oil is an insulator.  If you can't be sure,  then get one of 
those "cleans and lubricates" sprays from radio shack or wherever,  but don't 
get nuts with it,  use just enough to get the job done.

-- 
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space,  a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed.  --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James 
M Dakin

--- In vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com, "Roy J. Tellason"
<rtellason@...> wrote:
>
> On Tuesday 15 April 2008 17:04, martinreuter wrote:
> > --- In vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com, "Roy J. Tellason"
> > <rtellason@> wrote:
> >
> > ..........> 2. Stuff that "cleans and lubricates".  The key word
there is
> > "lubricate" and
> >
> > > if you see that on the can you'll know that this stuff leaves a
residue
> > > behind,   typically some kind of silicone but it could be any
number of
> > > things.  Because of dust and other considerations,  I tended not
to use
> > > this much.
> > >
> > > Not ever WD-40,  no way!  :-)........
> >
> > Hi,
> > OK, WD40 is in my Garage and only for Motorcycle Maintenance, but
what the
> > hell is the right stuff for lubricate my 30 Years old
Rockerswitches of my
> > Minimoog? They are much harder to operate than the new ones in my
Voyager.
> > My Tuner-Spray is only for cleaning the contacts... the old dust
of the
> > last 30 Years will not dissapear. May I oil the switches? With a
really
> > nice Sewing-machine-oil? Please help me and i will love you all....
> > Best regards
> > Martin
> 
> Depends on whether you can put a drop of it on just the moving bits
that are 
> giving you trouble and be sure that it ain't gonna get in the
contacts,  
> since oil is an insulator.  If you can't be sure,  then get one of 
> those "cleans and lubricates" sprays from radio shack or wherever, 
but don't 
> get nuts with it,  use just enough to get the job done.
> 
> -- 
> Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
> ablest -- form of life in this section of space,  a critter that can
> be killed but can't be tamed.  --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet
Masters"
> -
> Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by
lies. --James 
> M Dakin
>

De-Oxit GOLD . Best cleaner / lube for electricals

--- In vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com, "Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason@...> wrote:

> 
> Depends on whether you can put a drop of it on just the moving bits that are 
> giving you trouble and be sure that it ain't gonna get in the contacts,  
> since oil is an insulator.  If you can't be sure,  then get one of 
> those "cleans and lubricates" sprays from radio shack or wherever,  but don't 
> get nuts with it,  use just enough to get the job done.
> 
Oh, I am nearly sure, that the contacts make the mechanical trouble. The switches had been 
moved not so often last 20 years....
In my prodigy-switches i used a very fine oil - that worked good, i had to use them carefully 
30-50 times and the problem was gone. But the mini is 6 time more expensive - so i have to 
be 6 times more careful  ;-)
I´ll test it with the noise-switch - this is the less-used....in worst case i will get a mixture of 
pink and white noise....hoho.
Thanks for your tips!!!
Martin

--- In vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com, "Keith Niver" <kaniver@...> wrote:
>
> Caig makes a product called MCL for moving control lubricant. It cleans and
> lubricates. I've been using it on controls and switches the past couple of
> years and it works great. 


Keith,
thanks so much, i found a distributor here in germany! He recommended MCL for cleaning 
and lubrication the switches and Pots (very exiting!), Deoxit and ProGold for the Minimoogs 
Contact-Springs. I order today - we will see, how it works.
Thank you again!!
Greetz
Martin

On Wednesday 16 April 2008 09:22, martinreuter wrote:
> --- In vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com, "Keith Niver" <kaniver@...> 
wrote:
> > Caig makes a product called MCL for moving control lubricant. It cleans
> > and lubricates. I've been using it on controls and switches the past
> > couple of years and it works great.
>
> Keith,
> thanks so much, i found a distributor here in germany! He recommended MCL
> for cleaning and lubrication the switches and Pots (very exiting!), Deoxit
> and ProGold for the Minimoogs Contact-Springs. I order today - we will see,
> how it works.
> Thank you again!!
> Greetz
> Martin

I looked in a box last night down in the basement and saw a can or two 
of "Tun-O-Wash" in there,  from back before they changed the formula (when 
the whole CFC thing got messy some years back),  so you can tell I'm not 
using a whole lot of this stuff in recent years...   :-)

Given that,  at some point I'll probably run out of what I have on hand here, 
and will need to get a hold of some of these newer products.  Do you have a 
link handy for where you found the distributor?

-- 
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space,  a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed.  --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James 
M Dakin