Deoxit d5, deoxit 100, deoxit w.lube, or radio shack cleaner lube that contains guess

scottyboy76

I am looking to clean and Lube?, the volume and balance pots, as well as the switches on my sonic frontiers pre, as well as push button control on my carver tfm 25, and clean and deoxidize the prongs on my preamp tube.

I have used deoxit d5 before, but there are so many products by caig, including 100 percent cleaner, and it seems that a follow up with a lube for push, twist, or flip controls would make sense.

To make the waters muddier, i have heard ratshack products are inferior, but the cleaner/lube i have from them has deoxit as ingredient.

What to do.

embrown057

Stick with the Deoxit. For wafer type switches I use D100 but you have to use a very soft brush, like a stylus brush to clean off the corrosion and tarnish. For carbon based pots I use D5 followed up with the F-Series Fader lube. Just remember more is NOT better. Too much and you'll only be wasting it. I have had units come in that customers have used the RS cleaners only to have to wash the boards and controls off with alcohol not to mention it's inferior to Deoxit. Just follow the directions on the Deoxit can and you can't go wrong, that is if the pot of switch is not trashed to start with.

Conradicles

embrown057 wrote: »

Stick with the Deoxit. For wafer type switches I use D100 but you have to use a very soft brush, like a stylus brush to clean off the corrosion and tarnish. For carbon based pots I use D5 followed up with the F-Series Fader lube. Just remember more is NOT better. Too much and you'll only be wasting it. I have had units come in that customers have used the RS cleaners only to have to wash the boards and controls off with alcohol not to mention it's inferior to Deoxit. Just follow the directions on the Deoxit can and you can't go wrong, that is if the pot of switch is not trashed to start with.

Good info. I use the D5 for all kinds of stuff. I fixed a Mercedes-Benz one time with that stuff!

scottyboy76

Any way for an old man to know which are carbon based pots?

Just ordered a can of d5 from adorama for 1195 with free ship.

will look up the fader lube.

westmassguy

Low wattage pots are almost always carbon. It's when you start getting into the higher wattage, then there's a coiled resistive wire, like an l-pad. I use the DeoxIT F5 Fader spray for rotary and slide pots. Some controls may look like pots, but may actually be multi-contact switches with fixed resistors. For those types I use D5 spray. Some pots have detents, so it might feel like a l-pad, or multi-contact switch. You won't know till you open the case. If the switch contacts are accessible, I use the D100L brush-on.

embrown057

Carbon based pots are easy to identify. If you peer into one you can see a black surface area and copper wiper, as are most pots used in audio are linier . The wafer type are used as switches, i.e. phono,aux,tape1, or am/fm. They are easily identified as they are metal to metal contacts. D100 is a strong cleaner and can sometimes lift the carbon track from the substrate thus damaging the pot and making it useless and should only be used on the later type of switch. The D5 will be fine for the carbon type. Make sure you pay attention to the nozzle setting on the can and use the lowest spray setting. Spray the pot with a very short burst then work the control stop to stop several times then repeat, let dry. Then apply a very small amount of fader lube, work stop to stop. If you still have noise from the pot you can repeat the process. There are times that even Deoxit will not clear up a noisy pot and in that event you'll have to consider replacing it. Some ALPS pots had a problem with the carbon track flaking off the substrate. Although rare I have seen it more than once.

scottyboy76

Thanks guys