To: Analogue Heaven analogue@hyperreal.org,
From: Kevin Lightner synthfool@synthfool.com,
cc:
Subject: Re: [AH] Prophet 5 key cleaning issues
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2003 00:50:48 -0700
>At 02:15 AM 9/21/03 , Kevin Lightner wrote:
>
>>Sorry, but deoxit has a lube and gets sticky over time. It also can
>>eat off plating.
>
>I hadn't heard about it eating off any plating before. Was this plating
>that was in good shape, or was it plating that was almost gone to begin
>with? I can understand that it might cause badly tarnished plating to
>loosen up and flake off, but in that case, the problem was really there
>before the DeOxit.
Fwiw, this has been covered pretty well in the archives, so I'll be
brief with my experiences. :)
As it says, it penetrates metal. Overspray on sliders does this all
the time to traces and IC leads.
I've cleaned off a lot of conductive green sludge. Green is the color
of copper.
On Odys where the user has sprayed stuff into the octave switch, it's
often leaked down into the key memory circuit and stopped it dead.
It's a very high impedance circuit and can't handle even a bit of
dissolved solids on the traces.
>
>There is also the variation of DeOxit that is made specifically for gold
>contacts. It might be safer to use on gold plated contacts, but I've really
>not had any problems myself using regular DeOxit.
It may be better, I don't know. However, if it's made for open air
contacts and has any lube, I wouldn't use it.
I can't find any manufacturers that use it either, despite it's
apparently positive claims.
That says something to me. If it's so good, why wouldn't a maker
apply it when new?
>
>
>>You cannot have any lube on J wires as they will attract dust and
>>quickly become bad and cause friction.
>
>I don't advise leaving a thick coating of the stuff on the wires. If you
>read the Caig literature, they don't either. It's strictly a cleaner--not a
>preservative that you coat the contacts with. I don't think it's really
>intended to be left on the contacts after you are through cleaning.
I don't think it's all that good of a cleaner though.
There's a LOT cheaper stuff out there that to remove both organic and
inorganic impurities.
Unless you're mixing nitric acid and hydrochloric, you won't remove
the gold. :)
>
>I just thought of something else. A lot of people seem to have trouble with
>DeOxit, but it has always worked flawlessly for me. Perhaps their technique
>was different than mine, or perhaps the contamination they were trying to
>clean was radically different than what I was cleaning.
Hard to say. It may well have some benefits on certain devices.
For me, I haven't found a need.
I'll admit that I go to other silly lengths to get the desired
results, but that's my thing. ;-)
Overspray is a problem though.
Also, the belief that spraying a spray in a slider removes dirt.
I feel it might move it around or dissolve it, but it's gotta go
somewhere or it's still in there... or all over the board.
>
>I have cleaned gold-plated contacts on countless keyboards over the years,
>but a thought just came to me. I usually don't clean keyboards that see any
>time in smokey clubs, or other harsh environments. Several years ago, I was
>repairing a lot of synths that were used in smokey rooms. One synth even
>had ashes inside it, where the owner smoked heavily while he played and let
>his ashes fall into the keyboard. (That's a horrible habit.) Not only were
>his contacts shot, but the steel case of his keyboard had bad corrosion on
>it, from the cigarette contamination.
Smoke is removed pretty well with alcohol actually, but any solvent
will do it too.
Alcohol is one of the most sedate things you can use if concerned
about using harsh chemicals or leaving residue. There's also TF
(freon) solvent, but that's pretty expensive nowadays.
>
>For the past several years however, I haven't worked on key contacts in
>such poor condition. Most of the contacts I have worked on are organ
>contacts, and church organs at that. There are no filthy deposits on these
>keyboards, like that from a chain-smoking bar room player's keyboard.
>
>Perhaps with a really contaminated keyboard, the plating is already under
>attack from these harsh contaminates. Perhaps when you spray a cleaner on
>such a keyboard, it washes off some of the plating along with the
>contamination, not because your cleaner destroyed the plating, but because
>the plating was already being dissolved by the existing contamination.
>
>Do you think this might be the explanation for why I have had perfect luck
>with DeOxit, and why some other people consider it less than helpful?
I haven't a clue. I'd be an idiot to argue with results. :)
However, I feel there are cheaper solutions and I don't buy all of
Caig's claims.
Like tweek, it might work. But it's pricey.
Then again, WD40 or feminine hygeine spray might work too, but it
just ain't the right thing to spray in there. ;-)
Also, many contacts are very thin in synths, compared to some of the
leaf contacts found in some organs.
They self-wipe, but there's very little contact area, so they have to
be incredibly clean.
Also, some synths are *really* picky about contact order, so even a
small amount of dust can cause them to sound horrible.
Cats and early 3 buss Odys are like this. If you ever hear a mini go
whooooop up in pitch, that's why.
It sampled the cv before the cv was there. ;-)
--
Regards,
Kevin Lightner
http://www.synthfool.comBR>