an observation with faders and CaiLube MCL (now known as "DeoxIT FaderLube")

[dai h.]

I've been goofing around with a Boss RPQ-10 (a half-rack preamp/two-band parametric EQ with Q controls) which I got for cheap couple years back, changing the opamps to 5532s and some Rs to metal films just to see if the sound could be improved and use up my surplus Rs. Anyway, since I had a bit of scratchiness on some of the sliding controls (short faders) I tried a tiny drop of Deoxit(the red stuff) right on the carbon track down inside the fader, then still had some noise, so decided to spray a larger amount then finish with the other can (of MCL--MCL standing for Moving Contact Lubricant--avowedly for faders, pots, carbon and conductive plastic). So I did that, and very much not to my satisfaction, the faders went markedly gritty (which I understand is because the lubricant for the plastic part holding the metal contact and metal fader housing which AFAIK is "damping grease" was dissolved and not replenished). Basically resigned to the condition, I thought I'd perhaps try to steal some lubricant off some big surplus faders (if I could find some cheap). However, about 24? hrs. later, when I tried the controls, they were smooth again(!?)--which was good, of course. So apparently the MCL can take time to settle and work(?). Just wanted to document that for someone else experiencing immediate grittiness after applying the MCL spray. Maybe you just need to wait a bit for it to work.

[Rob Mercure]

Hey Dai,

While I suppose that the same brands may have not been available in Japan a product produced by "GC Electronics" called "TUNERLUB" was (perhaps still is) available in the USA. Made to lubricate "turret tuners" in televisions this viscious material - more like vaseline than anything else - have been my mainstay for lubricating slide pots for many years. I bought about 20 tubes when a wholesale electronics firm went out of business and I've found nothing else that seems to restore the lubricity to a pot after being cleaned. Being this viscious I've had to either dab a bit with a tooth pick into the slider's track or even melt a bit in a spoon and drip a bit in with an eye dropper.

Its reasonable to assume that a similar product was marketed in Nippon and you might "haunt" a few older service shops and see if there's something similar in a dusty box on a shelf.

Rob

[Mark Black]

Hi Dai -

I have experienced the same thing with the Caig MCL, and I believe it is because the version most of us use is the 5% solution spray. The other 95% includes a carrier solvent which evaporates over time.

There is actually a pretty good pdf information sheet aimed at exactly our kind of applications here: http://store.caig.com/s.nl/it.I/id.5...&category=-117

I am much more careful these days with using DeOxit and MCL in pots and especially sliders due to an experiment I conducted years ago. It seems perhaps the carrier solvent can soften the resistance strip compound and allow rapid wear in certain types of sliders at least. So I try not to be too aggressive with the movement until the solvent is gone (sometimes with the DeOxit I help that out with compressed air).

[dai h.]

thanks Rob, I'll keep that in mind when scoping out the surplus places. If that was used for TVs, I figure there must have been something corresponding to the same stuff here used over the years. There was a small tube of "Contact Grease" I bought here before, which is apparently Polydimethylsiloxane apparently some general lubricant (also used as condom lubricant lol) but when I tried (both on the wiper and side(wiper holder/metal housing) neither app. worked real well (i.e. not a particularly smooth "feel" matching the original smoothness/viscosity). I did google a little bit and there are some damping grease kits avail. such as this:

http://www.micro-tools.com/store/ite...ode=KIT-DAMPGR

made by a company called Nye ("Nyogel" is apparently their trade name), and apparently they also offer an electronics lube kit which might be worth buying for anybody doing tech work professionally. Besides potentiometers, cameras also apparently need similar lubricants, so there may be something useful at stores selling camera supplies. So far though, the sliders are still smooth and the MCL is working out to my satisfaction.

Mark, thanks for the link to the 911 tech bulletin. I used Caig's search function after seeing it mentioned but it didn't turn up and I guess I gave up too easily.

What you say about the 5% vs. 100% makes total sense, and the pertinent info is right in the tech bulletin:

3. Two 5% spray versions are available.

a) Original formula: Flushing action, slow drying, flammable until solvent evaporates. Evaporation rate depends on ambient temperature, approx. 5 to 60 minutes for complete evaporation. 100% solution remains on surface.
Example: Part Nos. F5S-H6

The can I have is MCL5S-H6 which is just the old name for F5S-H6, so I guess I just needed to wait a while for the carrier solvent (Naphtha?) to evaporate.

re: the softening of the strip, I wonder if that is what happened to my Fulltone wah pot. (Mike Fuller does say not to do this and spray only a little if using Deoxit, but) I was having a noise problem in a wah (eventually traced to a poor connection, so it had nothing to do with the pot) and destroyed a wah pot by spraying too much. So, I wonder if that was the mechanism (softening, then bits of the track being stripped off by the wiper).

Anyway thanks guys, good info (and I feel more confident in the MCL)!

[Steve A.]

Hi Dai -

I have experienced the same thing with the Caig MCL, and I believe it is because the version most of us use is the 5% solution spray. The other 95% includes a carrier solvent which evaporates over time.

There is actually a pretty good pdf information sheet aimed at exactly our kind of applications here: http://store.caig.com/s.nl/it.I/id.5...&category=-117

I am much more careful these days with using DeOxit and MCL in pots and especially sliders due to an experiment I conducted years ago. It seems perhaps the carrier solvent can soften the resistance strip compound and allow rapid wear in certain types of sliders at least. So I try not to be too aggressive with the movement until the solvent is gone (sometimes with the DeOxit I help that out with compressed air).

I've been using the the small non-aerosol bottles of Caig Red and Gold- with a small brush in the cap like nail polish! The Red is used to clean up old pots and the Gold is used to treat new (or cleaned) pots.

Of course I still do have a spray can for when the brush can't reach the pot...

Steve

[dai h.]

was thinking a bit about what I did, and came to the thought that I got worse immediate results (grittiness) since I used 5% Deoxit solution (which I guess is mostly naphtha), then 5% MCL (mostly naphtha again?), probably with the massive amount of naphtha dissolving and eliminating any lubricant already there leaving no lubricating action until the evaporation occured. So maybe it'd be better to use 5% red then 100% blue.

Another lubricant observation I had while adjusting the footswitch (a common Carling) on a wah is that the lubricant inside seems to be apparently rather non-viscous damping grease which seems to just leak out purely with gravity. Not very oily feeling. I suppose it must used for things like toggle switches as well. Wonder if it'd make sense to add damping grease to an old switch.

[Mark Hammer]

This stuff - http://www.stabilant.com/ - is amazing. I can't begin to count the number of thigs I have brought back to life with it. It is a fairly unique product in that it is a contact enhancer, rather than contact cleaner. Works almost like a liquid solder joint. Makes the pot wiper think that the 3 micron gap between it and the resistive strip doesn't exist. Chemically stable, so it behaves like a viscous surface for years apparently. I've used it on heavy wear pots, IC sockets, misbehaving stomp and slide switches, all to great success. The website has a number of tech reports on applications (e.g., edge connectors). Personally, I don't know why "boutique" builders don't advertise pot and switch pretreatment with the stuff as a product feature. I only wish I got an endorsement fee from them because I can't say enough good things about it.

It can be bought in larger quantities, but I buy it at a local supply place in 0.5ml vials for 50 cents@. Each 0.5ml vial is good for treating about 25-30 pots and comes with a little applicator (looks like a perfume tester).

I was introduced to it by a buddy who runs a busy studio in town that functions about 40% in the analog domain (2" tape) and has too many long throw pots carrying audio signal to leave to chance.

[dai h.]

thx Mark. I googled for the stuff, and while there are a couple of mentions of Stabilant 22 in Japanese(incl. the Microsoft site and a set of instructions for an Alesis EQ), apparently it isn't readily available here (but otherwise sounds like good stuff), so I'll keep my eye out for it. (Or maybe it's in some other audiophool form/moniker at 50bucks for the 0.5ml bottle or something, lol...)

[Rob Mercure]

Hey, whe you're getting up into that price range it's worth - IMHO - heading back to the old TV repair shop and undertaking an archeological "dig" to see what "Tunerlub" equivalent is lying entombed under the "dust of ages" - hell, for that price I could probably afford to ship you a 1.75 oz tube to Japan.

Rob

[dai h.]

thx Rob, I think I'm good with the MCL for now (knock wood). What's funny with the Deoxit is there is one audiophool place here that sells 5% cans for 5000 yen, which is about US$40 bucks! Compare that to this mainly online discount music store which sells a can for 1200 yen--about $9.75. Totally outrageous gouging, lol...

[JJGross]

I poked around the Stabilant website and found it's available all over the place, most notably auto parts stores like Kragen, Auto Zone, NAPA, CarQuest, Checker and others.
http://www.stabilant.com/stmp01.htm

Cheers,
- JJ

[dai h.]

good idea. Might be worth checking out other places that offer tools and chemicals, etc. (automotive, camera supplies, etc.)for guitars and related electronic stuff. I bought some stuff at a "100yen shop"(most everything is 100yen + 5% tax= 105yen= about USD80 cents )--some plastic tupperware type containers to put parts and cables (my thinking was that it would impede oxidation and thus wouldn't have to clean them as often) into, PVC sheets as "amp coasters", small screws, etc. holder with magnet, a makeup brush to put blush or something on to use as a dust brush, alu. tape, etc.

[jjj]

I've been goofing around with a Boss RPQ-10 (a half-rack preamp/two-band parametric EQ with Q controls) which I got for cheap couple years back, changing the opamps to 5532s and some Rs to metal films just to see if the sound could be improved and use up my surplus Rs...

I have got that RPQ-10, too. Yet, accidentally plugged in a +12V power supply and now it looks as when it's "gone"; I hope not, because usually Boss stuff is pretty rugged.
I enjoy hobby electronics for quite a few decades now. So, if I have the circuit or good advice what to check or replace, then I can fix it. Have you the circuit or any idea what to check... ?
The problem is also that I live far away from Boss service here in the Chilean Andes.

Besides, I modified my Tr2 so that the effect is only on when I press the pedal.

[dai h.]

no sorry I don't have a schematic. As for troubleshooting, try R.G. Keen's GEO site. I don't really have a great idea what could be wrong in your unit. Perhaps caps, diodes, or whatever overvoltage might damage.

[jrfrond]

Pretty much the only things we use in the shop are DeOxIt, ProGold, CaiLube and Stabilant. For faders, we use DeOxIt 100%, followed by CaiLube. For the stuff that is DeOxIt-resistant and has wear on it, we try Stabilant. Usually, at least one works. We use ProGold for gold contacts (of course), but it works almost as well on non-gold contacts. We also mix up our own "potions". One of mine is DeOxIt 100%, ProGold and CaiLube 1:1:1 and cut with denatured alcohol to suspend it and flow it out. It's a good "one-shot" cleaner-lube.

After these chemicals, all of the other stuff on the market is just a waste of money.