General Maintenace\Cleaning

[Baldychris]

Hello!

I'm new to this and would appreciate some advice on the basics before looking for a bigger problem. Can anyone give me some advice on general maintenace, cleaning and safety tips for working inside amps and other audio equipment?

I know you can get cans of pressurised air to clean all the dust out and that IPA (alcohol) spray is safe as a cleaning solvent for electronics. Can this just be sprayed on to the switches, sockets and pots in place or do they have to be removed from the circuit board first? If you do have to remove the pots to clean them, is it better to just replace them? If you are using IPA spray, is there anywhere you shouldn't use it or can you just douse the lot? Obviously you should wait until it's all dry before turning the power back on.

Any articles, books, links that will give me information on fault diagnosis and basic tools\equipment needed for beginners would also be much appreciated. Also, if the administrator is reading, is it possible to have an upload area for manuals, schematics, articles etc so users can pool their resources?

Any advice will be much appreciated!

-Baldy

[Enzo]

As a rule, spray on "contact cleaner" and the like are made to be used on parts left in place. Most of them will not attack plastic, so overspray onto finish surface should present no problem. "Flux remover" tends to be more corrosive. Apply to the solder side of the circuit board only. It may very well attack the plastic panel surfaces.

Unless I call it something else, I am not familiar with "IPA." I use isopropyl alcohol - is that it? - usually with Qtips, mostly to clean off soot from burnt parts, and also to help remove goo and dirt wherer needed. For actual electrical contact surfaces I use sprays made for the job. There are a lot of contact cleaners, and there are also products like Caig Labs' DeOxit and Cailube that work extremely well. If you are planning any volume of repair, you should have those.

I have an air tank I can fill if I want to do blow off work, but that fills the air and the shop with dust and dirt. I would blow off only a small thing, like filings around a hole. I much prefer a vacuum hose with a paint brush. Turn on the shop vac and hold the hose over the work. Loosen the durt with the brush so it gets sucked up.

Keep reading and researching the forums here, and you will find many resources.

Most of us here are happy to share dociments we have. You can visit sister site www.ampix.org where you can post photos and other files. I use it to post schematics a lot.

[Baldychris]

Thank-you very much Enzo! Yes, IPA is just an abbreviation of isopropyl alcohol used in the UK. I've been using a spray called Servisol IPA 170 which is supposed to do the trick. This might seem obvious (but may help other begnners), while spraying the pots I turned them back and forth to clean them more thoroughly.

Can I ask when you would use flux remover? I'm guessing it's for cleaning the PCB after removing a component and before soldering the replacement. (Flux is a component of solder and helps it flow when heated).

Callilube sounds like a lubricant, does it also have cleaning properties? I guess you'd use it on faders and pots which have moving parts. Is that right?

DeOxit looks like a de-oxidising agent. Can you use this on anything or is it more for contact points, like the contacts of jack sockets? Sorry for all the questions, gotta learn somehow!

[Enzo]

Go to the Caig Labs web site for information on the Deoxit and others. The MCL Cailube is a lubricating cleaner for sliders and rotary controls, works OK for mildly dirty controls. Deoxit is more cleaner than that but not as much of a solvent as "contact cleaner" for the most part. Deoxit does leave a lubricating film.

Be wary of contact cleaners and solvents in controls. the controls have lubricants in them when made. Solvent cleaners can dissolve away and remove those lubricants, leaving a dry control. This is especaily bad in sliders.

[Baldychris]

Great! Thanks Enzo, you've been really helpful.