Cost of Deoxit?

[Chad Hauris]

Not sure where the real best place for this is, but does anyone else in the service business use Deoxit? We are about to have to stop getting it as it is about 24.00 a can now. Nothing else seems to clean up really oxidized and tarnished contacts the way Deoxit does but it seems like every 2 months or so the price keeps going up or it keeps getting reformulated. Anyone use any other product for removing corrosion/oxidation that works good?

[dingus]

$9.00 a can at Parts Express.

[bills]

wd-40 works well for me.
bill

[markthefixer]

Originally Posted by bills

wd-40 works well for me.
bill

Are you SERIOUS???
or just flaming???

[andy]

MCM electronics has it on sale. A 142 g can of D5 is $7.99 (200-040). Use source code 5A110.

[Chad Hauris]

Thanks for your replies. We prefer to use the nonflammable DN5 especially on contacts on jukeboxes, arcade machines etc where there is sparking and arcing. We may just have to use the flammable D5 for deoxidizing and then clean off the residue with a nonflammable contact cleaner.

[andy]

MCM also had DN5 for $16.95 for 163g.

[EchoWars]

Originally Posted by bills

wd-40 works well for me.
bill

-->Note to self: Don't buy used gear from bills<--

[hpsenicka]

Originally Posted by Chad Hauris

Thanks for your replies. We prefer to use the nonflammable DN5 especially on contacts on jukeboxes, arcade machines etc where there is sparking and arcing. We may just have to use the flammable D5 for deoxidizing and then clean off the residue with a nonflammable contact cleaner.

I suspect that it is only flammable for a few moents after spraying.... the solvent seems to evaporate fairly rapidly, and AFAIK the DeOxit that remains behind is not flammable.

[bills]

Originally Posted by EchoWars

-->Note to self: Don't buy used gear from bills<--

enlighten me as to why you think this is such a bad idea.
i have used wd-40 to clean scratchy pots and switches for years with great results.
and no this is not a flame.
bill

[3Guncolor]

Just a note on WD40... Many years ago I worked at a radio station and the oldtimer really did use WD40 to keep the pots quiet on the board it was the only thing he said would last. He had everything in first rate shape so he knew something. I have used it myself when I had nothing else. Never hurt anything but it is not my first choice.

[bills]

Originally Posted by 3Guncolor

Just a note on WD40... Many years ago I worked at a radio station and the oldtimer really did use WD40 to keep the pots quiet on the board it was the only thing he said would last. He had everything in first rate shape so he knew something. I have used it myself when I had nothing else. Never hurt anything but it is not my first choice.

as i said works good for me.
bill

[bills]

Originally Posted by EchoWars

-->Note to self: Don't buy used gear from bills<--

i don't sell any of my stuff any way so what.
could be a flame naaw not a flame .
bills

[markthefixer]

Ok, I will try to be short... WD 40 is a mix of many solvents, designed to dissolve and flush out any old grease, gunk etc regardless of it's parentage.
It leaves behind some oil...

Don't get me wrong, I use it on many metallic mechanical parts, where there are no plastics, rubber or petrochemical based permanent materials involved.
I even use it for a preliminary cleaner where other stuff won't touch the gunk, but then I use another cleaner to get it out of there (fast) so that it won't contaminate or affect the properties of the CORRECT lubricant for the application.

Potentiometers are usually a resistive material "painted" on the surface of an insulating material. This involves binders ("glue"?) that were usually petrochemically based. Thus the risk of removing the resistive material, especially on older UNREPLACABLE components is unacceptably high to most of us.

The only exception would be wirewound pots wound on ceramic forms with NO OTHER materials involves, and I would still worry about the flammability of the oil left behind..

Basically If I can spray it on a match and it puts out the match, this is what I prefer to use to clean electronic equipment. When I HAVE to I use Isopoperol alcohol outside away from any possible ignition source. (fans in a room window just won't cut it for me...)

A little too careful?? mayby... but at age 22 I learned a healthy resprect for fire, and it also taught me the meaning of futility....

As to my bonafides... I am an E. Engineer by training, and I love getting down and dirty with technician type work for the last 37+ years...
(and I'm pretty darn good at it, in all im-modesty).

[fotno]

Hey, I use WD-40 for all sorts of things, but not for electronics. It seems that WD-40 has become the duct tape of lubricants, and it does do a wide variety of things quite well. While DeOxit is not cheap, it does work better (and more safely) than anything else I've tried.