Members JoeBoy Posted December 1, 2014 Members Share Posted December 1, 2014 I was looking for Deoxit on Amazon and found WD-40 Specialist Electrical Contact Cleaner Spray. I ordered a can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted December 1, 2014 Members Share Posted December 1, 2014 Never heard of it. I use Radio Shack contact cleaner when necessary. Let us know how you like the WD40 product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted December 2, 2014 Members Share Posted December 2, 2014 My caution is that a friend used some sort of contact cleaner on the pups of his old Goldtop Les Paul. Some if it got out onto the top near the bridge and damaged the finish. Use with caution or remove the pots and switches completely before spraying anything around your guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted December 2, 2014 Members Share Posted December 2, 2014 The Radio Shack stuff is essentially mineral and silicone oils. I haven't tried it on anything that didn't have a poly finish but it didn't seem to do any harm. The WD-40 product, OTOH, appears to be a solvent (http://www.wd40specialist.com/products/contact-cleaner/). I'd be very careful with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t_e_l_e Posted December 2, 2014 Members Share Posted December 2, 2014 'nough said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted December 2, 2014 Members Share Posted December 2, 2014 When in doubt always look at the Material Safety Data Sheets and see what chemicals are in it. http://www1.mscdirect.com/MSDS/MSDS0...6-20130517.PDF This stuff is an alcohol based contact cleaner designed to clean and degrease things like switches and electrical plugs and connections which had carbon buildup and. Since its a zero residue cleaner designed to clean carbon residue in switches, it should "not" be used to clean Potentiometers. Zero residue cleaners can leave the contact pad completely dry and even accelerate the loss of carbon from the pads. As an electronic tech I used all of these and more for decades. Anytime I've used a zero residue cleaner on pots (especially the newer plastic junk) It wipes the pot out in short order. It may seem fine for a day or two, but then the scratchiness is back worse then ever. The worst part is its now permanent because the carbon pad is stripped of carbon and there's no contact left for the brush. When you clean pots ONLY use a lubricating contact cleaner designed to clean and lubricate pots. If you're not sure its the right stuff, look up the MSDS sheets and look for the lubricants. 9 times out of 10 if a pot is just full of dust and oxidation. If it went 5 years before getting scratchy, you can get another couple of years out of it before it needs replacement. (depending on the quality of the pot) Most pot cleaners either have mineral oil and/or silicone lubricants that makes them turn smoothly and prevents electrical arcing. The lubricant also prevents the hard steel brush from wearing through the pad made of a thin layer of carbon. Use the right stuff and if you still have scratchiness, replace it with quality parts. Cheap pots aren't worth the effort putting them in. I've had some that only last for weeks before they crap out. Spend the extra two dollars to buy the best and it should outlast you and the instrument with proper maintainence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JoeBoy Posted January 13, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 13, 2015 Got the stuff. Works good for contacts on plugs, but not for pots. Deoxit still is the best. The WD is more for mechanical electric work. Cleaned the battery post on my truck like a champ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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