Contact Cleaner and Switch lubricant

[orbiter]

My contact cleaner of choice is Servisol Super 10, been using it for years and its good stuff. It does come in a spray though so if your after
being able to use very fine amounts something else maybe more suitable.. Or just use a cloth with it like I do

[ddavidebor]

And what about wd40? It's pretty famous

[Lightages]

WD40 is NOT a lubricant. "Water Displacement" formula #40 was designed originally to be just that, a way to displace water from surfaces. It turns out is has mild lubricating and cleaning properties but it also turns out to attract and hold dirt and will slowly corrode some metals. It is death to pots. Do not use it unless it is an emergency.

[ddavidebor]

Ok thaks.

[ftransform]

Lol, wikipedia says that wd40 is a product of the cold war, it was first used to keep atlas nuclear missile fuel tanks rust free !

[babysitter]

In germany/the EU, try Teslanol Oszillin of you cannot get Craig stuff. Its quite good.

[BMac]

OK is it time for Dave to do a contact cleaner/lubricant shoot out???
Dave what say yea!

BMac

[BMac]

Just remembered, in a past life, (job just out of College, Reliance Electric Co.), we used to call this stuff "Technician in a Can".
We used it everywhere, I can't remember what brand it was though.
Ok, just had to pass on my morning chuckle, ha !

BMac

[SeanB]

We had aq contact cleaner for avionics that was basically R11 in a can ( pity about that, it was magic for contact problems) that we had a name for that will get me banned here. The other was a lubricant called Turco, which was a great screw lubricant, and which was good to free rusted screws on panels. Unofficial use was as insect killer, as it burnt with a very impressive flame, and this was very useful with the paper wasps that plagued us, making them change rapidly from a wasp to a walk, then a crisp. Not fun opening a panel and having a dozen big rather upset wasps come out en masse, this was perfect, I carried a lighter always, even though I did not smoke. Duck, grab both and then fire in the hole.

[PA0PBZ]

... that we had a name for that will get me banned here.

...which was a great screw lubricant...

There, you said it 

[SeanB]

Screw, as in rolled up inclined plane allowing leverage to hold parts together with friction providing retention.

[Ed.Kloonk]

... that we had a name for that will get me banned here.

...which was a great screw lubricant...

There, you said it 

 

[amspire]

Inspired by this thread, I got a Caig DeoxIT kit and cleaned the timebase and vertical digital potentiometers in my hacked Rigol Ds1052e. So far the switches are now working perfectly again. Interesting to see how long they will last.

[BMac]

Good for you!, that's what I should have done!, I think during the life of this thread I bought every product mentioned, but ended up using Deoxit. I guess I never learn, always looking for a cheaper solution, but end up with the good stuff in the end, buying/trying all the "cheap" solutions along the way, just to end up with the "good" product in the end.

Note to future self, "Just bite the bullet and go for the good stuff from the get go".

BMac

[UPI]

Does anyone have experience using Caig products on PC memory sticks or card slots? I am considering using it on RAM slots in a laptop and was wondering if this is a good or bad idea.

Caig says it is fine but I am looking for real world experience.
http://store.caig.com/s.nl/ctype.KB/it.I/id.1744/KB.215/.f

[robrenz]

I put deoxit gold G100L on every gold contact on everthing I own. meter jacks, usb sticks, usb cables, connectors, bnc's, etc., etc..  No negatives in 2 years, just very smooth connections

[babysitter]

You are talking about gold. Gold is known to be chemically lazy. Just keep everything as clean as possible as the  gold plating might suffer scratches from dust which is "glued" on by those products, besides the effect of dust particles stuck between your gold surfaces preventing contact at all.

[robrenz]

I only consider gold as a lubricant/gold sealer after the contacts have been cleaned with D100L.  I also thouroghly remove all the D100L before applying the G100L. I wipe/air blast all excess G100L off after a few insertions.

[bingo600]

WD40 is NOT a lubricant. "Water Displacement" formula #40 was designed originally to be just that, a way to displace water from surfaces. It turns out is has mild lubricating and cleaning properties but it also turns out to attract and hold dirt and will slowly corrode some metals. It is death to pots. Do not use it unless it is an emergency.

I once used WD40 on an outside padlock in my summerhouse in Sweden.
Worked fine at first , but guess what happened when i had to open the shed in -22 C. 

I ended up having to cut the padlock.

So no more WD40 for any lubricating in cold environments , for me. 

/Bingo

[PhilNY]

I worked in a calibration lab for years in the 80's and we loved deoxit except on scope contacts in certain tek scopes that had cam pressed fingers and anything to do with higher frequencies. Tek scopes call for IPA cleaning due to sensitivity to some of the harsh chemicals out there at the time, but I have had the best luck over the years on 2213, 2215, & 2235's with only alcohol and our students really put these to the test. On decade boxes and other switches I love Cramoline or DeOxit,  but have been cautious to use it on anything that might fail a bandwidth test after treating as opposed to just cleaning the switches. Granted this is a rare thing, but I have had past troubles with some older stuff such as the HP 400EL's, Older HP and Tec scopes and such. So long as you put it on a scope pack and give it a full check or send it out after you treated it you are Ok, but I only use it in low frequency applications. I mean no offense by this, it has just been my experience.
Phil

[UPI]

My concern with the use of Caig on the DDR3 memory stick application was pin to pin leakage at higher frequencies. Since it wasn't broke (brand new laptop), I decided not to fix it.

I will try on a cheaper/older PC one of these days.

[notsob]

Answer me this, there has been some discussion re shelf life of some products (ie caig), the documentation mentions separation and discolouration of the product.

So what is the 'real' expected in situ life we are expecting given that the lubricant is going onto contacts that may not be looked at or relubed for quite some years.
Interested for your wisened comments.

[robrenz]

Take a look at these pdf's of testing to simulate ten years life. Make sure you read the test conditions for each one.

Edit: all this tech info is available Here.  The left column listing has all the different tech pdfs.

[Lightages]

Interestingly, IET recommends WD40 for cleaning and lubricating its switches in the recent ebay find Dave reviewed. This flies in the face of AMP declaring WD40 as a corrosive and damaging to contacts in the connectors.

[notsob]

thanks robrenz, btw I still want your workshop for xmas