Seized pot solution???

[IIIBOOMERIII]

I had the treble pot on a Princeton Reverb just about seize up.
I had already used tuner cleaner many times and was about to
give up and just replace it. I was messing around in my garage
when I saw a can of Gumout Carburetor Cleaner and said why
not, I am going to replace it anyway. I could not believe that on
one application the pot let go and worked. I thought the Gumout
worked great. The only draw back is the fumes. Has anyone ever
tried this? Is it a bad idea?

[Schwalbe]

I've used WD 40 in the same situation. In the future don't use any old tuner/electronics cleaner. I only use Caig stuff these days and I have not had this problem repeat. Get some D5 and MCL, clean the pot with D5 and then lube with MCL.

[Bruce O'D]

WD40 is safe, I would not recommend Gumout carb cleaner be used around electronic components. As a DIY car mech, I've seen it 'melt' some materials that are impervious to most chemicals. Gumout will strip all the lube out of the pot and cause the electrical contacts to oxidize quickly, I'd spray it again with the control cleaner to get some lube back in there.

[jzguitar]

just let it go.
they'll throw it in the "evidence" container,
and,
a month later,
the ranking detectives will return to claim it
and then they'll smoke all of it.
sorry to break the news.

merry xmas, though!

dt / spltrcl

Damn....you beat me to it! Gotta be quick around here!

[mc5nrg]

just let it go.
they'll throw it in the "evidence" container,
and,
a month later,
the ranking detectives will return to claim it
and then they'll smoke all of it.
sorry to break the news.

merry xmas, though!

dt / spltrcl


No kidding!

[JJman]

WD40 is safe, I would not recommend Gumout carb cleaner be used around electronic components. As a DIY car mech, I've seen it 'melt' some materials that are impervious to most chemicals. Gumout will strip all the lube out of the pot and cause the electrical contacts to oxidize quickly, I'd spray it again with the control cleaner to get some lube back in there.

There was a thread on usenet a while back about wd-40 for pots. This was before website based groups really existed. It became quite a flame war and included letters of inquiry to the manufacturer of wd-40. IIRC, wd-40 would not answer the question. The root of the disagreement was whether wd-40 eventually results in a gumming result.

I personally recommend against using wd-40 in anything that will ever be indoors since it smells so bad. Carb cleaner sounds like a no-no too. I used to work at an auto parts store and those sprays differ and can be smelly and aggressive.

“Tuner” sprays, and Craig’s deox it and such both have mineral oil in them. I have and use both. The Radio Shack tuner cleaner comes out at the speed of light which I don’t like. True “Contact cleaner” has no oil and dries with no residue at all, like brake cleaner spray (which also smells like crap.)

You want some lubricant left behind.