cleaning OLD potentiometers & rotary switches

[shoggoth]

I'm getting closer to wrapping up my oscilloscope redesign/rebuild. It's a 1950's heathkit. Anyhow it has a bunch of weird potentiometers and rotary switches with odd combinations of values and unusual taps, so I don't want to mess these things up.

What should I use to clean them as preventative maintenance? They are covered with gross scum on the outside, I was going to wet a paper towel with isopropyl alcohol and wipe them down. For the insides I've got two potential products:

Spray can of Deoxit D5
small tube of Deoxit Gold

I really don't want to accidentally ruin these 60 year old potentiometers and switches, because they will be nigh impossible to replace. So I'm wondering which (if any) of the above products will be appropriate? Or should I buy something else? Or not do anything to them at all ?

Thanks in advance!

[David Root]

Assuming they are open, not sealed, blow them out first with an aerosol air can.

I have used Deoxit Faderlube on open carbon pots with success. You have to be careful with Deoxit stuff, a lot of it is designed for metal contact cleaning, not pot wafers.

[xtian]

That's right, you want DeOxIt F100 (no solvents) to avoid damaging the carbon tracks.

If you have to go to extremes, you can disassemble the pots, shift the shaft and wipers slightly and reassemble, allowing the wipers to travel virgin territory.

[Firestorm]

Caig recommends D100 (no solvents) for pots. Faderlube is just a lubricant, so it may not do much to help the metal to metal parts (pots are both metal to metal and metal to carbon). I'd be most comfortable starting with the Faderlube, though. Actually, unless there was a problem, it might be best to leave the insides of the pots alone. You could hit the switches with D100.

[Charlie Wilson]

Hello, early on in my amp repairing(I have fixed 1000+ amps since) I was advised to give a vintage pot one shot of Deoxit 5%, rotate it 20 or so times, let it sit for the solvent to evaporate and then one shot of Faderlube. I have never seen a pot be damaged by using the 5% although if you really soaked it is possible that the glue that holds the carbon trace on could be damaged. I know for fact that almost anything you clean an old pot with dissolves away a bit of the damping grease in the back and eventually the feel of the pot is pretty rough.
CW

[hitchcaster]

I wouldn't mess with them unless they have problems...