WD-40 to clean electric contacts?

[Micky]

WD-40 to clean electric contacts?

I'm on vacation and renting a room, and my landlady has a combination CD/Radio/Cassette?, very compact, portable, works well except fo the little on/off/CD slide switch.

The switch doesn't easily make contact, even when pushed to and past the On position. So it's hard to get the radio on, and it turns off by itself in about 30 minutes. Moving the switch back and forth 10 times to clean it hasn't worked yet.

Normally what I would do is spray contact cleaner or tuner cleaner in the switch from above, where the plastic slider that goes over the switch is, And normally that doesn't accomplish much.

Even taking such things apart and spraying the switch from underneath has taken longer to work than for rheostats, for example, and here I don't want to take it apart. She's only my landlady.

I don't know where in this non-English-speaking country to buy contact cleaner and she might balk at the extra money, but she does have something in an aerosol can that looks mighty like WD-40.

I have this vague recollection that WD-40 is good to clean electric contacts?? Either that or it's bad for them. Should I try it.

BTW, I want to use the radio, so that's one big reason I want it fixed. When it stopped playing while she was there, she said, "Oh, yeah, maybe that's why I bought another one" (She speaks English.)

[Sjouke Burry]

Trying it, will certainly not make things worse. And cleaning/flooding the switch a day or two later with something volatile,(alcohol,turpentine or such) will take care of the wd40 residue(maybe). I don't think it will make things worse.

[Retired]

According to WD-40's "List of 2000+ Uses" at

"? Cleans gunk from electrical contacts" is one of them

[Foxs Mercantile]

And most of the 2000 ideas are marketing hype.

[Wade Garrett]

You're a regular party-pooper!

[John Robertson]

Having cleaned the residue (glue like substance) of WD-40 from many an electrical unit I would say that it's only practical use is for preventing rust on tools.

Everything else is hype.

There are FAR better solvents out there than WD-40...and cheaper!

John :-#(#

[rickman]

Very bad idea. Contact cleaner is specifically formulated for the job and won't cause any harm to electronics. A friend used WD40 on some very expensive chemical instrumentation as "preventive maintenance" and the volatile solvents in it melted the shafts to the collars on the pots freezing them. So he had a service call the next day where he had to replace the pots he sprayed.

[DerbyDad03]

So borrow hers.

BTW - Where's your car?

[Ian Jackson]

Cheaper than the old can you've had in the tool-shed for the last 20 years, but which has been your saviour on the odd occasion when you've suddenly needed a general-purpose lubricant / switch cleaner / rusty nut freer / corrosion inhibitor ?

>

[Ian Jackson]

While I'm sure that there have been occasions when a squirt of WD40 has dissolved everything in sight, I've been using it for decades, and I've never found it has ever caused any such damage.

[rbowman]

Not WD-40 but I found out that using Lock-Ease on a bicycle chain lock with plastic internal parts is a poor idea :) Even worse is having the chain wrapped around the bike and an immobile object at the time.

[clare]

I can tell you one thing it is DEFINITELY no good for. I have EuroVynyl brand tilt turn side dlider windiws - made with Rehau vinyl extrusions. When cleaning the windows my wife drcided to lubricate the pivot blocks with WD-40.She then could not get the blocks to slide in the track. I ended up moving the top block far enough to pop the window sash out of the sliders, drive the block to the end, cut the top of the track and pry out the block. Luckily I had purchased a few sets of the lovot blocks and other parts fron the manufacturer when I bought the windowsn(I worked for the dealer) so I was able to replace the swollen blocks. No amount of soaking in alcohol or any othe substance was effective in returning the block to the proper size. No idea what kind of plastic it was- but it sure didn't like WD-40.

If using wd-40 to disolve hardened grease in a slide switch, ALWAYS finish the job with a contact cleaner to flush out the remains.

In automotive switches, like power window, door lock, headlight, etc, when I've had to dissassemble them and clean/polish contacts etc I re-assemble using a synthetic silicone based grease which won't harden.WD 40 can be an effective solvent for softeninf and removing the old "boogers" - . It can also be acceptable for "burnishing" plug-in connectors and keeping them from corroding - things like wiring harnes plugs - but the old TV Tuner dope works a lot better if you can still find it.

[Micky]

I think there are 3 topics you're not supposed to talk about at work (since you have to continue to see those people): politics, religion, and WD-40.

[John Robertson]

ATF and acetone are better at loosening rusted nuts that WD-40 will ever be.

As per Machinist's Workshop Magazine March/April (and May/June?) 2007:

No lube 516 lbs WD-40 238 lbs PB-Blaster 214 lbs Liquid Wrench 127 lbs Kano Kroll 106 lbs ATF-Acet "There are three recommended switch lubricants. They are Silicone Versilube (General Electric Co.), Rykon R (Standard Oil), and WD-40 (Rocket Chemical Co.)."

Which I find surprising based on my experience (seized up shafts), however note that this is a SWITCH lubricant, not a potentiometer. In the manual they specifically state that you don't lubricate sealed pots.

So, I will revise my comments accordingly, it would appear that WD-40 is

OK for switch contacts - at least in the mid-70s. Use sparingly!

Anyone here know anyone at Techtronics who can confirm if they still ahve it on the list of recommended lubricants for switches?

Live and learn, eh?

John