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Vintage Blacks cleaning, matching parts
Posted: 02 Dec 2021, 04:30
by drevyek
I have a pile of vintage blacks that I pulled out of a Wyse PCE (for restoration!), and they're filthy. Covered in corrosion from the PCB, gunk, etc.
I have an ultrasonic cleaner that I picked up from Amazon, and I'd like to clean the switches properly. However, I really don't want to spend a bunch of time cleaning each one for x minutes, one at a time (especially not for 100 of them!).
My question is: Should I keep the parts of a switch together when doing this, cleaning one at a time, or should I just do like 3 runs (one for all of the stems, tops, and bottoms)?
Re: Vintage Blacks cleaning, matching parts
Posted: 02 Dec 2021, 10:44
by Bjerrk
No particular reason to keep them together. Good luck with the sonic'ing - the quality of ultrasound cleaners seems highly variable!
Re: Vintage Blacks cleaning, matching parts
Posted: 02 Dec 2021, 19:45
by drevyek
Bjerrk wrote: 02 Dec 2021, 10:44
No particular reason to keep them together. Good luck with the sonic'ing - the quality of ultrasound cleaners seems highly variable!
Yeah, I'm not entirely sure how good this one is. I'm getting some scale off, but I may need to run it for longer on the particularly grimy ones. I'm currently going for 10 minutes per run.
And good to know, thanks! I'll just dump them all in. Makes it a lot easier to have a bag for each.
Re: Vintage Blacks cleaning, matching parts
Posted: 15 Dec 2021, 20:07
by Lynx_Carpathica
By keeping the parts together, you can elliminate the need for annoying mods like that damn annoying paper mod.
Re: Vintage Blacks cleaning, matching parts
Posted: 16 Dec 2021, 13:06
by gianni
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Re: Vintage Blacks cleaning, matching parts
Posted: 19 Dec 2021, 00:49
by Easy_Spinach
drevyek wrote: 02 Dec 2021, 04:30
I have a pile of vintage blacks that I pulled out of a Wyse PCE (for restoration!), and they're filthy. Covered in corrosion from the PCB, gunk, etc.
I have an ultrasonic cleaner that I picked up from Amazon, and I'd like to clean the switches properly. However, I really don't want to spend a bunch of time cleaning each one for x minutes, one at a time (especially not for 100 of them!).
My question is: Should I keep the parts of a switch together when doing this, cleaning one at a time, or should I just do like 3 runs (one for all of the stems, tops, and bottoms)?
my method:
1. disassemble all switches (must)
2. soak/shake in soapy water
3. rinse it all under tap water for a good amount of time. I use a shower head.
4. soak / shake them in ethanol or isopropanol (optional)
4. put them in ultra sonic cleaner (use distilled water) or just rinse them twice with distilled water
5. let them dry
Re: Vintage Blacks cleaning, matching parts
Posted: 19 Dec 2021, 06:40
by gianni
Easy_Spinach wrote: 19 Dec 2021, 00:49
drevyek wrote: 02 Dec 2021, 04:30
I have a pile of vintage blacks that I pulled out of a Wyse PCE (for restoration!), and they're filthy. Covered in corrosion from the PCB, gunk, etc.
I have an ultrasonic cleaner that I picked up from Amazon, and I'd like to clean the switches properly. However, I really don't want to spend a bunch of time cleaning each one for x minutes, one at a time (especially not for 100 of them!).
My question is: Should I keep the parts of a switch together when doing this, cleaning one at a time, or should I just do like 3 runs (one for all of the stems, tops, and bottoms)?
my method:
1. disassemble all switches (must)
2. soak/shake in soapy water
3. rinse it all under tap water for a good amount of time. I use a shower head.
4. soak / shake them in ethanol or isopropanol (optional)
4. put them in ultra sonic cleaner (use distilled water) or just rinse them twice with distilled water
5. let them dry
I'd use ipropropanol last, why is the last step water?
Re: Vintage Blacks cleaning, matching parts
Posted: 08 Jan 2022, 15:16
by Easy_Spinach
gianni wrote: 19 Dec 2021, 06:40
Easy_Spinach wrote: 19 Dec 2021, 00:49
drevyek wrote: 02 Dec 2021, 04:30
I have a pile of vintage blacks that I pulled out of a Wyse PCE (for restoration!), and they're filthy. Covered in corrosion from the PCB, gunk, etc.
I have an ultrasonic cleaner that I picked up from Amazon, and I'd like to clean the switches properly. However, I really don't want to spend a bunch of time cleaning each one for x minutes, one at a time (especially not for 100 of them!).
My question is: Should I keep the parts of a switch together when doing this, cleaning one at a time, or should I just do like 3 runs (one for all of the stems, tops, and bottoms)?
my method:
1. disassemble all switches (must)
2. soak/shake in soapy water
3. rinse it all under tap water for a good amount of time. I use a shower head.
4. soak / shake them in ethanol or isopropanol (optional)
4. put them in ultra sonic cleaner (use distilled water) or just rinse them twice with distilled water
5. let them dry
I'd use ipropropanol last, why is the last step water?
Was my initial idea too, but I noticed that it leaves a whiteish residue on the switches. I believe that the alcohol dissolves some of the flux in the solder. Could be other reasons, but thats why the last step is distilled water.