Last night i got totally sick of the fluffy fuzzy sound every time i turned the volume knob on my amp, and one of the source selector switches. So i took the amp apart, sprayed some WD40 on the pot and the switch and played with them for a while. Put it all back together and alas the sound has gone, but now it smells a bit wierd. I've warmed it up and it kinda smells like circuit boards and a little of WD40 and i'm trying to decide whether it's just the smell of warm WD40 or whether WD40 is conductive and in-fact i'm waiting for a small house fire . Head me up1!.
You probably went mad with the WD40, and the heat is making it evaporate. I certainly wouldn't worry.
i'm quite sure that WD40 is not electrically conductive. it is on the other hand, exceptionally flammable.
Yeah it's not conductive, that's why you have killed the volume. Don't worry, it is volatile and will evaporate off in no time. It also burns very very well
Set fire to my motorbike with it once , sprayed it on the HT leads to stop them arcing , it evapourated with the heat , then it burst into flames . Had a nice little fire going under the petrol tank
I don't think WD40 is much more than a light oil. Get down to ****** and buy some contact cleaner. /edit - forgot about the competitor bit.. go somewhere that sells electronic components or a trade electrical/lighting shop might stock it too.
Exactly. You've just sprayed oil all over the contacts. Good job! Switch cleaner, contact cleaner, IPA is what you want. Not a water displacement light oil. K.
Ahh, might be a bit of a problem there, i sprayed a decent amount inside the sealed switch housings etc. Hmm, so as long as i keep a good eye on it for a few days it should evaporate nicely?. Or do i need to get the soldering iron out? .
I thought that's why a lot of people didn't like WD40, because it's a dry lubricant - it achieves this by evaporating, I thought.
That's quite possible. It does leave a nasty gunge though. I've seen locks sprayed with wd40 *cringe* K.
WD40 will evaporate out in no time at all. It's a penetrating oil, not specifically a lubricant. It has better solvent properties for dissolving crap and old baked on grease then actually lubing by itself.
WD40 isn't an oil, it's a degreaser. It isn't really intended for the cleaning of electrical components and contacts though. You can get dedicated cleaners for that.
Yup, I was recommended to use WD40 on my Wah Pedal's potentiometer (the thing that makes a guitar go wah), by the manufacturer, who aren't Boss or some retards, but a proper custom company who know's what they're doing. This was when it started scratching, so WD40 = fine for that.
This is what we use at work to lubricate aircaft switches it isnt expensive and works very well. It should also clean of any residue that the wd40 has left in there.
^^^ That's exactly the stuff I've used on an amp with a noisy pot (got it from a popualar electonics chain).
