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R/E/P => R/E/P Archives => Dan Lavry => Topic started by: Zephyr on October 01, 2006, 04:06:00 PM

Title: Cleaning an SSL console
Post by: Zephyr on October 01, 2006, 04:06:00 PM
I want to clean the SSL we have at work. The Tech guy wont let me get near it with anything wet (even a damp Q-tip), which makes truly removing the dust almost impossible.

Are there any fluids that are safe to clean a console with, or other alternatives?

Thanks

- Kelly
Title: Re: Cleaning an SSL console
Post by: Ronny on October 02, 2006, 02:12:25 AM


To remove most dust without moving the knobs, best way I have found for light to medium dust is a vacuum cleaner with a bristle brush. I also use a feather duster sometimes, not the kind with feathers but the synthetic bristle hair type, it also allows dusting channel strips without altering the knob settings. For tighter areas I use a keyboard cleaner, kind for a computer keyboard, it's also synthetic hair type, but smaller with finer hairs. For panels and display surfaces I often use Endust spray and than dust, that helps keep the dust from floating around and settling back down, but just spraying Endust on a clean rag and wiping around the knobs if you don't need to keep them set will do the job.  For pots, contacts and circuits, if you are in a country that hasn't banned Freon 22 based cleaners, they are some of the best, they evaporate oils and stuff in tight spots where you can't physically wipe and with great benefit of it being 100% non-conductive, you don't have to worry about shorts and can even clean circuits that you don't want to power off. It's an excellent inside the pot cleaner. It's banned in the USA without a special license due to the ozone layer threat and latest EPA regulations, for example air conditioner repair men for recharging ac's or auto-mechanics that are licensed to recharge auto ac's. I think most of the auto ac's are using a substitute now a days that doesn't have the PCB's, but the ac guys can still get the F22. You can also buy the spray cans in Mexico. I always pick up a few cans when I'm down there, but you aren't supposed to bring it into the US, so that's a call on your part.

You can use a "slightly" damp rag if you are careful, but I don't blame the tech for being paranoid. A damp rag is good for grime, smudge and fingerprints, but for dust it just globs it and makes it harder to vacuum or dust off. For channel marking adhesive tape residue, such as the off white masking tape that you mark instruments on each channel with, a compound called Oops works good on metal parts, but if you use it on plastic parts, be sure to test a small area first, it doesn't agree with cheaper type plastics. Oops is about the only thing that I've found that gets the hard core Chinese duct tape residue off of surfaces, such as cables that I have to tape down at a live remote. I use it to clean my mouse and surfaces on DAW's too. You can buy it at Wal-Mart type stores.
Title: Re: Cleaning an SSL console
Post by: CHANCE on October 04, 2006, 09:04:08 AM
Once you get the board clean, get a cheap ionic air purifier. I put a cheap ionic air cleaner ($79.00) after the fires here in So Cal a few years ago. Now there is hardly any dust on the board or anything in the CR. The CRT on the computer stays clean too. After marathon sessions, the studio no longer smells like a gym. I got another 2 of these, one for the tracking room and one for home
Title: Re: Cleaning an SSL console
Post by: Ronny on October 04, 2006, 09:21:23 AM


I'm glad to hear from someone that those ionizers really work. Thanks for the tip.

Title: Re: Cleaning an SSL console
Post by: CHANCE on October 04, 2006, 11:01:22 AM
Yeah, it blew me away because it makes no sound at all and it emits a clean scent. I normally clean the collector plates once a month. During the fires, I was cleaning the plates every day
Title: Re: Cleaning an SSL console
Post by: compasspnt on October 05, 2006, 06:02:43 PM

Hey Chance,

Which one did you get?
Title: Re: Cleaning an SSL console
Post by: Larrchild on October 10, 2006, 06:33:40 PM
I hope the ionizer doesn't emit ozone.
Cause that's bad for ya.
Title: Re: Cleaning an SSL console
Post by: dcollins on October 10, 2006, 08:15:26 PM
Larrchild wrote on Tue, 10 October 2006 15:33

I hope the ionizer doesn't emit ozone.
Cause that's bad for ya.


The commercials call it "activated oxygen" instead of smog......

DC
Title: Re: Cleaning an SSL console
Post by: Andy Peters on October 10, 2006, 08:36:30 PM
dcollins wrote on Tue, 10 October 2006 17:15

Larrchild wrote on Tue, 10 October 2006 15:33

I hope the ionizer doesn't emit ozone.
Cause that's bad for ya.


The commercials call it "activated oxygen" instead of smog......


Consumer Reports says it "doesn't operate as advertised."  A waste of money.

-a
Title: Re: Cleaning an SSL console
Post by: Etch-A-Sketch on October 13, 2006, 06:10:01 PM
And doesn't the Ozone breakdown rubber and PVC type plastics (I thought I remember hearing something about that)?

Not very good for cables if this is true, or tape machines for that matter!  Anyone know if this is true or not?

Title: Re: Cleaning an SSL console
Post by: rjd2 on October 19, 2006, 09:40:52 PM
an ME im working with right now told me that they periodically take all the channel strips out of the SSL, and dip them in some solution, one by one to clean them.
Title: Re: Cleaning an SSL console
Post by: Andy Peters on October 20, 2006, 03:52:35 AM
rjd2 wrote on Thu, 19 October 2006 18:40

an ME im working with right now told me that they periodically take all the channel strips out of the SSL, and dip them in some solution, one by one to clean them.


If the pots and switches and such are washable, then you can dip the whole circuit board in either distilled water or a detergent solution (followed by distilled-water rinse) to clean them.  That's what's done after the PCBs are stuffed; many board houses clean the assemblies in a detergent bath in an ultrasonic cleaner.

We use Luminox and Detergent 8 to clean PCAs.  Works well.

-a