Cleaning Pots

JezWynd

Is it possible to clean pots from the front / shaft or do I need to crack open the innards? As you can see they've glued the locking nuts down.

Electrical ignoramus here.
Thanks for any advice.

JezWynd

It's a Boss RRV-10 Digital Reverb and moving some pots results in wash of hiss that's slow to dissipate.

ICBM

You can't do it from the shaft side. You need to get at the other side of the pots and squirt the contact cleaner into the casing, either through the slot where the terminals are or the little notch, using the tube that comes with the contact cleaner can.

You shouldn't need to undo the nuts - you should be able to see the other side of the pots without taking that bracket off.

JezWynd

Thanks @ICBM. Unfortunately the back of the pots are inaccessible without unscrewing the pot locking nuts as per the photo. I'll strip it down and clean the pots via the notch/slot.

ICBM

Wait… if the terminals point towards the camera in the pic - which they should from the position of the anti-rotation lugs - you should actually be able to squirt it in through the small holes Roland have thoughtfully provided directly below the pots! Although it's on the wrong side of the pot boards really, if you turn the assembly so the pots are below the holes and squirt plenty in, it will run down into the pots.

Taking the nuts off isn't that much hassle though.

JezWynd

ICBM said:

Wait… if the terminals point towards the camera in the pic - which they should from the position of the anti-rotation lugs - you should actually be able to squirt it in through the small holes Roland have thoughtfully provided directly below the pots! Although it's on the wrong side of the board really, if you turn the assembly so the pots are below the holes and squirt plenty in, it will run down into the pots.

Taking the nuts off isn't that much hassle though.

That's great news. Removing the pot locking nuts still didn't release the board as they soldered three (earth?) wires to the case using really short leads. The only way to release it would be to desolder these leads so I'd given up on it (I have history with soldering irons, none of it good) but I'll give your suggestion a try. Thanks.

Sarge

I spray the pots on my laney amp from the front,  works fine on that. 
I guess it depends on the pot but if it moves there has to be a gap and contact cleaner has a way of getting to where you want it (and don't want it, much to my dismay) 

JezWynd

ICBM said:

Wait… if the terminals point towards the camera in the pic - which they should from the position of the anti-rotation lugs - you should actually be able to squirt it in through the small holes Roland have thoughtfully provided directly below the pots! Although it's on the wrong side of the pot boards really, if you turn the assembly so the pots are below the holes and squirt plenty in, it will run down into the pots.

Worked a treat, all pots are very quiet now.

ICBM

Excellent! It's always good when a bit of inspired bodging works well .

Roland

ICBM said:

Excellent! It's always good when a bit of inspired bodging works well .

"Inspired bogging" = "years of experience"