Noob Question: Best way to clean A1200 Gold contacts?

[CheatinnDeath]

Hi all
I've had some issues with an accelerator card in the past, what's the best way to clean the gold contacts on a A1200?

Cheers

 

[SJBUK]

Depends how dirty. I generally find a careful wipe with cotton buds soaked in a little Isopropyl Alcohol works well, and then a quick rub with a lint free cloth. Make sure your'e grounded though to avoid static damage. Use a wrist strap or at least make sure you touch earthed metalwork first. Some people use rubbers (pencil erasers!) as well but I've never found the need.

 

[-Acid-]

I use very fine steel wool to clean contacts on everything

 

[BLTCON0]

I use very fine steel wool to clean contacts on everything

How safe is that for gold-plated contacts? It may be very fine but it's still abrasive. I'd think it's ok for polishing single-material (i.e. non-plated) surfaces where losing a few um of material thickness is affordable, but gold-plated contacts will lose their gold plating eventually, it's not like it's particularly thick (something in the order of 10-30 um IIRC).
I personally prefer the white eraser rubbing + IPA cleanup afterwards. Never seen contacts so much infested with dirt, gunk etc to warrant more aggressive methods.

 

[fitzsteve]

Pencil eraser or IPA

 

[Aeberbach]

A middle step is guitar fret erasers. These are basically a pencil eraser that has an abrasive mixed in with the rubber. If you have a really, really filthy set of contacts you might use something more than the very mildest one available, but usually you only need a very light touch with the finest abrasive, the one a luthier would use for the final polish. They are made for shining bronze or stainless steel fretwire on a guitar neck so obviously they will take the gold right off if you are heavy handed, but with the right touch they are a good tool.

 

[CheatinnDeath]

@everyone

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[RuneRider]

If you're looking for a product to use, I'd say Deoxit Gold is the best you can get. A little goes a long way. The regular D5 version is amazing stuff and has made a machine I'd believed dead come back to life after using it on all sockets and contacts.