[sdiy] Slide pot cleaning

[Mike Bryant]

Felt makes a good shield for faders.

But unfortunately unless they are the really expensive P&G or similar ones, taking them apart will most probably actually make things worse.  We did use to have a spray for cleaning sliders but I think it got banned around 2005

Best bet is to buy new ones of the same size.
________________________________
From: Synth-diy <synth-diy-bounces at synth-diy.org> on behalf of rburnett at richieburnett.co.uk <rburnett at richieburnett.co.uk>
Sent: 28 April 2026 12:53
To: Synth Diy <synth-diy at synth-diy.org>
Subject: [sdiy] Slide pot cleaning

Can anyone recommend a good process for cleaning dust our of slide
potentiometers on an old Roland SH-09?

The synth was stored underneath a bed in the spare room when we moved
house about ten years ago, and I *thought* it had a dust cover over it!
It turns out it didn't (>.<)  and the slide pots are in quite bad shape
now.

The synth is functional but the sliders feel scratchy and there is
obviously intermittent electrical contact because cutoff, LFO rate, etc
jump around a lot when the sliders are adjusted.  The slide switches are
okay, and the keys aren't too bad after a bit of use.

I've removed the front panel and also found that there is some sort of
black felt/foam sheet that was obviously originally meant to be a dust
shield for the slide pots.  The problem is that this material has become
brittle and literally crumbles upon touching.  Can anyone recommend a
good material to replace this with?

If I can fix the pots with a squirt of some magic spray that would be
fantastic, but I'm also prepared to de-solder then and carefully open
them up for cleaning if that is what is required.  I would rather take
time to do the job properly, but not sure what is the best way to
proceed?  I have access to a dry compressed-air line, dish soap, cotton
buds, Isopropyl alcohol, acetone, silicone grease,
soldering/de-soldering tools, etc, but don't want to risk making the
problem worse without asking for advice first.

Thanks in advance for any advice,

-Richie,
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