[sdiy] Slide pot cleaning

[Michael E Caloroso]

Cleaning slidepots - unless they are expensive ones like P&G - is an
exercise in futility.  They are not long life products, usually the first
components to fail with age.  The resistive track tends to fail beyond
repair, spraying any cleaner inside make the problem worse (no cleaner
removes the abrasive foreign particles inside), the lubricant inside dries
up with age.  You have to disassemble them to remove the abrasive foreign
particles inside and relube them; this is labor intensive work and despite
gentle handling the slidepot case has broken one too many times.  I won't
buy "NOS" slidepots because of these risks, and they are probably close to
end of useful life anyway.  Besides the futility in cleaning them, finding
new replacements is near impossible because the lack of any industry
standard in PC board pinout footprint means that exact replacements are not
available, and even if found they can't be purchased in low quantities.

Makers tend to make subtle changes to the slidepot pinout footprints over
time as a function of planned obsolescence.  Alps is notorious for this.
Today they fit the circuit board, tomorrow they don't.

Dust is the enemy of slidepots.  Slidepot shields are not a 100%
protection.  When positioned with the opening upwards - think synths and
mixers - fine dust will settle inside wreaking havoc on them.  Rack mounted
EQs generally aren't as bad because the pots are positioned vertically -
passively falling dust may not get inside but air currents (IE HVAC) can
blow dust in them.

Slidepots have long been a problem with vintage ARPs.  There are now a
couple of suppliers selling new slidepot sets for ARPs using new Bourns
slidepots with an adapter board made to fit the ARP circuit boards.
This is the only repair work I will do on slidepots as long the customer
agrees to spend the $$ for these.

For these reasons, I have avoided buying any new gear that uses slidepots.
One of the rare exceptions is my new Intellijel Cascadia, and I bought the
optional clear plastic cover to shield the slidepots from dust.

MC

On Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 9:49 AM Ben Stuyts via Synth-diy <
synth-diy at synth-diy.org> wrote:

> Hi Richie,
>
> I’ve had the foam of destruction in my Moog Rogue. It also got extremely
> sticky on everything it fell onto. Is yours similar? I got rid of it with
> isopropyl alcohol and a brush. And then I replaced it with Nothing™, as it
> always sits under a dust cover.
>
> Some people just take out the board and rinse it off in a bath tub, then
> brush it with IPA and dry it. I’ve never dared to do that, and usually try
> the following:
>
> For resurrecting the faders without taking them apart, you could try
> Deoxit F5 and F100 faderlube spray cans. It is safe for carbon sliders.
> Start with F5 as is cleaner + lubricant. F100 has no solvent, so you can
> finish with that as a form of preservation. If the feel isn’t right after
> all this, you could experiment with something like Electrolube CG60 contact
> grease.
>
> If you do want to take the faders apart, the cleaning is basically the
> same, you just get better access.
>
> You mention silicone grease. Make sure it is acid-free before you get it
> near any electronics. Otherwise the fumes alone are enough to destroy
> certain components. (Ask me how I know.)
>
> Ben
>
>
> > On 28 Apr 2026, at 13:53, rburnett at richieburnett.co.uk wrote:
> >
> > 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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