[sdiy] Slide pot cleaning

[Mike Bryant]

Perhaps I'm missing something on the 'restoring old synths' vibe, but surely replacing old dead pots with new ones isn't unauthentic ?   People happily replace capacitors that still have decades of life in them.

Unlike in the 70s, sliders are available in far more sizes and values now so there's bound to be one suitable.  The pins will be in different positions but a little pin-drilling into the PCB, hot melt the slider to the PCB, add some solder links and possibly reroute a few tracks that are in the way and the synth will feel better than new.
________________________________
From: Synth-diy <synth-diy-bounces at synth-diy.org> on behalf of Mike Beauchamp <list at mikebeauchamp.com>
Sent: 29 April 2026 23:18
To: synth-diy at synth-diy.org <synth-diy at synth-diy.org>
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Slide pot cleaning

I want to suggest desoldering them, disassembling, cleaning and
re-lubricating them. But even with my hakko desoldering iron, I've
occasionally lifted pads off circuit boards while doing this. Single
sided boards are especially easily to mess up, because they don't have
plated thru-holes holding things together.

If you've done it before, and know how to rework a board if a pad lifts,
go for it. You could also see if replacement pots are available through
mouser that have the same footprint dimensions and lever dimensions
(check the datasheets). Some slide pots are also available with an
integrated dust cover in case the synth ends up under another bed for 10
years.

Easiest thing is to just use Deoxit Fader F5, spray and move the slider
around a bunch of times.

Mike









On 2026-04-28 07:53, 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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