Fairlight-CMI

Has found a good method for really cleaning the contact springs on the music
keyboard?

I've got a few dodgy notes on the keyboard, so I finally got around to
opening it up to clean the contacts.  All of the contacts are completely
black.  I'm not sure if this is some kind of tarnishing or if the gold
plating has come off or if it's some other kind of corrosion.  It's pretty
much the entire length of the spring - not just at the contact points.  The
only gold left on them is at the solder points.

I've tried alcohol and had no luck.  Should I try progold or something?

Or maybe the gold has corroded away over time or something?  It certainly
hasn't "worn off" as it's not just at the contact points.

Any thoughts?  I'd like to get this finished and off of my kitchen table...
;-)

Thanks,

Tim


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On Sat, 9 Sep 2006 14:36:54 -0500, you wrote:


Hi Tim,

I haven't tried it myself yet, but I will have to at some point, Peter
Wielk once recommended a pencil eraser to rub off the oxidation
(corrosion) of the contact points. 

Personally I do not think that cleaning anything else than the contact
points is necessary so save yourself some time there.

Good luck.
Harald.

>Has found a good method for really cleaning the contact springs on the music
>keyboard?
>
>I've got a few dodgy notes on the keyboard, so I finally got around to
>opening it up to clean the contacts.  All of the contacts are completely
>black.  I'm not sure if this is some kind of tarnishing or if the gold
>plating has come off or if it's some other kind of corrosion.  It's pretty
>much the entire length of the spring - not just at the contact points.  The
>only gold left on them is at the solder points.
>
>I've tried alcohol and had no luck.  Should I try progold or something?
>
>Or maybe the gold has corroded away over time or something?  It certainly
>hasn't "worn off" as it's not just at the contact points.
>
>Any thoughts?  I'd like to get this finished and off of my kitchen table...
>;-)
>
>Thanks,
>
>Tim

Hi Tim & Harold,

I agree on using the pencil eraser to clean the key contacts.
done it myself last year on my SIII keys.  Also note that the
key contact spring under each key can lose its pressure/tension
over time. So it may not be as likely to hit the gold plated contact
bar when you press a key. I've seen this before, and can be alleviated 
by some slight adjustment of the key mount, so it's more likely to hit
the contact bar.  You can carefully bend the metal mounting bar that
each key attaches to, just makes sure you have them all lined up and
uniform, so you don't have one key that sits higher or lower than
others.  So it's both a cleaning process and sometimes a subtle
mechanical adustment that's needed to make the key contacts hit
reliably.  The SIII keyboard mechanism is really shite by today's
standards, of course.

By the way, what's progold ?  have you used it ?

cheers
David


--- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, Harald Feldmann <feldmann@...>
wrote:
>
> On Sat, 9 Sep 2006 14:36:54 -0500, you wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi Tim,
> 
> I haven't tried it myself yet, but I will have to at some point, Peter
> Wielk once recommended a pencil eraser to rub off the oxidation
> (corrosion) of the contact points. 
> 
> Personally I do not think that cleaning anything else than the contact
> points is necessary so save yourself some time there.
> 
> Good luck.
> Harald.
> 
> 
> >Has found a good method for really cleaning the contact springs on
the music
> >keyboard?
> >
> >I've got a few dodgy notes on the keyboard, so I finally got around to
> >opening it up to clean the contacts.  All of the contacts are
completely
> >black.  I'm not sure if this is some kind of tarnishing or if the gold
> >plating has come off or if it's some other kind of corrosion.  It's
pretty
> >much the entire length of the spring - not just at the contact
points.  The
> >only gold left on them is at the solder points.
> >
> >I've tried alcohol and had no luck.  Should I try progold or something?
> >
> >Or maybe the gold has corroded away over time or something?  It
certainly
> >hasn't "worn off" as it's not just at the contact points.
> >
> >Any thoughts?  I'd like to get this finished and off of my kitchen
table...

> >;-)
> >
> >Thanks,
> >
> >Tim
>