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#1
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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is there a way to rebuild volume control pots?
Hi,
I am a proud owner of the Akai GX-635. The unit works fine with the exception of the recording level and output level pots. They are very temperamental. I tried cleaning them with the contact cleaner (without disassembling them) with no good results. I would love to replace them, but having very hard time finding the new parts. Was wondering if someone could recommend a source for the replacement parts or recommend a method for rebuilding them. Thank you. Alex |
#2
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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is there a way to rebuild volume control pots?
In article , powesmith wrote:
Hi, I am a proud owner of the Akai GX-635. The unit works fine with the exception of the recording level and output level pots. They are very temperamental. I tried cleaning them with the contact cleaner (without disassembling them) with no good results. I would love to replace them, but having very hard time finding the new parts. Was wondering if someone could recommend a source for the replacement parts or recommend a method for rebuilding them. Thank you. Alex Sometimes it just impossible to rebuild. Before you take them apart, did you use a good cleaner like alcohol, then lub with Caig Faderlube ? greg |
#3
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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is there a way to rebuild volume control pots?
Greg,
Thanks for the reply. Do I have to take them apart to clean? So far all I just sprayed the contact cleaner down the shaft. |
#4
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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is there a way to rebuild volume control pots?
In article , powesmith wrote:
Greg, Thanks for the reply. Do I have to take them apart to clean? So far all I just sprayed the contact cleaner down the shaft. You have to get it from the back. Sometimes it helps from the front, but then it may also messes with the shaft lube. Most pots have holes in them. Sometimes I have to pry them apart or drill holes to get in there. greg |
#5
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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is there a way to rebuild volume control pots?
On Aug 8, 12:28*pm, (GregS) wrote:
In article , powesmith wrote: Greg, Thanks for the reply. Do I have to take them apart to clean? So far all I just sprayed the contact cleaner down the shaft. You have to get it from the back. Sometimes it helps from the front, but then it may also messes with the shaft lube. Most pots have holes in them.. Sometimes I have to pry them apart or drill holes to get in there. greg thank you |
#6
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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is there a way to rebuild volume control pots?
powesmith wrote: Greg, Thanks for the reply. Do I have to take them apart to clean? The only way. It does sometimes work. It also requires infinite care. Rememeber to re-lube with a suitable grease, at the least silicone grease, but sparingly. However if the track itself is badly worn, you're chasing shadows. See if you find something that'll fit in its place. Graham |
#7
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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is there a way to rebuild volume control pots?
powesmith wrote: Greg, Thanks for the reply. Do I have to take them apart to clean? So far all I just sprayed the contact cleaner down the shaft. Which brings dirt and dust INTO the mechanism. Graham |
#8
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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is there a way to rebuild volume control pots?
On Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:58:03 +0100, Eeyore wrote:
powesmith wrote: Greg, Thanks for the reply. Do I have to take them apart to clean? The only way. It does sometimes work. It also requires infinite care. Rememeber to re-lube with a suitable grease, at the least silicone grease, but sparingly. However if the track itself is badly worn, you're chasing shadows. See if you find something that'll fit in its place. Graham Agreed, but with reservations about the silicone grease (which can "creep" over adjacent surfaces); the appropriate "Electrolube" or similar product should be fine. Once you've sprayed down the shaft, you MUST take it apart, if only to remove the shaft grease you put on the pot track. As Graham said, the track might be too worn; but even then, it may still be possible to bend the wipers slightly to run on a different part of the element. I wish I'd spent more time with my GX635D back in the day. I even had a custom interface box that gave made it more like a 4 track that a "surround stereo" thingy. But by the time I started getting into audio production digital was on the horizon, and I sold the GX for almost nothing. Now it's just a memory, along with my old Hofner violin bass, 3/4 Rickenbacker, Gibson 335, ... sigh |
#9
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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is there a way to rebuild volume control pots?
In article
, powesmith wrote: Hi, I am a proud owner of the Akai GX-635. The unit works fine with the exception of the recording level and output level pots. They are very temperamental. I tried cleaning them with the contact cleaner (without disassembling them) with no good results. I would love to replace them, but having very hard time finding the new parts. Was wondering if someone could recommend a source for the replacement parts or recommend a method for rebuilding them. Thank you. Leaky capacitors can make for noisy pots, when it really isn't the fault of the pot at all. Isaac |
#10
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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is there a way to rebuild volume control pots?
On Fri, 8 Aug 2008 05:32:31 -0700 (PDT), powesmith
wrote: I am a proud owner of the Akai GX-635. The unit works fine with the exception of the recording level and output level pots. They are very temperamental. I tried cleaning them with the contact cleaner (without disassembling them) with no good results. I would love to replace them, but having very hard time finding the new parts. Was wondering if someone could recommend a source for the replacement parts or recommend a method for rebuilding them. Thank you. Several good responses already, but just to be fersure-fersure, are you familiar with the standard-good-ole-fashioned-reg'lar- rabbit ways of cleaning controls? Not wishing to offend, but it's a topic that many, many folks under the age of maybe 40 have mercifully been spared the sausage-making details. If so, lucky you, but do post back if said gruesome details aren't obvious (as gruesome details tend so oft' to be). WRT rebuilding controls: ain't gonna happen. Parts and labor total up to about a gazillion times as much as a replacement part, and... There aren't any replacement parts. Grieving time is now over. And we move on. Bup-bup-bup. Controls and switches are *cleaned*, a process that includes lubrication. My recommendation is something in the Caig MCL family. The names have changed over the years, but their products have consistently performed miracles. But independent of era and brand, *any* contact cleaner must, by definition, clean the actual wiping contacts. So must be physically, up-front-and-personally, in-yer-face squirted onto the actual contact surfaces. If you can't figure how to arrange this, you'll need to hire somebody to do the gig. Probably not impossible, because folks do this every day of the world. But I suspect that you can dig deep enough to see the back sides of these controls, especially on such an old-timer as an Akai, and you'll see the classic holes in all classic controls that folks have used, time immemoriable, for the purpose. One opens up the chassis of one's beloved, applies lubrication, and, well, you'll just have to extemporize from there. Lubricate, manipulate to both extremes, repeat a few times, hope for the best. If you're really in love it'll show; if not, nothing will save your sorry ass - go forth and do something else. But I digress (sorry; I felt anything less would be disrespectful). Metal-to-metal and metal-to-carbon-track contacts living in room air are a stone bitch. Periodic refresh is as important as software refresh in current terms - complex things degrade, yada, yada. We neglect entropy at our peril, but this is a much more trivial case. If posted and referenced responses don't help, post back. This is a kinda thing that's completely obvious once you're seen it, but pretty obscure until then. Like a whole lot of the real world. In this case, we squirt some fluid, wiggle around, and declare victory. What straight male can claim to be ignorant of the process? Arf. All the best fortune, Chis Hornbeck All the best fortune, Chris Hornbeck |
#11
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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is there a way to rebuild volume control pots?
"Chris Hornbeck" wrote in message ... On Fri, 8 Aug 2008 05:32:31 -0700 (PDT), powesmith wrote: [snippage] There aren't any replacement parts. Grieving time is now over. And we move on. Bup-bup-bup. Controls and switches are *cleaned*, a process that includes lubrication. My recommendation is something in the Caig MCL family. The names have changed over the years, but their products have consistently performed miracles. Yep, the Caig products are excellent. I used them to get wafer switches working again. It didn't last forever in the 1960s era broadcast mixing console that I was charged with maintaining, but every few months the DJs would say a switch was cutting out. One squirt with Caig Cramolin (as they used to call it), and some switch aerobics, and it would be good to go. I couldn't replace the switches; they were out of print. I had to fix them. Cramolin was also good for making the old 600-ohm stepped attenuators stop "zippering" when you rotated them. [snippage] |
#12
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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is there a way to rebuild volume control pots?
Tony wrote: Eeyore wrote: powesmith wrote: Greg, Thanks for the reply. Do I have to take them apart to clean? The only way. It does sometimes work. It also requires infinite care. Rememeber to re-lube with a suitable grease, at the least silicone grease, but sparingly. However if the track itself is badly worn, you're chasing shadows. See if you find something that'll fit in its place. Agreed, but with reservations about the silicone grease (which can "creep" over adjacent surfaces); the appropriate "Electrolube" or similar product should be fine. Which product would that be. Wipers are always lightly greased IME. Once you've sprayed down the shaft, you MUST take it apart, if only to remove the shaft grease you put on the pot track Exactly. So dismantling *carefully* makes as much sense. . As Graham said, the track might be too worn; but even then, it may still be possible to bend the wipers slightly to run on a different part of the element. Possible sure. But we're almost into watchmaker territory here ! In short, it's often do-able, provided the pot will dismantle easily. I have done it myself so I can attest to its effectiveness. More modern miniature pots, forget it. Graham |
#13
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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is there a way to rebuild volume control pots?
isw wrote: powesmith wrote: I am a proud owner of the Akai GX-635. The unit works fine with the exception of the recording level and output level pots. They are very temperamental. I tried cleaning them with the contact cleaner (without disassembling them) with no good results. I would love to replace them, but having very hard time finding the new parts. Was wondering if someone could recommend a source for the replacement parts or recommend a method for rebuilding them. Thank you. Leaky capacitors can make for noisy pots, when it really isn't the fault of the pot at all. Also true. Very likely after a period of storage with no use. Graham |
#14
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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is there a way to rebuild volume control pots?
On Sat, 09 Aug 2008 09:12:41 +0100, Eeyore wrote:
Tony wrote: Eeyore wrote: powesmith wrote: Greg, Thanks for the reply. Do I have to take them apart to clean? The only way. It does sometimes work. It also requires infinite care. Rememeber to re-lube with a suitable grease, at the least silicone grease, but sparingly. However if the track itself is badly worn, you're chasing shadows. See if you find something that'll fit in its place. Agreed, but with reservations about the silicone grease (which can "creep" over adjacent surfaces); the appropriate "Electrolube" or similar product should be fine. Which product would that be. Wipers are always lightly greased IME. Sorry - none of that around any more for me to check. Once you've sprayed down the shaft, you MUST take it apart, if only to remove the shaft grease you put on the pot track Exactly. So dismantling *carefully* makes as much sense. More in fact. I was really just (unsuccessfully) implying it's NOT a good idea to spray down the shaft. . As Graham said, the track might be too worn; but even then, it may still be possible to bend the wipers slightly to run on a different part of the element. Possible sure. But we're almost into watchmaker territory here ! I'm pretty klutzy, but I've done this a few times successfully. It is partly due to these successes that one of my current projects is modifying an old Roland DG pen plotter to use a laser diode to cut arbitrary tapers, discontinuities and detents into regular pots for special custom guitar control applications. Tony |
#15
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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is there a way to rebuild volume control pots?
Caig MCL took care of all but one pot. I suppose I have to do some
more spraying. I did find openings in the back so I am good to go.Thanks everyone for replies. Alex |
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