Yo! Scott:
Wednesday February 05 1997 05:53, Scott Christensen wrote to Bill Cheek:
 BC>> Squirt a shot of TV tuner cleaner into the openings of those
 BC>> controls and rotate them a few times. Then squirt a shot of WD-40
 BC>> into each.
 SC> The TV tuner cleaner should include a silicone based lubricant.
It can......yes.  But then you also need a second can of residueless solvent 
spray....both of which are in the $5-$10 range.  Silicone is as limited as 
WD-40 in terms of where it can be applied.
 SC> I wouldn't use WD-40 on anything like that.  It oxidizes, turns brown
 SC> and very thick after a period of time.  The silicone based lubricant
 SC> is much more stable - that's why it's in there.
The WD-40 issue created a massive war on this echo a couple years ago.  I do 
not wish for it to be repeated, and I *will* decisively terminate any 
appearance of a repeat.  On the other hand, there is no call to perpetrate 
old wives' tales relative to this or ANY subject.  If you prefer not to use 
WD-40, whatever you believe, that's fine.  There certainly are acceptable 
substitutes, and you named one, albeit incomplete.
My 30+ years use of WD-40 is factually contrary to what you think or have 
been told.  WD-40 is fine for carbon and wire-wound potentiometers and 
mechanical contacts.  I wouldn't spray circuit boards with it nor trimmer 
capacitors, etc. In radios, I limit use of WD-40 to pots, bearings, and 
screws or other mechanical-to-mechanical moving contacts.
I prefer to advise hobbyists on the use of residueless TV-tuner spray and a 
quick followup spurt of WD-40 in potentiometers simply because it the two in 
tandem are effective and likely to be available *or* remembered.  While the 
residueless tuner spray is expensive ($5-$10), the WD-40 is cheap and 
plentifyl.  AND....to boot, a residueless solvent is good for a wide variety 
of cleaning needs, whereas your silicone bearing sprays are as limited as 
WD-40 in the sense that you cannot spray them on circuit boards, tuner coils 
and capacitors, etc.  A residueless solvent can be sprayed on most anything 
other than external plastics.
These are the why's; wherefores....... and limitations/exceptions.  Now 
please, let us not steer this into argumentation.  Been there; done that; and 
it ain't gonna happen again.
Bill Cheek
MODERATOR - ScanRadio
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