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[TowerTalk] Cleaning connectors

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Cleaning connectors
From: W8JI@contesting.com (Tom Rauch)
Date: Wed, 2 May 2001 07:29:56 -0400
> install it. You might want to touch up the center conductor with a
> little abrasive but that's about it. 

People ruin a lot of electrical contacts that way, including plugs 
and relays.

Never use abrasives on plated parts,ever. It is a prime directive.

Center pins on quality connectors are usually silver plated, leave 
them alone. Silver oxide looks ugly but is a good conductor. That's 
the main reason silver is used in the first place.

If you are hell-bent on cleaning a contact or connector, use an ink 
eraser and dip it in a solvent like toluene. It'll rub the oxide off 
without taking off too much material. If it's a flat contact like a 
relay, use a piece of clean thick paper like a matchbook cover 
soaked in a solvent as a "file" and then blow all the fibers off.

The flashing or plating is usually measured in ten-thousandths of 
an inch or less. Once it is gone, you will have problems.

 





  

73, Tom W8JI
W8JI@contesting.com 

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