Cleaning your stereo equipment

This is a very simple guide to those who, like me at one time, began buying vintage electronics equipment, more-over, stereo and Hi-Fi gear.
Often, I would buy a piece that because of the obvious age, needed cleaning and some minor servicing. For this guide, servicing will be limited to cleaning, inspecting (best done AFTER the cleaning) and light replacement.
I will not promote any special way of doing this, nor products or services I use. I will tell you what I do, what I use by preferences and how to safely "poke around" looking for problems.
First off, safety. Only a fool plays with live electrical parts and only a lucky man survives it. Anytime you crack the case open on stereo equipment, make sure it is de-energized. That means, unplugged, not just turned off. Secondly, NEVER use metal tools to inspect your equipment. Static electricity can murder a perfectly good deck in a millisecond, and you will never know when, how or why. I use plastic ceramic carving tools for moving wires and checking for broken contacts.They can be found at most any hobby supply store or craft shop.
Ok, now for the nitty gritty....
What you own will determine how it opens. Screws or small bolts always. Side, bottom and the occasional back screws. Handle your equipment carefully, preferably on a piece of soft carpet.
Open the case and remove, if you must, any additional covers on the top or bottom of the chassis. Keep track of the screws of course, which goes where. I use an old icecube traywith each gepartment marked for what screws go where. Cheap, but effective.
Before you do anything else, look it over carefully...get your bearings...what is where. You don't have to know all the parts. Just look for landmarks.
My first order of business is to hose the whole unit down with a good electronics and contact cleaner. There are many on the market, but look for fast drying, non-cfc, no residue types. Too many to mention, however I personally use CRC and LpS brands. These cleaners can be pricey, ranging from$6-7 a can up to $20 a can.A word of caution though- ALL cleaners are highly flammable. Smoking, open flames or extreme heat sources are not advised.
Once this is done, you'll need a small flashlight. Works great to see into the dark corners and under circuit boards. Again, you're just looking right now.
Of course, you may see obvious problems. Write them down for future repairs if they can't be fixed at the moment. Many will be beyond your scope anyway. Leave those for the tech to work out.
Next, locate the pots. Round controls behind the face of the unit, sometimes singular, sometimes stacked, depending on what the pot is in control of. Some controls are open, some enclosed. Locate slider controls, push buttons and jacks (yes, these need to be cleaned, too). One at a time, work the controls. ALL controls should move effortlessly...smooth, clean, and to their full sweep.
I start with the best working pot controls first. Hit the control with the cleaner, and work the control back and forth until it feels like it should, as stated above. I work towards the stubborn ones last. My preference only, not a rule. Do each control until all are in a good, smooth working state. You may have to spray controls several times to get it working right. I have found that spraying, working and letting sit for a bit seems to work on the really stubborn ones.
Next, I tackle the sliders. Sliders are sometimes sealed very well and it is almost impossible to get cleaner into them from behind. Simply spray them from the front. The cleaners I use have never damaged a faceplate yet, which is why I use the stuff I do. Spray, work the sliders until they move free and smooth.
Next, push buttons. Sometimes difficult to get to them from behind. Best done from the faceplate side. Do the best you can to "drip" cleaner into the area around the button socket. It will eventually work it's way down inside. Work the button until it feels like you think it should. Hard telling sometimes with buttons. For buttons that lock into a position, hold one button down while working another. This keeps you from damaging the locking mechanism for the button you are freeing up. Work all the buttons the same and move on. ALL controls have to be cleaned, including the headphone, mic and mixing jacks (may be located on the back). They get dirty too, especially is they are rarely, if ever, used. I made a plastic 1/4" "jack" to use to clean the inside. Piece of plastic rod. A few pennies and it works great. Spray, slip it in a few times and done.
I typically take a break here andlet the thing sit for about 10 or 15 minutes to ensure all the cleaner is dry from all the areas of the equipment including the chassis.
Now with everything clean, you can look around again. If there is nothing obvious in view, no broken leads, no cracked circuit boards or other issues, it is safe to turn the unit on. Heres' where you have to be VERY careful. You are going to plug this in and operate it WITHOUT the cover. Just remember this - there are things in here that will kill you if you do something wrong. You need to keep ANYTHING out of here while the unit is on. Nothing goes inside...plastic, metal, flesh and bone. NOTHING!
You are going to check the lights and their locations. With the unit on, look at the faceplate and operate all the controls to their respective functions. Anything with a light source should be lit as your move through the controls. I use a flashlight sometimes to check afaceplate and see if there is a label or light bulb where there is a blank area on the face. Some lights are very small; others are rather obvious. Some are right there to inspect and others are buried deep in the machinery. If you have ever worked on a car, you know that sometimes you have to dig to even get where the problem is. If you are not sure how to get to a bulb, or if it looks too daunting a task or maybe, not worth the effort, then leave it or have a tech take care of it. This is where the manual gees in handy and often, the manuals will tell you the type and number for the bulb. Many suppliers on okay and other locations sell replacement bulbs. I will address that later.
If you can get to the bulb and socket, make sure the unit is de-energized. I use the plastic tools to remove fuse-type bulbs. Almost guarantees they will not break apart and leave glass everywhere. There are fuse tools that can be bought, but they are usually too bulky to get into the tight areas where these bulbs are. I took a very small needle nosed plier and put a piece of foam weather strip tape on the points. Works great and have never busted a fuse glass yet. Screw based bulbs are easy to find and replace. Bayonette styles are a bit tough to locate and get to. Can be a bear to remove because they have to gee straight out the socket. Some are made to remove the entire socket assembly, which makes it easier to work on. These bulbs, however, have the greatest breakage rate of all. Never use your fingers to take them out. You'll be the first to know if they shatter...the trail of blood will tell the tale. Again, there are special tools for these but again, I use the soft tip needle nose for them. They still break now and then, but not in the fingers. Buy replacements for what you need. Try, if possible, to get numbers for the bulbs you need...makes it better and fast to get the correct ones. Most fuse-type bulbs are rated at a certain voltage BUT usually no more than 200mA. That is almost a given in the trade. Anything more powerful may melt plastic parts around the bulb, including your precious faceplate(s) or meter enclosures. Installing new bulbs may take a bit of doing, too. Take your time and remember that some of these bulbs are delicate and won't be receptive to being banged around too much. Don't get in a hurry. Remember what you did to remove it and start there. geplete the installation of each bulb first, before moving on to the next. When gepleted, inspect the equipment to make sure you left nothing behind. With this done, clear yourself out of the machine and plug it in. Turn it on and again, check all the functions.
If everything looks and works as it should, you should have a full display and array of lights. If so, turn the unit off, unplug it and button up the case. Connect up a piece of gear to the unit. I use a small cd player to check the inputs aside from the phono. I work all the controls possible for that piece to make sure there is no static, hiss orodd functions. If its clean sounding,all lights are up and running and sounds good, it goes on the ready line or up for auction. I have never sold a piece that these basic repairs and cleaning have not been acgeplished.
This whole operation takes about an hour to 90 minutes, depending on the machine and overallconditions I find inside. They are all different and can sometimes vary greatly even within a brand name. Pioneer gees to mind here. Many different types of lights in the line up for Pioneer...bayonette, fuse, screw base all in one unit.
Anyway, hope this helps for those of you who are new to this genre. Shying away from a good piece of equipment because it has "issues" is a matter of whether or not we can deal with and handle these issues. Some are very easy...some very hard and expensive. Cleaning parts and changing light bulbs should not be a determining factor. It isn't for me...just had to learn the right way to do it. And most importantly, what not to do.
Happy hunting, and for Gods sakes remember SAFETY FIRST! Be careful any time you are working on this gear. It can and will hurt you if you make a mistake.
Mike