My go to for this for decades was Radio Shack TV tuner cleaner and lubricant. My can of that ran out years ago. This is not audio equipment. It's the motor speed control on an old Oster Kitchen Center. The motor brushes/commutator are in great shape. Everything else is built like a tank.

Could it be as simple as liquid silicone or dielectric grease?

I'm pretty fond of Deoxit but wow, it's gone up in price.

I have also used the MG Chem product here

ETA: Oh, wait, you said Lube. My bad.

I don't usually do Lube on Pots. I have a very smart friend who uses just a small touch of WD40 for that, but I've never done that.

ETA2: The MG Chem product lubes, so that may be just what you are looking for. I've used this product and had no issues.

No lube, clean it an make sure the wipe has tension against the carbon disk. These things are dead when the latter becomes impossible due to wear.

clean it with alcohol and spray it with contact cleaner.

Seems like what you want would be something that is not insulating, but not too conductive. You might want to consider something like a graphite powder, like the stuff used for lubricating locks. Unless you are only lubing things that aren't supposed to pass current, then I'd be thinking something like silicone spray, applied very sparingly with a toothpick.

I just bought a new can of Deoxit D5, been using it for years, good stuff, but I wonder if the Deoxit F5, a lubricant, might work better for your situation???

Deoxit F5 link and it’s available at many Guitar stores.

Caig has a Contact Us link to email them questions, I’d ask them what they recommend.

Good luck to you.
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quote:

Originally posted by architect:
Seems like what you want would be something that is not insulating, but not too conductive. You might want to consider something like a graphite powder, like the stuff used for lubricating locks. Unless you are only lubing things that aren't supposed to pass current, then I'd be thinking something like silicone spray, applied very sparingly with a toothpick.

I was thinking of graphite powder as well, maybe just near the shaft that turns it.
Yeah the prices for DeOxit are out of bounds for me. I would spring for some of it if I were refurbing audio equipment. Not for this.

Motor control was very erratic and the rpm changes did not cover anywhere near the full 270 degrees of knob travel. To exacerbate things, there was also a mechanical linkage that was binding as well. The pot felt a bit rough and was squeaking a little. CRC cleaner helped some, but taking it apart and cleaning it directly was the ticket. The only issue is it will still squeak a little when worked back and forth. Worst case, I replace it.

I still need to clean up some other parts of this thing. I will likely use a tiny amount of graphite at the center but leave the rest alone. It's not like it gets spun all the time.

Thanks to all for the inputs. As usual SF is a true resource. Much obliged!

I really miss Radio Shack.
That TV tuner cleaner worked better than anything else I have run across in years since.
I made my can last as well-

Funny thing about that, evidently Caig (DeOxit) made that stuff for Radio Shack.

quote:

Originally posted by 83v45magna:
... Yeah the prices for DeOxit are out of bounds for me. ...

If there is a guitar center nearby, they sell a 5 oz can for $15.

https://www.guitarcenter.com/C...gc?rNtt=Caig&index=1

It's worth having around and will last you a long time.

CRC Power Lubricant

5.99 for a 9 oz spray can

https://www.acehardware.com/de...ALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I considered the prices on Amazon to be insulting to my sensibilities. That guitar center price is low enough I will likely pick some up soon. I have all kinds of other stuff but I always seemed to use a little of that old TV tuner cleaner every few years.
Thanks, Mark!

Back in the 60s and 70s when working on TVs with contact tuners I used WD40 for the tuners and controls.WD40 worked great on tuners in homes in the country were they had water with sulfur in it. It cleaned the contacts and would last almost a year.

I ran out of potentiometer contact cleaner. Radio Shack TV Tuner cause some pots on a guitar to disintegrate inside a long time ago.

Recently I used WD40 to clean up some scratchy sounding pots that were shorting at the ends of travel. Did the job fine.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:

Recently I used WD40 to clean up some scratchy sounding pots that were shorting at the ends of travel. Did the job fine.

Yeah, you should never really use "11" unless it's a very rare circumstance when "10" just isn't good enough and you need one more.

quote:

Originally posted by satch:
Back in the 60s and 70s when working on TVs with contact tuners I used WD40 for the tuners and controls.WD40 worked great on tuners in homes in the country were they had water with sulfur in it. It cleaned the contacts and would last almost a year.

They've changed the formula since then.