Lubricant for electrical

[audi321]

Hi all. Firstly I apologise for my ignorance but I’ve done something stupid and gone out of my depth with taking something apart and trying to fix it and it’s got out of hand lol.

So it’s basically an acoustic piano which has an electrical ‘thing’ in it which makes it play itself. There were some keys not working so clever old me thought it would be a good idea to take it apart and see if there was anything‘obvious’.

So after what seems like all day, the thing is literally in bits and I’ve got to the part which is causing this sticking and it’s got some kind of electrical rams which must go up when current is applied (is it called an actuator?). And as you can see from the pictures they’re quite snug and have a spring at the bottom to (I assume) cushion them when they return.

The ones which are used most often are the sticking ones must have gotten grit or something in them as they’re scored on the barrels. I’ve cleaned them but they’re still not as free as the ones which hardly get used.

So after a terribly long story for a Friday night, what lubricant should I use to make them more freely go up and down? I was thinking silicone spray? What would you electronics experts use? If anything?

Thanks for any help. Here’s the pics

[tr7v8]

They are solenoids. I'd suggest vaseline or similar but it may be too viscous. Any light lubricant would work. Possibly a silicone spray?

[audi321]

tr7v8 said:

They are solenoids. I'd suggest vaseline or similar but it may be too viscous. Any light lubricant would work. Possibly a silicone spray?

Thanks. What should I clean them with first? Was gonna cotton bud them with wd40?

[tr7v8]

audi321 said:

tr7v8 said:

They are solenoids. I'd suggest vaseline or similar but it may be too viscous. Any light lubricant would work. Possibly a silicone spray?

Thanks. What should I clean them with first? Was gonna cotton bud them with wd40?

Probably cotton bud & meths or IPA or similar. WD40 will leave a residue which might attract dust & gunge.

[nebpor]

Do NOT use WD40! Clean them with IPA (Amazon sell it), then use something like Deoxit FaderLube to re-oil them

CAIG DeoxIT Faderlube F5S-H6 Precision Fader Lubricant Spray https://amzn.eu/d/8dmJkjp

Have a google for cheaper equivalents - that’s a lot of money for one repair - I justified it because I have a load of analogue synths that I try and keep in good order

EDIT: maybe silicone spray is also fine, just not normally something I see used by the vintage synth techs

Edited by nebpor on Friday 3rd February 20:16

[thebraketester]

Blimey, this escalated. Can you not swap the extreme low and high actuators (very rarely used) for the ones that are causing you problems?

[Mr Pointy]

Maybe try PTFE spray - it's a dry lubricant.