Mackie 1604VLZ rehab as shelter in place project

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Dubmaniac
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Mackie 1604VLZ rehab as shelter in place project

Post by Dubmaniac » Tue Mar 24, 2020 10:32 pm

So today at 5PM, my city issued a shelter in place order due to Covid-19. That means I can go to work (my work is considered essential), but after work, I'm supposed to head home and stay here. It's for the greater good, I know, but... ugh. So I've decided to use my shelter in place time to tackle one of my many projects- bringing an old 1604VLZ mixer back to life. It's got the usual problems of an old mixer, like switches and pots that are noisy or intermittent, although the faders all seem to be reasonably clean. When I bring up the faders on some of the channels, it hisses like a snake. Other channels have a little noise, and some have almost none. It seems unlikely that cleaning the pots, faders and switches will fix the hissing problem. My question is, what do you all recommend for cleaning the pots, switches & faders on an old crusty mixer like this? And any ideas what might be causing the hissing?
"Stare with your ears"- Ken Nordine

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Scodiddly
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Re: Mackie 1604VLZ rehab as shelter in place project

Post by Scodiddly » Wed Mar 25, 2020 5:42 am

Good project - it'll take you a week just to get all the knobs and off and find all the screws holding it together.

You could try Caig MCL or Faderlube, whatever they're calling it now, on the pots and switches.

Hissing channels are probably bad opamps.

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Re: Mackie 1604VLZ rehab as shelter in place project

Post by digitaldrummer » Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:21 am

you might also want to clean, or just "exercise" (move them back and forth a lot) the input gain knobs to make sure they are not just stuck full on for those hissy channels. same for any of the EQ.
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Re: Mackie 1604VLZ rehab as shelter in place project

Post by Dubmaniac » Sat Mar 28, 2020 10:49 am

Has anybody had any experience with CRC contact cleaner? I know Deoxit rules the roost when it comes to contact cleaning, but I may not be able to buy any locally, and shipping times for non-essential products are way higher than usual. The Home Depot near my house has some CRC contact cleaner on hand, and it's quite a bit cheaper than the Caig products, which is a bonus. All the reviews on the Home Depot page seem to be positive. One of them even described cleaning a Mackie 1202 VLZ successfully! Let me know if you've had any experience with CRC products, either good, bad or meh.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/CRC-QD-11-o ... /202262505

Oops. I just checked their stock for lubricant, and they're out. Would dielectric grease work in the same way, or do I need to hold out for the actual contact lubricant? Here's a link to the dielectric grease.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/CRC-3-3-oz- ... 843029-_-N
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Re: Mackie 1604VLZ rehab as shelter in place project

Post by Scodiddly » Sat Mar 28, 2020 1:24 pm

Definitely not the dialetric grease.

Any kind of tuner/pot cleaner lube would be fine. The old Radio Shack stuff was OK.

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Re: Mackie 1604VLZ rehab as shelter in place project

Post by Dubmaniac » Tue Mar 31, 2020 9:17 pm

Scodiddly wrote:
Sat Mar 28, 2020 1:24 pm
Definitely not the dialetric grease.

Any kind of tuner/pot cleaner lube would be fine. The old Radio Shack stuff was OK.
Sometimes knowing what NOT to use is as important as knowing what to use. In other, serendipitous news, I just found a long-forgotten can of Caig ProGold G5 cleaner in the basement today! Finally, a price even I can afford- FREE! If my work gets shut down and I need a project to keep me sane (or drive me crazy), I'm gonna open up that 1604 and show it some contact cleaner love.
"Stare with your ears"- Ken Nordine

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Re: Mackie 1604VLZ rehab as shelter in place project

Post by Scodiddly » Wed Apr 01, 2020 2:51 pm

I just did a little poke at Lowes.com, and they carry a "CRC Contact Cleaner" spray that looks like it would work.

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Re: Mackie 1604VLZ rehab as shelter in place project

Post by jimjazzdad » Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:01 am

Nothing beats the Caig Deoxit and Faderlube products IMO, but in times of pandemic anything will work. It is worth noting that with 'dampened' potentiometers and faders - the ones that have that 'smooth resistance' when adjusting - a lot of cleaners like CRC will dissolve and strip the lubricant that is responsible for the 'feel'. That's where the Faderlube spray is great. Regular contact cleaner is beston switches. Spray, exercise, spray again.
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Re: Mackie 1604VLZ rehab as shelter in place project

Post by winky dinglehoffer » Thu Apr 02, 2020 9:53 am

jimjazzdad wrote:
Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:01 am
It is worth noting that with 'dampened' potentiometers and faders - the ones that have that 'smooth resistance' when adjusting - a lot of cleaners like CRC will dissolve and strip the lubricant that is responsible for the 'feel'. That's where the Faderlube spray is great. Regular contact cleaner is beston switches. Spray, exercise, spray again.
I second this, & would add that Deoxit Gold will strip lubricants as well. A small thing of Caig F100L Fader Lube comes in quite handy, and it doesn't take much to do the job--it's expensive, but one little container tends to last quite a while.

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Re: Mackie 1604VLZ rehab as shelter in place project

Post by Scodiddly » Thu Apr 02, 2020 4:48 pm

If things are truly desperate a little WD-40 can be used. It was originally invented as a way to keep electronics dry.

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Re: Mackie 1604VLZ rehab as shelter in place project

Post by vvv » Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:52 pm

Every time, every time that I see WD-40 in print I think of that movie ...

... even thought that was Windex.

But, electronically speaking ...
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I mix with olive juice.

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