Cleaning channel strips in a Soundcraft desk?

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I'm about to set out to clean up the pots and faders on an old Soundcraft S6000 desk which has some scratchy/noisey faders/pots. I had one of the channels out the other day and I can get the fader section apart, and get access to the pots.

Plan at the moment is to take each strip out in turn and clean with an air duster then contact cleaner / deoxit fader cleaning spray. 

I've done this type of thing before on a small mixer but never anything this large. Just wondering if anyone has any wisdom they can share, or things I should avoid doing? Thanks for any tips.
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  • vizviz Frets: 10644
    edited October 2021
    Lovely desk. It should be absolutely fine, they were EXTREMELY well built with very robust components, and you'll be just doing what the assemblers did in reverse. I think each strip comes out one by one, from memory.
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10356
    We used to have loads of big-ish Soundcraft mixers, 24 to 32 channel  and I've done that job a few times. Not on a 6000 though which were 40 odd channel I think.  It's very time consuming on the smaller ones though  and unfortunately in my experience the fault in the pots tend to resurface after cleaning. Especially in the gain pot which is normally a Log X pot and difficult to get an exact replacement for. 
    Bad joints are normally a problem too, to the point I used to resolder all the insert points and all the pot lugs. The insert points can give problems if they aren't used as the contacts oxidise. If you suspect any are playing up then you can prove the point by inserting a TRS jack with the tip shorted to the sleeve. 
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  • viz said:
    Lovely desk. It should be absolutely fine, they were EXTREMELY well built with very robust components, and you'll be just doing what the assemblers did in reverse. I think each strip comes out one by one, from memory.
    Reassuring words! Thanks. Yes they come out individually which makes it much easier. Think I will do them one by one so I can put it back together easier. 
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  • Danny1969 said:
    We used to have loads of big-ish Soundcraft mixers, 24 to 32 channel  and I've done that job a few times. Not on a 6000 though which were 40 odd channel I think.  It's very time consuming on the smaller ones though  and unfortunately in my experience the fault in the pots tend to resurface after cleaning. Especially in the gain pot which is normally a Log X pot and difficult to get an exact replacement for. 
    Bad joints are normally a problem too, to the point I used to resolder all the insert points and all the pot lugs. The insert points can give problems if they aren't used as the contacts oxidise. If you suspect any are playing up then you can prove the point by inserting a TRS jack with the tip shorted to the sleeve. 
    Thanks, that's good info to know, because it is some of the gain pots that have gone scratchy. I'm able to solder (have done basic stuff like changing guitar pickups and pots) but if it gets too complicated I might have to call in someone a bit more technical. Good to know to check the inserts as well, I didn't know that. 
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