Equipment Cleaning & PM

[Rob Lewis]

Every month I go through all my gear and clean and check it for PM.  I clean all connections with DeoxIT, check cables for bad solder connections and make repairs to anything necessary.  I am curious to see what other mixers are doing to maintain and clean their gear.  What kind of maintenance schedule you use and what products you clean with.  I see quite a few rigs out there that are pretty beat up and dirty, so I thought I would start a discussion about gear cleaning.

[RPSharman]

PM?

I try to keep the gear I use on a regular basis clean as I use it.  I don't have a particular schedule, and I have multiples of just about everything, so if something acts up, I switch to a back-up and then check out the one with the problem.  The difficulty I have is that I day play a lot between movies, so I hate to send something out for preventative maintenance (Oh...PM!) and then not have it when I get a day call.  Renting is a pain.

Robert

[Eric Toline]

Every month I go through all my gear and clean and check it for PM.  I clean all connections with DeoxIT, check cables for bad solder connections and make repairs to anything necessary.  I am curious to see what other mixers are doing to maintain and clean their gear.  What kind of maintenance schedule you use and what products you clean with.  I see quite a few rigs out there that are pretty beat up and dirty, so I thought I would start a discussion about gear cleaning.

Personally I think that's a bit of overkill. I'll wipe down muddy/dirty cables as required and repair the ng ones but that's about it. My theory is "if it ain't broke don't fix it". A bad solder connection is bad from the start, a good solder job stays that way unless you're talking about a broken wire in a connector.

Eric

[DWsoundservice]

At my former employer, we have a customer who would bring in all of his equipment just before he started a project. Then, he would bring it in when the project finished. He very rarely had equipment fail while on the set, and if there were problems at the end of the show, we were able to find them and he could bill production.

David W White

D.W. Sound Service

www.dwsoundservice.com

 

[RPSharman]

Risky business billing production for service/maintenance not specifically caused by a particular event or unusual environment.

[Freeheel]

I work in the rain a fair bit, and usually manage to keep everything dry, but if everything DOES gets wet, it gets pulled apart and cleaned with de-oxit. This happens about once a month.  I'm always amazed at the amount of oxidization that will build up in that length of time.  Stuff gets cleaned also when  I start hearing crackles when cables move.  I also go nowhere without a soldering iron and spares of every single cable that I use regularly.

Cheers,

Brent C

[David Waelder]

I clean all connections with DeoxIT,

but if everything DOES gets wet, it gets pulled apart and cleaned with de-oxit.

I don't want to speak ill of DeoxIt. Like any tool, it has a place in the kit and serves a useful function. But I recall talking with Neil Stone about using it. Neil was vigorously opposed to the routine use of DeoxIt or any similar chemical. He thought sprays like that left a residue that attracted dirt and the dirt caused more harm than the spray cured. He favored cleaning with plain alcohol. That will evaporate and leave minimal residue. When I was working a few pictures with extensive rain tower use, I would keep a spray bottle full of isopropyl on hand for cleaning and drying. That worked well and was dirt cheap.

Of course, if you have a connector that is crackling or otherwise troublesome and it doesn't clear up with ordinary cleaning, go ahead and hit it with the DeoxIt.

David Waelder

[Rob Lewis]

Thanks guys.  After reading some other articles and opinions, it seems that DeOxit does leave a residue and should only be used for really oxidized connections.  Seems that alcohol is probably the all purpose every day cleaner !