oxidation on Wattgate 330i AG prongs

[ToddC]

Just bought a Black Sands Silver Reference MKV from Audiogon.  The prongs and ground connect are silver and they have quite a bit of oxidation on them.  Recommendations for the best way to remove the oxidation? 

[Black Sand Cable]

Caig DeoxIT works fine. When that is all said and done we also buff with a Dremel but you have to be very careful with the Dremel as you can do more harm then good.

Keep in mind however that even though the oxidation may be gone, superficial discoloration may still be present as the iAG's from Wattgate are notorious for it.

[BobM]

Try a simple pencil eraser first, then a silver cleaner (of any type), then a cotton ball with alcohol.

[rollo]

Flix metal cleaner. BTW clean those RCAs in the system. It just amazes me what a bit of Pro Gold can do. Have fun.


charles

[Black Sand Cable]

A pencil eraser wont work on the iAG's and given the iAG's are plated not solid, Silver cleaner is not advised.

Take it from a guy who has done it a few hundred times  , stick with what I originally posted.

What BobM posted will work just fine, it just doesn't work worth a darn on the iAG's.

[rollo]

A pencil eraser wont work on the iAG's and given the iAG's are plated not solid, Silver cleaner is not advised.

Take it from a guy who has done it a few hundred times  , stick with what I originally posted.

What BobM posted will work just fine, it just doesn't work worth a darn on the iAG's.

HMMMMMMMM! very interesting indeed. For me its three maidens from Tahiti in bikinis. Oh yes they ploish the very very well. A little more expensive then the Dremel but well worth the money



charles

[ToddC]

Caig DeoxIT and buffing with the Dremel worked very well, only a slight hint of oxidation remains. Thanks for the help! 

[Triode Pete]

Never clean silver oxide from your silver connectors! Silver oxide is just as conductive as pure, polished silver.

Western Electric used to silver plate many of their tube pins. One of the reasons, besides super conductivity, is that they wanted very low maintenance on their leased equipment, especially in somewhat harsh environments. Silver oxide, unlike rust, pitting & corrosion from other metals, is a very conductive &a  desirable by-product of the silver oxidation process. It would be "sacrilegious" to clean the tube pins on old Western Electric tubes!

My $0.02,
Pete

[richidoo]

Silver oxide is conductive, the only metal oxide that is conductive, but it is not as conductive as pure silver metal, which is the best electrical conductor of all at room temperature.

This is the only reference I could find to conductivity of AgOx in relation to pure Ag.

http://www.odysseyaudiohk.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Tweaks;action=display;num=1139155941

Silver is inert in pure air, only ozone and sulfur can tarnish it.

I think a chemical like tarnex must be better than mechanical polishing? I used to have a special cloth, impregnated with a chemical that removed silver tarnish when rubbed dry on the plated metal, especially useful for cleaning silver plated brass musical instruments. Breath a little fog on it and rub away the brown.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FIS5U4

[rollo]

As I had mentioned before "Flix" metal cleaner is made to clean plated metal as well as solid .Now if the plating comes off the plug. Use a different plug with better plating.  If a dremel tool dosn't remove the plating Flix certainly will not. Mike Fremer mentioned he used the hardware store cleaner with great affect. So I tried it and guess what no problem at all. There so pretty now oh my.


charles

[Carlman]

I think a chemical like tarnex must be better than mechanical polishing? I used to have a special cloth, impregnated with a chemical that removed silver tarnish when rubbed dry on the plated metal, especially useful for cleaning silver plated brass musical instruments. Breath a little fog on it and rub away the brown.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FIS5U4

The only thing with the liquid metal polishes I've used is they leave a coating.  I would think you'd have to remove that after the polishing if you wanted a real metal-to-metal contact.
-C

[richidoo]

Tarnex doesn't, but they have a separate polish product that does for use after cleaning.

[rollo]

 Flix leaves no residue . If you must use a microfiber cloth and then coat with Pro Gold. Fugetabout it. Done deal. Eh. Now go buy some Pizza and red wine and enjoy your self.


charles

[Triode Pete]

What is more conductive...silver oxide or pure copper??? 

Now leave the silver oxide alone! What did it ever do to you???   

[richidoo]

Now leave the silver oxide alone! What did it ever do to you???   

I down with that. I've never cleaned anything except a noise pot only when I had to.