Yesterday I was extremely luck to have found a Tascam US2400 for a steal on craigslist.

Even though its in mint condition, it is still a 10+ year old piece of gear.
To make it last another 10 years I think it might be good to clean and lubricate the faders.
How should I go about this? I've dusted them compressed air already. Whats next Isopropyl? Contact cleaner?

 

Contact cleaner works wonders. Search youtube for more help.

 

first, congratulations on your purchase.

second, if you need the official tascam manual, here is a link: http://tascam.com/content/downloads/products/315/us2400_manual.pdf
the manual says to clean only with a dry cloth.

third, here is a discussion on the tascam user forum regarding cleaning the faders: http://www.tascamforums.com/threads/suggested-method-for-cleaning-the-faders.640/

 

Out Jezebel, out!

 

Do not clean them if they do not need to be cleaned!

Compressed air is more than enough if they work as they should.

 

Anyhow, humidity and rust can make a fader (or a potentiometer) noisy. Opening the box and spraying a cleaning solution like WD40 along the fader run will get them clean as new.

 

Theres nothing wrong with them. Quiet as a mouse (especially when compared to the 2 BCF2000s this is replacing, and even my Faderport).

The only slightly weird thing is that I was trying to create a "Vegas mode" in Studio One to test it, after the first bank was oscillating, when I went to do the second bank, the wave pattern I was going for became very jittery.

IDK if its a limitation of Studio One or MCU protocol, only 8 faders moving super precisely at a time or if the power adapter is not delivering enough juice to power more than a 8 of the motors. Under normal condition, such as loading a song, and banking all faders move at the same time correctly, just my "vegas mode" caused it to be weird.

 

@MCYbeats
You have answered the first and most pertinent question as to Faders Cleansing which obviously is "Do you have dirty faders"?
Since you dont have "dirty faders" the only thing you need to do is maintain them dust free. Get a dust cover when not in used and a low power suction vac to suck any dust particles. Remember that many faders are "self cleaning" so a dust free and non smoking enviroment combined with daily maintenance is all you will need. One of the boards that we have is a Neve VR60 dating back to 1996 and NEVER have had any problems with faders. We make sure that either the engineer or assistant engineer does the daily maintenance. 15 minutes a day will save you 15k in repairs and downtime.

 

Most faders are the noisy Alps faders with belt drive or the quiet pre Alps (like in my Mackie Universal Control) that actually have a dental floss type string for the drive. I have taken apart all 3 of my mixers/controllers more than once to clean and stop scratchy pots as well as replace motorized faders. Contact cleaner on the belts and "string" would probably do more harm than good. I have replaced my faders before too with ones I bought straight from mackie.
A word of advice. If you have the quieter string type faders that were used before the Alps belt drive (noisy) type, BUY SOME REPLACEMENTS because they are becoming harder to find and also more expensive now as time goes on. Think ddr2 and now ddr3 memory. I bought mine directly from Mackie for 20 bucks back in 2010. They are interchangeable/swappable. The motorized fader that mostly everyone used until the Alps faders with belt drives came out. The alps were better faders because they lasted longer/forever (if properly maintained) but were noisy because of the belts.

Bottom line, read some manuals and comb through some forums and if you got the older quiet faders, buy some replacements now before they all dry up.

 

Last edited: Aug 13, 2017

You mean: How do i make motorized faders clean themselves?
Automation

 

automation my friend, automation. LOL

 

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 13, 2017

Like this?

 

@subGENRE
That is the idea.LOL

 

more to the point:

 

DO NOT USE WD40

I cant disagree more with such an advice. WD40 is the las thing you want to use on faders. Are you serious? WD40 may give you some temporary relief BUT then it attracts dust and starts to thicken up. Anything with lubricants will have the opposite effect of what you are trying to achieve. If you have a need to spray it use CAIG Deoxit Kit and Fader lube kit. As I explained earlier, we do not spray our boards.

 

I agree with @tonyg0499 WD40 will actually melt away the existing lubes and give you a temporary fix. Its more of a penetrating oil for freeing rusted parts and drilling holes in steel or cutting stock. Heres what I use to clean all my contacts. I just ripped apart my Kensington Blade track ball and cleaned all the click switches a couple days ago.

 

I got it. I got my foot in my mouth now. Hopefully @MYCbeats didn't need to take my silly advise.

 

Man, how I loved working on the d8b. What a great console to work with! Ok, crappy sound, but the speed of it was aweseome

 

@mercurysoto

Hey shit happens. As long as the dude is not a lawyer you are fine. Imagine getting sued over WD40. LOL

 

Yeah... WD40 is bad... *quietly puts the cap back on and wipes the excess*

Lol yeah WD40 is a no-no unless you plan on regreasing. Even then for electronics u want something alcohol based so it evaporates.

Also those 5 in oil cans with the red nipples are not good it. bogged down my faderport a bit