Scavange or restore??

[KingDaddy]

I've got an old Boss DE-200 which has been considerably ignored for the last 10+ years. Amazingly it still works... Well kinda, the pots are crackly and it can be a bit hit and miss with some of the switches but it's defiantly usable. The question is, do I go ahead and try fixing her up or do I dive in with my desolderer and grab all the awesome little bits she's got hidden away in there?

[Willybomb]

Restore.  Be a waste to pull it apart.  Hit the pots with some Inox and you should be right to go.

[somnif]

From the looks of things, most of the "bits" you could scavenge are fairly run of the mill passives. The work horse of the circuit is a proprietary signal processor, not something that would have much use outside of the package. Beyond that most of the ICs are still on the market today.

The transistors appear to be pretty generic PNP and NPN BJTs. The FETs are a bit obscure, going for a couple bucks a piece on ebay, but there's nothing magical about them that would make worth scrapping a fantastic unit.

Feel free to poke around the circuit diagram yourself: http://www.synfo.nl/servicemanuals/Boss/DE-200_SERVICE_NOTES.pdf

I'd say save it. Clean the pots if you can, swap what you can't.

[KingDaddy]

Yeah I'm leaning that way myself, loving the service notes but that circuit diagram hurts my head.

I think she'll stay as she is for now, cleaned up inside and out of course.

Hit the pots with some Inox and you should be right to go.

Sorry for being dumb but what's Inox? (I'm very new round here and google wasn't very helpful)

[somnif]

Inox is the Australian equivalent of WD-40 (more or less).

There is another product called "deoxit" that is specialized for use with electronics. You can find lots of tutorials on its use on the interwebs.

edit: As a note there are many flavors of Deoxit, read up and figure out which will work best for you.

[alanp]

Don't use WD40. There's a big thread on TDPRI, that boils down to "Don't use WD40 on anything smaller than a tractor."

Deoxit is likely to be better.

[jimilee]

Restore


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[madbean]

Phhh. REHOUSE!

[davent]

Keep WD40  far away from your electronics Water Displacement 40th formula...

Here's a description that popped up courtesy of google.

WD stands for "water displacing" and its main use is as a solvent or rust dissolver. The lubricant-like properties of WD-40 come not from the substance itself, but from dissolving components. And the effect doesn't last. WD-40 can be a good substance to start with — it can help clean up rust or other grime.

dave

[selfdestroyer]

Oh man, this thing brings back all kinds of memories. I had one that I used for vocals in this little 2 man industrial "band" I was in. Think Skinny Puppy and Ministry.. The hold button an a remote foot switch was great for a good stutter effect. Much fun to be had for sure.

RESTORE IT!

Cody

[Willybomb]

Inox is the stuff that you should use instead of WD-40.  The guys here put me onto using it instead of WD-40 when I restored a Shin-ei Echo Master.

http://www.inoxmx.com/inox/mx-3-lubricant/

[somnif]

Inox is the stuff that you should use instead of WD-40.  The guys here put me onto using it instead of WD-40 when I restored a Shin-ei Echo Master.

http://www.inoxmx.com/inox/mx-3-lubricant/

The problem being Inox is bloody difficult to lay hands on outside the southern hemisphere. Deoxit you can get at electronics supply places.

[reddesert]

Hi,

Deoxit or a similar contact cleaner is what you want. I have a can of CRC QD Electronic Parts Cleaner, which is possibly not quite as good as Deoxit, but can be bought at virtually any auto parts store in the US. (Don't ever get regular parts cleaner, it is a much more aggressive solvent and can dissolve some plastics.) The key is that it says "evaporates quickly and completely." Contact cleaner is made of very light hydrocarbons.  Deoxit and CRC QD are naptha, ethanes, and hexanes mostly (from the MSDS).

WD-40 is mostly a very light oil, which makes it a lot heavier than contact cleaner, so it doesn't evaporate completely. There is a lot of internet lore about what's in WD-40, but you can usually tell what's in a product by googling the MSDS. WD-40 doesn't have aggressive solvents, but the oily film it leaves behind is not good for contacts and will attract dirt.