Bar Keepers Friend = great contact cleaner

[MaximRecoil]

Also, it is cheap and available at your local grocery store, unlike actual "contact cleaner" products. You can buy a can of it for a couple/few dollars, and that is enough to clean probably thousands of cartridges.

 

I got an Activision Ice Hockey cartridge (Atari 2600) in the mail today and I cleaned the contacts with 91% isopropyl alcohol like I always do with a newly acquired cartridge before putting it in my console (which is usually good enough). The alcohol cleaned the contacts somewhat, because they darkened the Q-tip, and I repeated with new Q-tips until one came back clean.

 

The cartridge didn't work after cleaning with alcohol though. All I got was either a blank black screen, or a couple of vertical bars on the screen.

 

I took a closer look at the contacts under good light and they had some crusty light colored stuff on them (probably corrosion). So I broke out the powerful stuff, i.e., Bar Keepers Friend. The active ingredient in Bar Keepers Friend is oxalic acid which is well known to cut through oxidation/corrosion on metal like a hot knife through butter.

 

The way I use it is: I mix up a thin paste of the Bar Keepers Friend powder and water, and then I dip a Q-tip in it, squeeze off the excess so it doesn't run everywhere, and scrub the contacts until they are bright and shiny (it doesn't take long). Then I use a new dry Q-tip to wipe off the residue from the paste. Then I go over the contacts with a Q-tip and alcohol to fully remove any remaining residue from the paste.

 

The Ice Hockey cartridge worked perfectly after that.

 

This also works great for cleaning card edge connectors, such as the 72-pin connector in an NES. Instead of a Q-tip, use a tooth brush dipped in the Bar Keepers Friend paste, and scrub vigorously. I've brought several original NES 72-pin connectors back to life this way; ones that I thought were no good because they still didn't work after cleaning with alcohol (alcohol is a solvent, which is great for cleaning normal dirt and oils, but it has little to no effect on oxidation/corrosion).

Edited March 28, 2012 by MaximRecoil

[BydoEmpire]

I've been getting back into NES collecting lately, and I was almost ready to buy some cleaner off ebay. Thanks for the tip - I'll try this first!

[NE146]

Is it any different from like Ajax/Comet, etc?

[MaximRecoil]

Is it any different from like Ajax/Comet, etc?

 

I believe that Ajax and Comet are primarily abrasive cleaners (they contains quartz as the abrasive component - link and link). Bar Keepers Friend does most of its cleaning with oxalic acid (link). I believe it does contain a mild abrasive, but it is not nearly as abrasive as Ajax/Comet. This means it cleans metal quickly with not much "elbow grease" required. Bar Keepers Friend is specialized as a metal cleaner/polish which makes it ideal as a contact cleaner. Ajax and Comet type products are general purpose cleaners that usually require a lot of scrubbing to get the job done.

 

According to this site, oxalic acid is also the cleaning ingredient in "DeoxIT", a popular contact cleaner:

 

“DeOxit” is your best friend here and in later attempts. It removes the oxidation on terminal ends by the action of oxalic acid, its active ingredient… it doesn’t hurt to supplement this magic spray with abrasion of a very fine emery cloth or a pencil eraser.

 

Real contact cleaners are great, it is just that they are expensive and are only sold in specialty places.

Edited March 29, 2012 by MaximRecoil

[FABombjoy]

BKF is probably OK for copper contacts, but it will definitely remove any protective plating if present (like the gold on the NES games & OEM NES pin connectors).

Edited March 29, 2012 by FABombjoy

[MaximRecoil]

BKF is probably OK for copper contacts, but it will definitely remove any protective plating if present (like the gold on the NES games & OEM NES pin connectors).

 

No, it doesn't doesn't do that at all. It is funny that you used the word "definitely" when your statement is 100% false. I've used it on plenty of NES games and arcade boardset card edge pins; no damage whatsoever.

[FABombjoy]

I have done this exact thing that you are describing. It has removed the gold plating and then shined up the copper, making it appear gold-like.

 

I am a bit confounded as to why you seem to have taken my previous post as a personal attack.

Edited March 29, 2012 by FABombjoy

[Reaperman]

For a few bucks, I'll probably go for this as my 'final solution' for really bad games (I can only think of two right off). I've been meaning to pick up something in this bracket, and the less expensive the better for me.

 

I wonder if this is the same ingredient in my radio shack electronics cleaner (a pressurized can with a firm brush on the end)--which I occasionally use on system slots when they're being mean to me.

[MaximRecoil]

I have done this exact thing that you are describing. It has removed the gold plating and then shined up the copper, making it appear gold-like.

 

I've also done the exact thing I'm describing obviously, and it did not remove any gold; nor does shiny copper look like gold. In fact, I did it just now and took pictures:

 

 

In the top picture, is a Duck Hunt cartridge after scrubbing with a Q-tip dipped in a Bar Keepers Friend solution, and with the solution still on there for the picture. The two remaining pictures are before and after (or after and before). Can you tell which is which? According to your claim, "after" should be the one without the gold, since Bar Keepers Friend "definitely" removed it; right?

 

I am a bit confounded as to why you seem to have taken my previous post as a personal attack.

 

I didn't take it as a "personal attack".

Edited March 29, 2012 by MaximRecoil

[FABombjoy]

I didn't take it as a "personal attack".

To me, your tone suggests otherwise.

 

I can't comment on the photograph as it does not represent a scientific approach.

 

Look, obviously you're having none of what I have to say. Why not email a 3rd party manufacturer such as Molex, AMP/TE, or 3M and get their opinion?

[MaximRecoil]

I didn't take it as a "personal attack".

To me, your tone suggests otherwise.

 

That "tone" is the same as in any post where I reply to blatantly false information.

 

I can't comment on the photograph as it does not represent a scientific approach.

 

It is "scientific" enough for something as simple as, "Did it remove the gold or not?", and it is more scientific than your anecdote.

 

Look, obviously you're having none of what I have to say.

Of course not, because the gold is still there after cleaning with Bar Keepers Friend.

 

Why not email a 3rd party manufacturer such as Molex, AMP/TE, or 3M and get their opinion?

 

Do you think they could do any better than you at discerning the "before" from the "after" picture?

 

Now, given that BKF does have a mild abrasive component to it (or so I've read), if you used a thick enough solution and/or scrubbed for a long enough time, I suppose you could remove the very thin gold layer; but the same could be said of a pencil eraser (given enough rubbing) or simply inserting and removing it from a card edge connector enough times. However, using a thin solution (as I stated in the OP) and rubbing with a Q-tip for maybe 30 seconds per side, does not remove the gold layer.

Edited March 29, 2012 by MaximRecoil

[FABombjoy]

Do you think they could do any better than you at discerning the "before" from the "after" picture?

No, you would email them and ask if BKF is an appropriate cleaning agent for plated connectors.

 

Again, your choice in words says to me that you are more interested in winning an argument than arriving at a sound, preservationist-centric cleaning strategy. The passive-aggressive "quoting", phrases like "blatantly false", "100% false" and so forth. Perhaps you don't realize what you're doing, but it is how I perceive it. Food for thought.

 

To address your original complaint, I revise my original statement and change "definitely" to "possibly".

[Cebus Capucinis]

LMFAO

[MaximRecoil]

No, you would email them and ask if BKF is an appropriate cleaning agent for plated connectors.

 

You can do that if you want to. I already know it is appropriate since I've used it for a couple of years on quite a few sets of plated connectors without issue. The point of contention here is whether or not it will remove gold plating. It doesn't; not when used as I described anyway.

 

Again, your choice in words says to me that you are more interested in winning an argument than arriving at a sound, preservationist-centric cleaning strategy. The passive-aggressive "quoting", phrases like "blatantly false", "100% false" and so forth. Perhaps you don't realize what you're doing, but it is how I perceive it. Food for thought.

 

"Passive aggressive"? Say what? I quote the excerpts that I am replying to because it is the easiest method of providing proper/unambiguous context for the reply. It is a standard method of replying in text form on the internet.

Edited March 29, 2012 by MaximRecoil

[thegamezmaster]

I like DeoxIT contact cleaner and conditioner. Thanks Yurkie! Best stuff I've ever used.

[MaximRecoil]

Here's a before and after picture, starting with dirty contacts:

 

 

In the "before" picture, that is after cleaning with 91% isopropyl alcohol. The alcohol cleaned it somewhat, but once the Q-tip came back clean, the contacts were still dirty, as can be seen in the top picture. The "after" picture is after about 30 seconds per side with Bar Keepers Friend.