Stabilant users

[Mike Burgundy]

Wow, that stuff is *expensive*
47 Euros for a bring-your-own Isopropanol kit that makes 30ml Stabilant.
I am interested though - how long does that last? I realise there's too many variables to make hard statements, but any experiences? Are we talking tens of pots, hundreds?
Does it keep, or does it go off after a year?

[Mark Hammer]

You'd be surprised how long it lasts.  Remember that it has the name "Stabilant" because it does not dry out or break down (i.e., stable).  I make an undiluted 0.5ml "tester" vial (formerly available for 50 cents - which is what led me to using it - but now sadly discontinued) last for at least 30-40 pots.  Properly diluted, I'm sure it would go even farther. Unless you operate a very high volume service bench (i.e., dozens of bench jobs daily, 5 days a week, with no letup), a partly diluted 30ml bottle could last you longer than your 125ml bottle of liquid flux.  When I go to treat a 16mm pot it takes about 3-4 sesame-seed sized droplets to completely coat the entire surface of the resistive strip. 

Keep in mind that since it does not dry out, you cannot build up layers, so you're not going to apply all that much to anything.  Plus there will be some things it doesn't do much/enough for (there are limits to what yo can resuscitate).  Unless you have an enormous number of applications (e.g., treating all edge connectors on your S-100 bus Altair computer), you won't go through it that fast.

Several people over at MEF, who operate busy workbenchs also swear by the stuff.  They recommend the "one-two-punch" of first cleaning with DeOxit, and THEN applying Stabilant.

Answer your questions?

[Earthscum]

For those who are as curious as I was: http://www.stabilant.com/appnt01h.htm

Ok, I think that's the next investment I'm making. I'll have to check next week, but I think my local store carries small amounts. I could've sworn the tag said $15, but was with all the other chemicals. Photographic memory is great if you file things properly, lol.

Ameabazon has a 30ml kit for ~$45.

[Mark Hammer]

One of the areas where I have found it invaluable is on those instances where an existing IC socket  is not making perfect contact with all pins inserted into the socket.  You COULD desolder and remove the socket and install a better newer one, but that takes time and sometimes risks the integrity of the copper side of the board.  Moreover, sometimes you can't tell which pin of which chip/socket is the offender.  Far easier to simply pull the chip, apply a teeny droplet of the stuff to each pin in the socket, and re-insert.  It will provide a kind of conductive web from the socket to the chip.  Nice.

[Mike Burgundy]

Questions answered indeed - thanks!

[Earthscum]

I've had so many instances of cleaning up contact goop (usually white lithium? based stuff) that collected shavings, dirt, and dust (and all that stuff turns to carbon eventually). That Stabilant 22 is ultra cool! I always wondered what it was called, heard it referred to before (probably by Mark in one of the 'scratchy pots' threads). The part that caught me is that it is nonconductive, initially. If it seeps, it won't bridge contacts. That's what the grease stuff always ends up doing. I wonder if this stuff would help battery contact corrosion in automobiles. Steel, Zinc, Lead, and Copper, road grime, dirt, and corrosive water... oh my!

[Mark Hammer]

The company website has a long list of applications.  See if that particular one is one of those listed.

[Earthscum]

I really wish I had this stuff when I was a mechanic. O2 sensor fails are common, but about 25% of them I dealt with were actually just the weatherpack contacts. 02 sensor goes, computer starts dumping more fuel (richer running) or less fuel (lean condition) and jacks up the catalytic converter (plugs with carbon or melts through the core of the honeycomb substrate). Toyota TPS's go out from having bad connections... speed sensors... ABS sensors... ground straps!

It sounds like this is good for anything that won't create a spark which breaks down the Stabilant. I've had some spring contact ideas that I've tossed by the wayside that may work using this stuff. Also have a couple pedals that could use this on the in/out jack mounts (ground thru case).

[waltk]

As an alternative, you might consider CAIG ProGold.  Awesome stuff.  I've been using the same 7g bottle for about 12 years, and if I hadn't spilled some on my shoe I would still have about 1/2 of it left.  Used sparingly, it work miracles.  Kind of pricey though - like Stabilant.

[Mark Hammer]

I really wish I had this stuff when I was a mechanic. O2 sensor fails are common, but about 25% of them I dealt with were actually just the weatherpack contacts. 02 sensor goes, computer starts dumping more fuel (richer running) or less fuel (lean condition) and jacks up the catalytic converter (plugs with carbon or melts through the core of the honeycomb substrate). Toyota TPS's go out from having bad connections... speed sensors... ABS sensors... ground straps!

It sounds like this is good for anything that won't create a spark which breaks down the Stabilant. I've had some spring contact ideas that I've tossed by the wayside that may work using this stuff. Also have a couple pedals that could use this on the in/out jack mounts (ground thru case).

I've used it to get flashdrives to read a little more consistently, and make old game cartridges behave, as well as reconditioning stompswitches.  Since I had bought up a wad of those little 50-cent vials at the place near me (long since gone  ), I've given them out as gifts to people, including some I sent to George Gruhn's and Visual Sound's head of repairs, and another to the elevator repair guy in our building at work (whose job IS largely attending to misbehaving contacts, all day long).

[GGBB]

When I go to treat a 16mm pot it takes about 3-4 sesame-seed sized droplets to completely coat the entire surface of the resistive strip.

Far easier to simply pull the chip, apply a teeny droplet of the stuff to each pin in the socket, and re-insert.  It will provide a kind of conductive web from the socket to the chip.  Nice.

I'm confused - if it is conductive, would not coating a pot's resistive strip render the pot useless (or at least change its value)?  How can it do both of these things above?

[Mark Hammer]

Yeah, it IS a little bit of a head-scratcher, isn't it?  If it is conductive, why doesn't it conduct "sideways"?  But it doesn't.  It conducts across the gap between contacts.  Yesterday, I was going through a bunch of pedals, and found a BMP clone whose pots were irritatingly scratchy.  Opened it up, popped the back off the pots, dabbed a few droplets on the resistive strip of each pot, rotated the wiper a few times to make sure the stuff was evenly distributed over the entire surface of the resistive strip, and reassembled it all.  All three pots now work flawlessly, without any scratch at all.

I don't know how they make it , but nothing else seems to work like it.  It apparently used to be sold to audiophiles under the trade name "Tweak". I don't know if the formulation was changed along with the name, or whether it was simply a marketing decision.  Certainly there is a much bigger market to be had than folks who want to make sure all their gold-plated RCA cables and plugs make a perfect connection.  I was introduced to it by a local buddy whose studio still uses a 2" MCI deck and board for recording masters (mixdown in the digital domain).  He needs to keep those long-throw faders absolutely crackle free, and Stabilant is what he uses to do it.

[GGBB]

It apparently used to be sold to audiophiles under the trade name "Tweak". I don't know if the formulation was changed along with the name, or whether it was simply a marketing decision.

In a former life I was a high-end audio salesman and our shop sold it.  I remember both names were used interchangeably - Tweak and Stabilant 22 - but Stabilant was more common.  Whether or not it made a sonic difference on already super-high quality connectors I don't know - it fell into the category of audiophile accessories that were aimed at the mumbo-jumbo believing crowd - but our tech swore by it.

[Earthscum]

Read the first link I posted. I explains how it is actually nonconductive until conditions are met. That is why I was excited about the stuff. As well it wont get all over the place and attract dust and other crap like the conductive greases Im used to.

[Mark Hammer]

It apparently used to be sold to audiophiles under the trade name "Tweak". I don't know if the formulation was changed along with the name, or whether it was simply a marketing decision.

In a former life I was a high-end audio salesman and our shop sold it.  I remember both names were used interchangeably - Tweak and Stabilant 22 - but Stabilant was more common.  Whether or not it made a sonic difference on already super-high quality connectors I don't know - it fell into the category of audiophile accessories that were aimed at the mumbo-jumbo believing crowd - but our tech swore by it.

As do I.  But like so much in the audiophile world, things have a way of acquiring surplus meaning and properties well outside of the optimal context.  It does improve the reliabiity of contact between moving or interconnected parts, whose electrical continuity can be compromised.  As I'm fond of saying, in the world of electrons, a 1-2 micron gap can be like the Grand Canyon, and bridging it can make a world of difference.  Once we step into "sounding better", though, there we cross into the land of the mystical.  If I had an older high-end preamp with a 41-position "stepped" volume control (precision-matched resistors to yield identical channel-to-channel attenuation), I might be inclined to treat the switch with the stuff.  If I had nice shiny gold-plated cables that had a snug fit on the RCA jacks and hadn't been removed in several years, there's nothing the stuff could do for me.

[GGBB]

Once we step into "sounding better", though, there we cross into the land of the mystical.

That's the place where some audiophiles can be moved to spend their money on high-ticket, high-profit  accessories.  What I like about it is its ability to essentially "protect" those expensive gold plated audiophile connectors from inevitable oxidation.  I think that's primarily why our tech used it too.

[Mark Hammer]

I use it to "protect" pots.  I find smaller pots tend to have wipers that can result in more scraping of the resistive strip, eroding them over time.  Some, though certainly not all, of the dirt that accumulates inside a pot, making it scratchy sounding, is not exogenous to the pot, but rather microscopic shards of the resistive strip that have been scraped off by the wiper over protracted use.  When I get new pots, if I'm not too busy, I like to pop the backs off and put a few dabs in there so that it acts like a conductive lubricant.  That may well verge onto the sort of voodoo beliefs I ascribe to audiophiles, but my hunch is that the viscous quality of the stuff will, over the life of the pot, reduce the kind of friction that eventually makes pots unusable.  It would help my case considerably if there were data examining accumulation of residue over 10,000 or 20,000 wiper rotations in treated vs untreated wah pots.  Sadly, there isn't, so for now, I act on faith and gut sense. 

[Earthscum]

No voodoo there, IMHO. It IS a lubricant, after all. They say on their site to be careful about too much, resulting in the contact hydroplaning.

Once you get 1 shard, it rolls, creating an irregular surface, which grinds down, creating more debris, and on and on. Lubrication (plus, as you mentioned, it fills small irregularities) obviously would keep that from happening, and ensure a longer life.

I have an old DART powered mixer that every pot is scratchy on, hence why we never used it, and it sits looking all 70's-ish with it's colorful knobs.  If I were to hit them with Stabilant, and it fixes the pots, is that voodoo? If so, then I guess I'd be a witchdoctor. 

Now... if I were to buy a blue dot that I put on the wall and it makes my sound system better, I would call Voodoo.