Tube Pin Corrosion Removal?

[vigilante397]

I recently came into possession of a handful (pronounced "two hundred") NOS and vintage tubes, but unfortunately they were stored outside for years and the many have super corroded pins to the point that they test bad just because they aren't making a good electrical connection with the tube tester. Is there a quick and easy way to clean these pins off? Or am I in for long nights with steel wool scrubbing every single pin?

[italianguy63]

Maybe jewelry cleaner for silver from Walmart?!

[mozz]

Brass brush.

[stallik]

I've got a brass brush and a bit of time

[vigilante397]

I've got a brass brush and a bit of time

And while I would love to send you all of them and have you clean them and send them back, keeping a few for yourself as payment for your time, the postage would kill me

I think I have a brass brush around somewhere, or maybe I'll pick up a couple and my wife and I can put on a movie and have a tube-cleaning date night. She'll be thrilled

[Kipper4]

Might sound daft but I got some Brasso. 

Or T Cut.

[stallik]

More seriously, when you find the right technique, please post in case any of us ever find a 'handful'

[vigilante397]

More seriously, when you find the right technique, please post in case any of us ever find a 'handful'

Will do. I'll be sure to get some before/after pics, as well as picks of the entire "handful." The gentleman gave me closer to 2000 tubes, and of those about 200 were good for traditional amplifier/pedal purposes (12AX7, 12AT7, 12AU7, EL84, 6L6, 6V6). Now I just need to find out how many of those 200 are actually worth keeping. Lots of GE, RCA, Tung-Sol, Tungsram, Amperex, and even a couple Mullard. Well worth an afternoon spent helping a gentleman clean up his house

[anotherjim]

This is actually a thing...
https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Male-Electrical-Cleaners-8043/dp/B0184DSZOC

[vigilante397]

This is actually a thing...
https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Male-Electrical-Cleaners-8043/dp/B0184DSZOC

Oh man. So it looks great, and if I was doing one or two tubes it would be perfect. But doing every single pin of 200 tubes one at a time is going to get tedious I like the brass brush idea because I can hit multiple pins at once, and with very little finesse. I was hoping there was some magic chemical that I could just set them all in, come back in an hour, and they would be good.

EDIT: Apparently vinegar? Maybe try soaking the pins in vinegar for a bit then hitting them with a wire brush? I have a can of de-oxit, which I'm sure is good for this, but I feel like that will run out pretty quick cleaning that many tubes. I'll save that for pots and such.

[EBK]

Lemon juice.
I'm borrowing wisdom here, but the explanation sound good.
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/244640-corroded-valve-pins-post3676366.html

[vigilante397]

Lemon juice.
I'm borrowing wisdom here, but the explanation sound good.
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/244640-corroded-valve-pins-post3676366.html

Thanks Eric, that thread was a good read I saw lemon juice and vinegar mentioned, as well as WD-40, though I'm more likely to try lemon juice or vinegar because they're considerably cheaper to get in the volume I will need. I think I'll try lemon juice first, as the smell is a bit more palatable

[vigilante397]

UPDATE

So lemon juice is a winner. I put the tubes in a small dish and put in enough lemon juice to cover the pins, then left it for two hours. After the two hour soak I scrubbed the pins with an old toothbrush under running water then left them on a towel to dry. I started with a small batch then moved to a bigger dish when I found out that it worked. Last night I finished all my 12AX7, 12AT7, EL85, and 6V6, and tonight I'll do the 6L6 and 12AU7. Here's a few pictures:







The last picture shows most of the 12AT7 (top two rows) all the EL84 (pretty obvious) and all the 12AX7 (everything else). I'm aware that several tubes have getters that look suspect and may have a bad seal, but for now I'm just indiscriminately cleaning, the bad ones will get thrown out when I get to testing.

[sarakisof]

I had success by soaking in white vinegar, then scrab with steel wool soaked before in pure isopropyl and rinse with isopropyl.
Aluminum foil soaked in vinegar would work too.
How do you guys find such great gentlemen nowadays? 

[bluebunny]

They look so cute stood in their bath!  Like little metallic minions!   

[mozz]

They look great now. Maybe some light oil now to preserve them or kept in a dry environment.

[Kipper4]

Hmmm it's a good point the future storage may determine how much further corrosion will occur.

Oils alright as long as it's removed before usage. Or I fear it would burn and smoke with the heat, no?

Didn't they use wax paper to store them back int day?

I'd be tempted to store them with the pins in as airtight a condition as I could.
Plasticine? Maybe insert the pins in a polystyrene block ?

Good job Nathan looking great.

[EBK]

... left them on a towel to dry.

That made me slightly nervous.  I'd want those pins water-free as soon as possible, but I seem to enjoy worrying. 

[vigilante397]

That made me slightly nervous.  I'd want those pins water-free as soon as possible, but I seem to enjoy worrying. 

A fair point. I'm not taking them straight from the towel and throwing them in an amp, they will all be thoroughly made water-free before they go into use. It's a process

How do you guys find such great gentlemen nowadays? 

He was a guy I knew from church, he was getting kicked out of the house he lived in for 40 years (long story). He was a severe hoarder and needed help cleaning up and sorting through junk, so me and some friends went and helped, and he said we could take anything we wanted for our time. So I got a bunch of tubes, a friend got some motorcycle parts, it was a good day

[thetragichero]

which types of "non-standard guitar tubes" you get?
besides stuff like 6sn7 (which are literally worth their weight in gold), a gander at some of the diy amp forums would show that one can design around a number of different audio tubes