General rule for using a "leaves no residue" solvent like the WD40-brand product above is for connectors, relay contacts or 'snap' switch contacts that the surfaces don't slide across one another.
Any rotary control has the potential for friction damage unless it has a lubricant film. As a rule that kind of control came from the factory with some sort of lube on it. A pot's metal wiper sliding across a resistance element needs this. So does a rotary switch with moving contacts that slide under fixed contact points. Slide switches. This is the distinction of a "control" cleaner compared to the non-residue "contact" cleaner.
Once upon a time you could depend on seeing one or the other of those two descriptions on the package.
And if you use a "dry" non-residue cleaner on a control that never gets the knob turned, probably no harm done. Wear only matters if you turn the knob.
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Any rotary control has the potential for friction damage unless it has a lubricant film. As a rule that kind of control came from the factory with some sort of lube on it. A pot's metal wiper sliding across a resistance element needs this. So does a rotary switch with moving contacts that slide under fixed contact points. Slide switches. This is the distinction of a "control" cleaner compared to the non-residue "contact" cleaner.
Once upon a time you could depend on seeing one or the other of those two descriptions on the package.
And if you use a "dry" non-residue cleaner on a control that never gets the knob turned, probably no harm done. Wear only matters if you turn the knob.
73
