Best Cartride Cleaning Solution: The Poll

[Rick Dangerous]

So...I have been cleaning my carts with a 50/50 mix of isopropyl alcohol and distilled water since the mid 90's when I started noticing problems with my NES due to dusty carts. I have since read that I should NOT be using alcohol, because my contact points and carts will melt like the Nazi's faces from Raiders of the Lost Ark. However, my carts still look great, the points look great, and the carts work as new, for all systems after 20+ years of doing this.

 

So what is the story, is it different stokes for different folks, or is there a 100% correct way to do this? I would think cleaning solution would contain alcohol as well, and is more a ploy to get you to buy a "gaming specific" product rather than dirt cheap drugstore alcohol/water. I would also think that soap would be bad because it would leave a film. Just water also strikes me as not ideal because moisture and electronics don't mix. The mix of the alcohol to dry up any remaining water, and clean carbon/dust from the points seems ideal.

 

What is your take, and perhaps if you have one "secret recipe?"

 

I also use a NES and N64 cleaning kit to clean about everything (having cut down the felt for cart slots to various sizes and systems, but as those wear out i'm resorting to cue tips and such. I have also heard a monitor cleaning wipe over a credit card works well for cart slots. Besides the solution, what do you use as cleaning implements?

 

Looking forward to seeing what works for people and learning some new tricks

[CatPix]

Naphta; sold as essence F here :

 

Remove all kind of filth and dissolve glue from price stickers. Can bleach non laminated stickers tho.

I also don't use it on the PCB; I use cardboard to rub on the pins.

[omegadot]

I use common brown cardboard from boxes to rub the pins. Cardboard comes away gray and they all work. I learned that here.

[Rick Dangerous]

Can someone post a picture of the cardboard, and how that works?

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

[fiddlepaddle]

First, I suggest you use a higher percentage alcohol, the higher the better. 91% is available at many drug stores, and is cheap. 99% is available at speciality stores (electronics, online) and a little more expensive. My favorite product is Caig Deoxit/Progold which costs a little more, but very economical over the long term.

 

Any water will have some potential to oxidize. I don't think the alcohol will damage the plastic unless you let it soak for much longer than what happens when you rub some on and it evaporates.

 

I don't think the alcohol "dries up the water"; I think the alcohol part evaporates first, then the water part evaporates. And you probably don't see much, if any damage because both dry fairly rapidly. Note that the rate of evaporation depends on the relative humidity in your location; more moisture in the air will slow evaporation and cause more oxidation.

 

Cardboard is abrasive and will likely cause problems eventually if done repeatedly.

[+wongojack]

I've had folks recommend Brasso which is a metal polish. I've also seen DeOx recommended. At one point the thing to use was Weiman's Glass Cook Top Cleaner

 

I've only tried metal polish on a suspected dead cart once and while it sure did clean those pins, it did not bring the cart back. I thought to myself, if this cart got so dirty that they couldn't play it, surely they would have stopped trying before silver polish is required to remove the gunk.

 

Mostly, I use 99% alcohol and a q tip.

[CatPix]

Cardboard is abrasive and will likely cause problems eventually if done repeatedly.

Any way of "cleaning" the pins is in fact removing the oxydation; in either way the pins will reoxydize over time. The advatage of cardboard is that it's a dry solution, that therefore doesn't bring any kind of humidity.

[Noah98]

For all of my SNES/Nes carts I take them apart and polish the pins with Weiman's Glass Cook Top Cleaner. I then use 91% alcohol to finish and make sure there is no residue. Some people even suggest Windex.

 

All of my games work flawlessly and I have resurrected many thrift store / flea market games that were absolutely filthy!

[+GoldenWheels]

I had to get a new 72 pin connector a while back so bought on of those combo sets on ebay that has the connector, a driver for the carts, and a little grey abrasive eraser. These things work GREAT on contacts (but yes you have to open all carts to clean them):

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-NES-SNES-N64-NINTENDO-GAME-MOTHERBOARD-TYPE-CLEANING-CONTACT-ERASER-/190784430617?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c6ba36219

 

I'm sure this may just be some cheap office store eraser but damn it works. Oxidation, dirt, light rust (!) all slough off with some pressure. I do use some high % alcohol to clean off the contacts post cleaning, makes sure any eraser dust gets gone).

Edited July 31, 2015 by GoldenWheels

[omegadot]

My understanding is that the cardboard is abrasive enough to take off the oxidation but not really damage the metal itself. Which seems to be evident in how the cardboard itself smooths out quickly during use. I can't see any evidence of damage and it's brought carts from a real pain to working every time.

 

I think most cleaning methods are going to introduce some effect to the material treated, though. I've used alcohol / q-tips to some success, I suppose. I haven't used any other methods in years.

[AtariLeaf]

a high percentage isopropyl alcohol is what I've always used and it just works.

[CGQuarterly]

Just use a white eraser. No need to mess around with all of these chemicals. You can get one for about a buck anywhere that pencils & pens are sold.

 

http://www.cgquarterly.com/2010/03/06/how-to-clean-your-games/

 

I've been doing that for over 10 years now, and it works without fail, unless the contacts are literally corroded, in which care you need metal polish. But that's pretty damned rare.

[Cobra Commander]

Another vote for friction, which is absent from the poll. I use a soft piece of wood, like a sim from the hardware store. I learned this in the US Navy soldering school, where they use what is called an Orange Stick. It's more of a polishing technique. I've used alcohol and contact cleaner in the past. I haven't spilled the wood yet or left the cap off for it to evaporate.

 

I've been using this one for a couple years now.

Edited August 2, 2015 by Cobra Commander

[CGQuarterly]

Another vote for friction, which is absent from the poll. I use a soft piece of wood, like a sim from the hardware store. I learned this in the US Navy soldering school, where they use what is called an Orange Stick. It's more of a polishing technique. I've used alcohol and contact cleaner in the past. I haven't spilled the wood yet or left the cap off for it to evaporate.

 

I've been using this one for a couple years now.

stick.jpg

 

That's very interesting! When you say "soft", are we talking pine soft, or balsa wood soft?

[Cobra Commander]

 

That's very interesting! When you say "soft", are we talking pine soft, or balsa wood soft?

Ya, like pine or spruce. Douglas Fir is probably popular in your neck or the "woods" A chopstick may also work if its NOT bamboo. Balsa is probably not rigid enough to get a decent scrub, but could work on exposed contacts where a more perpendicular angle is possible. Like using a pencil.

[CatPix]

Make sense, and I already used soft wood when I needed and had it but I mentionned cardboards as most people will likely have cardboard at home, but may not have a small piece of wood at hand.

 

I notice also that msot people seems to define "cleaning the cartridge" as "cleanign the contact pins" Yet I named Essence F for cleaning the plastic shell and label which can be convenient when the shell and labels are soiled by dirt, moisture, marker writings and old prices tags.

Edited August 2, 2015 by CatPix

[+stupus]

I find the high alcohol content rubbing alcohol or game specific cleaner work great for wet cleaning. Done with a qtip and then followed with a dry qtip, and then a blast of compressed air for cleaning electronics.

 

Once the game is cleaned this way, and stored properly new light oxidation can be removed with just a dry qtip. Also old game cleaning kits came with a little stick with a pad on the end with a leather like material on the end. Kind of like a strop you would use on a knife blade. I would use something soft and stray away from wood etc.

Things like this over time will wear on the pins.

 

When the pins are bad enough that wet cleaning is just not enough, a clean white art type eraser works great and is pretty gentle. After that if more is needed you could go to the step with a metal polish. They make one just for video games, which is probably best to use.

I would use polishing as a last step, as any polish definitely removes some amount of metal from the pins. So it should be a last resort only when needed imho.

 

Also I have fixed the terrible atari 5200 controllers with the white art eraser.

I had 1 with no buttons working what so ever and made it work again like new.

I opened it up and rubbed all the button contacts on the membrane with the white eraser until all oxidation was gone, then used alcohol to clean the membrane and the carbon circles on the rubber button pads.

Put it together and works perfect

[atari-dna]

I like the white eraser, I purchased one at an art store for a few bucks. For really grimy contacts a little dab of Noxon7 shines up pins like nobody's business. I've also had success with the Weiman's stovetop stuff-- but the harsh stuff is rarely needed. I have access to highly distilled water from the lab, at the micron level. That stuff will leech the minerals from your teeth if you drink it. Not corrosive at all, and doesn't dry the plastics out like alcohol can.

 

 

 

[Eltigro]

I've always had good results with just the regular old 91% isopropyl and a cotton swab. Just used it last night to get a cart working again. I had bought a couple of Master System games from a local shop and one wouldn't play. A little scrubbing and a blackened swab later, and I was dying on the first level in no time

[Reaperman]

I much prefer a white eraser on games with easy to access pins (lynx, tg16, supervision, etc)

but when I can't use them, or would have to open the case to use them, I fall back on 90%+ alcohol solutions and q-tips.

[carlsson]

Another vote on pencil eraser for deep cleaning. It doesn't have to be white even, over here we have green ones that work great. I suppose one can polish the contacts afterwards with isopropanol or similar, but if the dirt is thorough, only swabbing with alcohol usually doesn't work for me. Of course you may have to take the cartridge apart to reach with the eraser, so perhaps try some alcohol first.