Conductive Grease in Atari 3rd Party Joysticks?

[thetallguy24]

I've got some 3rd party sticks that aren't working well, so I opened them up to clean them out. Some of them have all metal contacts for the joystick and are covered in a dirty, greasy, oily substance. Is this conductive grease? If so, should I clean it off and put new grease on it?

[chas10e]

I would imagine that was a dielectric grease applied by a previous owner

 

clean it all off especially for leaf switch contacts

 

dielectric grease is actually an insulator ... it doesn't "make a good electrical contact" but in the instance of the tines in a paddle controller ... it will "keep the contacts clean from dirt & debris"

 

http://www.w8ji.com/dielectric_grease_vs_conductive_grease.htm

[thetallguy24]

Some of the sticks had never been opened before, such as some Suncom sticks

[24Fanatic365]

I found that goop in one of my Slik Stiks. The other one didn't have anything. Any suggestions for keeping these joysticks going for longer time periods?? Cleaned them both up a few months ago, and now one doesn't go right reliably, and the fire button on the other one is hit and miss. Both problems are pretty frustrating when playing Space Invaders!

 

 

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Edited September 2, 2015 by 24Fanatic365