Thoughts on people who polish the contacts on cartridge games
What are your thoughts on people who claim to "Professionally Clean" cartridge games by using some kind of contact cleaner to polish the contacts? I say stop it! You are ruining the game. That black stuff coming off the contacts is not dirt but is actually the gold plating.
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What are your thoughts on people who claim to "Professional Clean" cartridge games by using some kind of contact cleaner to polish the contacts? I say stop it! You are ruining the game. That black stuff coming off the contacts is not dirt but is actually the gold plating.
It's both. I've had a number of games (usually from the South) that refused to work until the pins got something more than alcohol. You just have to temper it so that you're not taking so much off that you're leaving them silver
I say I've been using Glass stove top cleaner on my games for years and I don't have any problems with the games not working, so how exactly am I ruining the games?
This is the best option. Cleans up deposits without stripping off good metal.
I've seen carts where the gold layer was gone. I can't imagine how or why people even do that.
For instance, there is a guy at a local flea market here in NW Florida, we call him ShoeBox guy (Inside joke, because all of his actual games of value would fit in an average shoebox), SB guy takes apart and cleans every single game he sells, and wraps them in plastic bags, and charges a min. of 20% extra for his efforts. He acts like he is some sort of king because of it and that he does something that no one else does and it should justify charging $7 for sports NES games and ect.
-remove corrosion and oxidation
-be non-reactive with the pcb/mask materials
'grime' coming off is probably just oxidation, but once you start using abrasives like brasso or a fiberglass pen you are probably actually removing layers of the metal. contacts are electroplated in gold sometimes because it is less reactive than copper, not sure on the nes.
iso. alch is great for removing oxidation without removing layers of metal or damaging the mask. anything that is not designed to work with pcbs specifically is a crapshoot unless you are a materials scientist--it may work fantastic today but destroy the cart in another generation
What are your thoughts on people who claim to "Professionally Clean" cartridge games by using some kind of contact cleaner to polish the contacts? I say stop it! You are ruining the game. That black stuff coming off the contacts is not dirt but is actually the gold plating.
I say "ruin" away.
I'd much rather have a cart that works on the first attempt with a little less gold plating than a non-working cart.
@cartman if you have to use an abrasive that's a good compromise
I did repair/refurb on some the most pathetic looking insurance claimed water damage etc phones for a while and even in the heavy water damage/corrosion never saw a contact that eraser+iso alc(or mineral spirits) wouldn't fix
What are your thoughts on people who claim to "Professionally Clean" cartridge games by using some kind of contact cleaner to polish the contacts? I say stop it! You are ruining the game. That black stuff coming off the contacts is not dirt but is actually the gold plating.
I say "ruin" away.
I'd much rather have a cart that works on the first attempt with a little less gold plating than a non-working cart.
Really? The game may work today but 10 years from now you may run into some problems.
The black stuff is just gold plating thats already been removed from metal on metal contact when inserting and removing over the years so whats the big deal in removing that dirt anyways? Its already worn off
Depends how abrasive your stuff is. If you use a lot of force with Wiemens or any sort of metal polish wadding, it'll keep coming back black until all the gold is gone.
If rubbing alcohol isn't doing the trick, I'd use a little bit of Wiemens (maybe one Q-tip worth). That has worked 100% of the time for me.
What are your thoughts on people who claim to "Professionally Clean" cartridge games by using some kind of contact cleaner to polish the contacts? I say stop it! You are ruining the game. That black stuff coming off the contacts is not dirt but is actually the gold plating.
You seem to be making a very large mistake. I think you're talking about brasso, something that should NEVER be used on contacts, vs contact cleaner.
Brasso is not a contact cleaner, it's an abbrasive. I'm not sure if brasso leaves behind a film, but most copper polishing does. You shouldn't use this on contacts.
A contact cleaner will NOT damage the contacts... that's what they're made for. And the contacts are thicker than most people give credit for, but if you did have it worn off....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecoxUwzyc0Q
I've always just stuck with 70%+ rubbing alcohol, and never had a problem.
I do have contact cleaner from Radio Shack (RIP) that seems to work pretty well.
My Grandma and me used Brasso back in the late 80s and the carts still work perfectly fine, she probably went to town on em' to.....You just can't do it excessively.
There must be a some fine line with Brasso. I've gotten games where I can tell they used Brasso just by the smell, and the contacts are beyond hope.
You guys ever get those random carts with white shit smeared in them, almost like someone was scrubbing the contacts with toothpaste? I got a lot recently with a Metroid cart that had all sorts of shit up in there. Took the cart apart, cleaned it, and now it's performing at like 90% (still glitches randomly on screen). It's like the only game I've gotten in years that's fighting me
My Grandma and me used Brasso back in the late 80s and the carts still work perfectly fine, she probably went to town on em' to.....You just can't do it excessively.
There must be a some fine line with Brasso. I've gotten games where I can tell they used Brasso just by the smell, and the contacts are beyond hope.
You guys ever get those random carts with white shit smeared in them, almost like someone was scrubbing the contacts with toothpaste? I got a lot recently with a Metroid cart that had all sorts of shit up in there. Took the cart apart, cleaned it, and now it's performing at like 90% (still glitches randomly on screen). It's like the only game I've gotten in years that's fighting me
Ya I don't know man that is really weird, I just use a really fine soft cloth and give em quick hows your mother and thats it...literally have never had any issues, the contacts don't seem to have any wear either.
That is just frigged up about the Metroid cart to......
I must say there is only 1 NES cart that has ever given me issues in my entire life and that was Kirby's Adventure I actually still have the same cart from when I was 4....I had to blow in that thing, clean it, put it in, take it out like 30 times before it would play.
My Grandma and me used Brasso back in the late 80s and the carts still work perfectly fine, she probably went to town on em' to.....You just can't do it excessively.
There must be a some fine line with Brasso. I've gotten games where I can tell they used Brasso just by the smell, and the contacts are beyond hope.
You guys ever get those random carts with white shit smeared in them, almost like someone was scrubbing the contacts with toothpaste? I got a lot recently with a Metroid cart that had all sorts of shit up in there. Took the cart apart, cleaned it, and now it's performing at like 90% (still glitches randomly on screen). It's like the only game I've gotten in years that's fighting me
Ya I don't know man that is really weird, I just use a really fine soft cloth and give em quick hows your mother and thats it...literally have never had any issues, the contacts don't seem to have any wear either.
That is just frigged up about the Metroid cart to......
I must say there is only 1 NES cart that has ever given me issues in my entire life and that was Kirby's Adventure I actually still have the same cart from when I was 4....I had to blow in that thing, clean it, put it in, take it out like 30 times before it would play.
I had a Kirby's Adventure cart that worked perfectly
Yeah, I will get Metroid working. It's just stubborn as hell.