On Dec 26, 2024, at 13:47 , ed breya via groups.io <eb@...> wrote:
In the old tube scope days it was common to give detergent and water washing, but I don't think it would be OK for newer stuff like 7K without some caveats. Maybe, maybe not - it would take some investigation to see.
I tried it with a 7704A that was pretty filthy, after reading the article here on scope washing and noticing the photo on the last page is of a 7K scope being washed at the Factory Service Center:
It also says "The 7000-Series plug-ins are washed with the side panels in place. This saves time and prevents a mix-up in panels." This gave me further confidence to try it.
After success with the 7704A, I did the same thing with a 7904, also with success. Unfortunately, the 7904 frame doesn't separate top and bottom to fit in the oven like the 7704A does, so I relied on summer heat to dry it.
I think Hypcon hybrids and elastomer switches are where washing becomes a bad idea, from my reading of the 7104 maintenance note, so did not try it with the 7104, 7A29, 7B10, etc (and would not with a 7904A, either).
If you need to do instrument cleaning regularly, another option that's effective and totally dry is to invest in an air powered walnut shell blast cleaner. You can get the whole shebang at Harbor Freight, for instance. Years ago I got a vibratory tumbler cleaner and a huge box of walnut shell from them for cleaning ammo brass, but I've never tried it in an air blaster on surfaces. I believe that Tek used this method instead of water in the later years.
I'd like to try blasting for other reasons, but wonder about dust? Walnut and corncob both make a lot of really fine dust in my vibratory tumbler, but I'm lazy and tumble my brass too long.
thanks,
Adam
