Best cleaner/eraser for cart pins?

Jonap

Mega Shock!!
Joined
Oct 10, 2006
Posts
100
Hi friends someone can helpme find the best effective and secure for cart cleaner or eraser for it pins?

Classic school rubber + iso alcohol are a very basic solution, doesnt clean so much, then the only solution i found is a fiber glass pencil i have good results with it but i think its abrassive or ru de method because you "scratch" the pins.

I listen about "deoxit" but im from europe and the links i found are from USA, expensive for me with shipping.

Thanks a lot.
 

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2000
Posts
11,923
I don't use an eraser, but if you can't get Deoxit, IPA and even distilled water with a towel and credit card or table knife is usually enough. That will at least remove the dust and dirt. Any oxidization is where you would need a contact cleaner.

There is probably some electronics contact cleaner similar to Deoxit that's widely available in Europe:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=contac...tact+cleaner,aps,254&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-a-p_2_15
 
Last edited:

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2000
Posts
11,923
I'm gonna say no on the Magic Eraser. Never use anything remotely abrasive.
 

GohanX

Horrible Goose
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2001
Posts
12,490
Pretty much I'll start with alcohol, then go to contact cleaner and finally dexoit if the others don't work. Deoxit is messy and I hit it again with contact cleaner when done.

I've never used erasers or anything abrasive like that, I let the chemicals do the work.
 

supergoose

Die Gans,
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2001
Posts
4,042
Guys, I didn't tell anyone to scrub the hell out of it using that magic eraser. Neither did I say that I'm doing that every other week. I have carts that I cleaned once years ago and they still work flawlessly. Going lightly over the pins doesn't do any harm whatsoever. If your're that worried, then you shouldn't be using q-tips either, since those too can be abrasive. So are the cart slots in your consoles, btw.
 
Last edited:

kuze

Akari's Big Brother
10 Year Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2013
Posts
2,549
Deoxit is the best option I’ve come across, one can will last you forever. It just takes a quick spray per use.
 

ChuChu Flamingo

We have purposely, trained him wrong, ...as a joke
10 Year Member
Joined
Nov 23, 2010
Posts
2,762
Keep in mind there are different Deoxits.

D5L is what most people get for cleaning contacts from what I see which is 5% solution, 95% lubrication iirc. It leaves a protective sticky coat if you don't clean it off. I clean it off since that sticky shit will attract dirt over time.

D100l is what you want as it is 100% solution. For cartridges the precision needle variant is probably best as you can conserve the precious nintendium. The spray nozzle waste too much although it is good for hard to reach spots if you use it for other things. The brush applicator can be good too but you don't want to contaminate the bottle after cleaning something dirty.

In any case my windex protocol for cleaning my games are in this order: soft white art vinyl eraser (the type you use to remove sketches and paint), electrical contact cleaner, then apply deoxit. Afterwards I usually leave the deoxit on for a few minutes, sometimes ten to twenty. Then I wash it all away with 99% isopropyl alcohol.

The method is pretty similar to what gohanX stated. I can wiggle my cartridges and they don't crash or glitch. Once you get that initial 20-25 years of unstable air off your pins the most cleaning you will have to do is use contact cleaner.
 
Last edited:

bubba966

Cinema Ninja!,
Joined
Sep 24, 2013
Posts
1,542
I use a regular soft pink eraser, then clean that residue off with quick drying electrical contact cleaner rubbed off with paper towel. If the pins are particularly oxidized I'll hit it with the contact cleaner first, rub it off with a paper towel, then do the eraser & contact cleaner routine.

Light dirt/oxidation will just get hit with the contact cleaner.

I've thought about grabbing deoxit before. But the eraser & proper electrical contact cleaner work wonders so why bother?
 
Top