Pencil eraser to clean mech contacts

[UncleChuck]

I hadn't seen this mentioned before so I figured I'd throw this out there, I've found that pencil erasers make excellent tools to clean the contacts on your mech. It won't remove material like emery cloth, ladies nail sanding pads, etc will. It also won't send fine sanding dust all over inside your mech.

I use the ones that look like this:



The smaller end works great for sticking in your 510 connection to clean the positive pin.


Nothing profound, just a easy method I figured I'd share.

 

[Ryedan]

Good one! I've used erasers for years for cleaning contacts in photography gear. Works very well. I would never use sandpaper or anything abrasive unless I wanted to remove contact material or plating.

 

[K-rad]

Yeah my buddy use IT on his kick and it did work, much better than giving it a standing

Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 4

 

[gerdalti]

This works great, I've done the same. If only I could find a good way to clean the threads (510 and other).

 

[State O' Flux]

Good you brought this up Chuck.

As a retired gunsmith, this is a "vaping cross-over" item for me. If you need a more aggressive rubberized abrasive (or, an abrasive imbedded rubber ;-)), for sanding or polishing, Cratex bits are available in a number of shapes and shapes. Intended for use on die grinders like the Foredom (or a Dremel), they can be mounted on shafts, or used as-is, hand held.

There are lots of gunsmithing tools (and metal prep methods) that I've found frequently cross-over... especially with RBAs and mech mods.

 

[UncleChuck]

Good you brought this up Chuck.

As a retired gunsmith, this is a "vaping cross-over" item for me. If you need a more aggressive rubberized abrasive (or, an abrasive imbedded rubber ;-)), for sanding or polishing, Cratex bits are available in a number of shapes and shapes. Intended for use on die grinders like the Foredom (or a Dremel), they can be mounted on shafts, or used as-is, hand held.

There are lots of gunsmithing tools (and metal prep methods) that I've found frequently cross-over... especially with RBAs and mech mods.

First off I'm incredibly jealous of your previous profession! Being a gunsmith seems like one of the most enjoyable careers around, too bad it's so hard to break into (or at least seems that way)

Second, thanks for the link to the cratex bits, those seem useful for vaping stuff and many other things!

This works great, I've done the same. If only I could find a good way to clean the threads (510 and other).

A q-tip is the best thing I've found to clean 510 threads. The eraser I pictured also works for cleaning the threads, if you put the fat end in there, press down, and screw it clockwise it will thread into the 510 and clean it out. But then it also leaves behind little chunks of eraser that broke off so you end up cleaning with a q-tip anyway heh.

 

[l0stm4n]

erasers have been used to clean electrical contacts on pc's for ages, i had figured this was more commonly known around here.
just dont do it with the red ones, they leave behind some oily residue. hope more folks see the thread.

unclechuck, when i see your avatar i cant help but think of tobias funke

 

[UncleChuck]

erasers have been used to clean electrical contacts on pc's for ages, i had figured this was more commonly known around here.
just dont do it with the red ones, they leave behind some oily residue. hope more folks see the thread.

unclechuck, when i see your avatar i cant help but think of tobias funke

View attachment 244215

Yeah it blue my mind (ho!) that I hadn't seen the eraser thing mentioned here before, as like you said it's a pretty common method used for other electronics, it surprised me it wasn't the "go-to" method for contact cleaning in the mech world.

And I actually laughed out loud about the tobias thing, that's hilarious. I figured people would probably just think I was obsessed with blue-man group or something not knowing it's Maynard from tool in my avatar pic, but taking it a step further to tobias cracked me up. Easily one of the funniest characters on a show full of numerous funny characters.

 

[State O' Flux]

First off I'm incredibly jealous of your previous profession! Being a gunsmith seems like one of the most enjoyable careers around, too bad it's so hard to break into (or at least seems that way)

Second, thanks for the link to the cratex bits, those seem useful for vaping stuff and many other things!

A q-tip is the best thing I've found to clean 510 threads.

Sorry to burst the bubble Uncle C, but gunsmithing... like any other "hobby", once you turn "pro" becomes as tedious and irritating as any other real job. The only difference is, you start out with blinders on, instead of knowing right up front that it blows.
I was a technical instructor for Harley-Davidson and a chassis development guy for a Japanese MC firm who shall remain nameless... and those eventually sucked too.
It's the people that ruin it for you... people just don't like to see other people succeed and be happy, I guess.

But enough about broken rose colored glasses... You are sooooo right The Q-Tip may very well be the most handy tool ever invented by man - right next to the flyswatter, er... hammer.