Best way to wipe off the dust cleaning the gear


Cleaning the turntable and the amplifiers with the vacuum tubes sticking out of panels is quite tedious and time consuming for me.
I have to be really careful navigating the wiping cloth around the delicate tubes and turnable components. I wonder if there are any tools or tricks that could be used to simplify this unavoidable and repeating procedure. 
esputnix

Showing 1 response by whart

I use a combination of things- you can buy vacuum cleaner attachments that are meant for computer, electronics and the like; from what I understand, vacuum is not supposed to be applied directly to internal components- but used in conjunction w/ a separate brush to catch and remove the debris. I’m not vacuuming the innards but I still use that approach.
There’s a tool called a LensPen that you can find on Amazon or elsewhere as a brand name item. It works pretty well as a dust brush on tubed components - I used it to dust the exposed chassis of a vintage McI MX 110z which is cluttered as hell and has a lot of protrusions set against a chromed chassis.
For anodized sheet metal, I got tipped to Endust for Electronics by the folks at Lamm who I had sent a piece to for work; it came back shiny new and that was what they used.
There is also a pump spray (I’d have to check the brand) that is used to clean computer display screens. I apply that to a very soft cloth to dust the piano lacquer finish on a number of woofer cabinets, and wipe it dry with a similar cloth that is meant for this type of application.
It’s sort of an endless task. My main system is in a dedicated room on the second floor where no one goes but me or my wife- no pets, no foot traffic, yet the dust just accumulates even though we have pretty high grade HVAC, I replace the filters and use a HEPA air cleaner near the cleaning equipment in an adjacent room.