Corroded tube pins - need help


Hi

Just got a pair of Tung-Sol VT-231. One of the tubes has some CORRODED pins. The METAL PLATING is a bit consumed. I guess this is more problematic than simply oxidated pins - am I correct?

I read some suggestions but I am still confused. For a start, English is not my mother tongue (and this discussion tends to get a bit too technical for my English skills) plus I found many different opinions.

Some people say even toothpaste is a good solution (for corroded pins?). I am willing to try, than clean the pins with alcohol and finally use the contact enhancer that came along with my Audience Au24 cables. Is this a good procedure? Any better solution?

Thank you very much for helping,
Lisbon
lisbon

Showing 2 responses by dekay

I use metal polish (Flitz) followed up with electrician's alcohol (on non-gold plated pins).

Burnishing cloth (the purple/cloth sand paper) works as well.

I never use contact enhancer (Pro Gold, etc.) on tube pins, just 99.95%+ alcohol or a non-residue contact cleaner as a final step. I fear that enhancers will gum up @ higher tempuratures (cleaning gunk from tube sockets is zero fun).

Some people use small drills to polish/clean pins, but I'm too clumsy to attempt this. The less stress you place on the pins and their glass interface the better off you/they are, IMO.

I've had tubes with "pocked" pins sound fine after cleaning/polishing. Hopefully this will be the case with yours.