Clean Machines
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday November 24, 2003
This photograph is enough to make those who know anything about hi-fi equipment cover their heads with their arms and go catatonic for a day or two. It was taken by a Herald reader and shows the inside of an amplifier he bought second-hand.
"At first I thought all the fur had been put in there by the manufacturer to keep the electronics warm," he said in all sweet innocence.
The previous owner obviously had a cat. Now cats love hi-fi equipment because it's nice and warm. So they park their rumps on it and all the vents that are supposed to let the warm air out instead let the cat fur in. The reader's lucky break was that this was a good-quality amplifier and survived its treatment intact. Cats have killed lesser components stone-cold dead.
The problem of overheating is one that's going to get worse before it gets better. Part of the reason electronics have become so cheap is because manufacturers have cut corners, and one place where they've made economies is in heat sinks. That means you'll have far closer calls with overheating now than in the past.
Protective maintenance, therefore, is called for. We're about to suggest you spend $15 on a can containing nothing but air - but it does contain a lot of it. It's highly compressed air that you can use to blast out nasties - among them cat fur, muffin crumbs and grit.
Of course, blowing isn't always the best option; it might just get the stuff further in there. This is when a mini vacuum cleaner designed for a keyboard is handy. And for errant paper clips and old one-cent coins you may need a fine pair of tweezers.
But let's start at the beginning. When was the last time you cleaned your television screen? Ask this of most people and from the way they look at you blankly you know the idea of cleaning a television screen has never even entered their heads. Yet these need cleaning more often than window glass.
Television screens are statically charged and therefore act as magnets for dust. Give one a going-over with window cleaner and you'll be amazed at the extra brightness and contrast in your picture.
Glass cleaner is handy stuff. It's also good for battery terminals, speaker terminals, connectors, display panels and dirty CDs and DVDs.
And if you think brand-new DVD players in unopened boxes are clean, you've got rocks in your head. We receive lots of complaints from readers about brand-new DVDs that mistrack, pixelate or refuse to play at all. In the huge majority of cases all that's needed is a quick clean.
The grilles on your speakers also get dusty and here's a neat trick. Take them off, lay them flat on the floor and go over them quickly and lightly with the vacuum cleaner. That will get the dust out fast.
Don't vacuum them while they're in place on the speaker because the low air pressure will draw the speaker cone out from the motor and could do permanent damage.
Do you have a smoker in the house? Then buy a CD lens cleaner and use it on both the CD and DVD player every month or so. And if you need to clean tape heads, alcohol-based cleaners are the way to go.
But when you have a problem like our reader discovered in his amplifier, major surgery is required. You'll need to remove the outer casing of the component and before you do you need to check two things; firstly, that it doesn't void the warranty and, secondly, that the plug is disconnected.
Undo the screws holding the casing in place and lift it off gently. Don't touch anything but look carefully and plan your attack. Get what you can out with the compressed air, then use a mini vacuum (don't use a real vacuum, you could tear things apart) and remove the rest of the foreign bodies with tweezers. Be terribly gentle; mistakes cost a lot of money.
If anything more complex than this is required, get the component to a specialist.
Six-piece precision screwdriver set $1.97 from Dick Smith
Six fine screwdrivers with both Phillips and flat heads for less than two bucks? Unbelievable. They're also handy to use on the hinges of glasses.
Tweezers with magnifier
$1.93 from Tandy
Ingenious, useful and cheap, these are brilliant for retrieving tiny things from impossible places.
Lozenstar mini vacuum cleaner
$35.90 from Tandy
It has surprisingly strong suction and is great for keyboards as well as more complex equipment. It even has a removable dust tray.
Air Jet Spray
$14.98 from Dick Smith
This is extremely useful stuff for getting grit out of places you can't reach. If it seems expensive, well, how long will the job take without it?
© 2003 Sydney Morning Herald