mark@mips.com (Mark G. Johnson) (04/08/91)
Have a look at the March 14, 1991 issue of _EDN_, a trade
magazine for electronics design engineers.
On page 59 appears an article "Fluids Vanquish Intermittent Contacts"
by Steven H. Leibson. It talks about a product called Stabilant 22a
from D W Electrochemicals.
"Stabilant 22a is a liquid polymer that fills gaps between mated
contacts and conducts current under applied electric field."
A graph is presented showing Total Harmonic Distortion versus signal
level; it's dramatic. At a signal level of 1.0 mV (about average for
moving-magnet cartridge outputs; way bigger than moving-coil cartridges)
Aged Contacts: THD ~=~ 0.007%
New, as-purchased Contacts: THD ~=~ 0.003%
Contacts aged, then treated
with Stabilant 22: THD ~=~ 0.002%
THD rises dramatically as signal level decreases; low level signals
are especially badly wounded by contacts. Note that Stabilant 22a
is able to improve the (poor) performance of aged contacts, even beyond
that of new ones.
"You can get Stabilant 22a from Sumiko, an importer of high-end
audio equipment. Sumiko calls it Tweek. A 7-ml bottle of Tweek
costs $18. [ed note: $2.57 / ml]
Personal Computing Tools, a catalog sales outfit, sells a 50-ml
bottle for $76. [ed note: $1.52 / ml] The president, Leon
Hamner, says he knows the chemical must be a good product because
he has sold approximately 500 bottles and has had less than 2%
returned. He says that return rate is very low for products
sold through a catalog.
--
-- Mark Johnson
MIPS Computer Systems, 930 E. Arques M/S 2-02, Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 524-8308 mark@mips.com {or ...!decwrl!mips!mark}