Selling gaming accessories. Click
Pink pencil eraser is the tool of choice here.
Q-tips and alcohol are uses to clean the contacts if I can't disassemble the cart. I use 100% isopropyl alcohol that is available at Fry's.
Formula 409 is my cleaner of choice for gunk on a cart or on the edge connectors. Rinse well with clean water or alcohol.
For permanent marker I use the pure 100% isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush or rag. If that doesn't work then I use a fresh marker to go over the old THEN use the alcohol to remove both.
The thing with isopropyl alcohol is that it will evaporate where using something like windex will leave a residue.
What was the amount per volume of the isopropyl alcohol you were using? Remember that 50% alcohol is going to be 50% water, which is what you don't want. Try to keep in the 90% range for contact cleaning, the cheaper stuff for general usage.
General cleaning I've had best results with Simple Green for grime and Windex for general plastics cleaning.
Last edited by InsaneDavid; 05-26-2010 at 09:20 PM.
Have to agree here. I have used it many years back, on an nes cart, which then went into intermittent nes system. The plus, worked perfect. Another plus, after a few carts had deoxit applied, the system would just work totally fine, without even needing to push the cart down. Connection was that good.
I keep a can of deoxit on hand, all the time, for that reason.
It was quite a while, like 8 years back, but no, that was the systems original 72 pin connector. I never specifically tried to clean it, but what I think happened, is that indeed, the cartridges transferred some of the deoxit to the 72 pin connector, where the repeated insertions and removals allowed the deoxit to do its thing.
I was at Radio Shack today with a buddy and noticed some of that Deoxit stuff on the shelf - no way I'm spending 20 bucks on a bottle of that. I guess I'll stick with the tooth paste.
Selling gaming accessories. Click
Yeah and it's a very small bottle at that. Maybe it lasts long, I dunno. Sounds like it's the best though.
hey guys...it's been a looong time coming, but I really need to clean all my nes and snes cartridges.
Question: I don't have windex, will Mr. Clean work equally as well?
Question: Is it true I can use toothpaste on the contacts? Will my ultrabright Advanced Whitening Toothpaste work? How does this compare to using Brasso?
thanks...I'll be going to the store in an hour...so I eagerly await whatever help you guys can give me.
bump. Can anyone help?
Yes you can use toothpaste on the cart contacts. But it's best to take the cart apart, otherwise you'll get toothpaste inside the cart.
"First I use straight toothpaste by rubbing it in with my fingers until the toothpaste turns dark. Then I wet the toothbrush and start brushing away at it. After I feel it has been cleaned off well I rinse the contacts off and brush until the suds go away. Finally I polish it off with a cotton towel. You'd be amazed how clean it gets. And toothpaste is always around and cheap."
Just make sure everything is nice and dry when you are done, I use a hair dryer sometimes if I accidently got some of the chips wet.
I guess one of these days I'll post a video of a before cleaning - during cleaning - and after cleaning - problem is: All of my carts have been cleaned already!
I don't know how it compares to Brasso personally. I have not use Brasso not even once in my entire life, but I know it's THE best tarnish remover. I just don't know - are the contacts Brass?
Let me know what you think when you try it. I am the only person I know other than myself that has done it this way. Maybe I can start a trend hehe.
Now toothpaste on a CD is a different story. Some people think that it's supposed to be some magic trick or something, put it on, rinse it off and you're disk will look like new.. But really, for CD's toothpaste is for more like doing localized scratch repair. And you have to rub the hell out of it. I have fixed many CD's that way, just use the toothpaste where the scratch is ONLY and basically dull the finish. For some reason people are covering the entire disc, letting it dry for 5 minutes (WTF?), then simply rinsing it off. I guess over the years the whole toothpaste process has been changed/altered and now people say it doesn't work, when it does - just because people are going about it wrong.
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works wonders on sharpie ink and is generally safe to use* on glossy NES and SNES labels. I recently picked up a bubble bobble cart that someone had drawn all over, a minute or two of gentle scrubbing and it looks as good as new. With the Zelda cart you might want to do a test on somewhere inconspicuous, as the gold coating isn't particularly durable.
*Magic Eraser / Melamine Foam is an abrasive, so there is a risk of damaging your stuff. I've had good luck, but your mileage may vary. I've heard horror stories about magic eraser wrecking N64 labels so be careful!