Thread: Xyz switch, just confirming before I commit

Where did you get your refurbished XYZ switch & what sort of price.

Cheers

$11.95

For a tube of dielectric grease: Conductive Carbon Grease 50g | Jaycar Electronics

Just:
1. remove your existing xyz switch
2. carefully punch out the 3 rivets holding the 2 halves together.
3. clean and inspect inside incl slide contacts
4. Lube with a small dob of above grease on each contact.
5. reassemble with bolts instead of rivets
6. reinstall and test / alignment

Done.

Originally Posted by simonmelb

$11.95

For a tube of dielectric grease: Conductive Carbon Grease 50g | Jaycar Electronics

A.) Brilliant to come back with a resolution and even better with a fix, so
B.) That's not dielectric grease.

That's the right thing to use for that particular application. If you use dielectric grease (which is never the right thing to use for switch contacts) any form of arcing (which happens a lot with switch contacts) turns the silicone dielectric grease into silicon carbide which will progressively abrade and destroy what is left of the contacts.

Dielectric grease is pretty much always the right thing to use on plugs and sockets, bulb contacts, bonding points or pretty much anything that doesn't arc. Never any good on switch contacts or near things like motors where the silicone fume can work its way into the commutator. Silicone grease is bad for lubricant in lock motors. Bad, bad, bad.

One of my pet peeves, but very important if you rebuild an expensive switch with dielectric grease which then fails at the most inconvenient and expensive time.