Caig stuff is the greatest. I have used FaderLube with no issues on all sorts of boards. The DeOxit spray is also very good on connectors and switches. Highly recommended.

Ditto on the Caig products. Cleaning dirty faders, pots & switches is a fact of studio life. FWIW, I cover my board when I'm not using it, and also vacuum the surface every couple of weeks.

there's nothing wrong with some cleaning.... but just a quick idea... the likely hood of exactly the same crakly on each chainell gets you to some other possiblities.... for instance coupling caps on an old board??? sorry man did you say what kinda board and age??? but hope its the dirt...

cool ... hope it works...

Here's an interesting note. Having worked in the professional audio manufacturing business, I can tell you that most manufacturers of most switches and potentiometers (volume controls/faders) DO NOT RECOMMEND THE USE OF SPRAY CONTACT CLEANERS AND LUBRICANTS. Of course that's what Caig laboratories and quickfix technicians make their living as on.

Generally the carbon or conductive plastic fader should be cleaned with warm soapy water and rinsed thoroughly. Only real silicone lubricant should be used very sparingly on moving and mechanical portions of the switches and shafts and the carbon or conductive plastic material should be clean and dry. Not lubricated.

These spray cleaners are just a temporary Band-Aid and can actually make the problem worse overtime. If you do not want to replace those parts, you would be best off to remove them carefully and purchase a small jewelry style ultrasonic cleaning device. You can then sink these parts into the ultrasonic cleaner with a concoction of water and/or Fantastic Spray Cleaner, not 409, or other specific ultrasonic cleaning solutions available on the industrial market. Once you have cleaned these devices in an ultrasonic cleaner and have allowed them to dry thoroughly over a period of days, you should find their operation to be almost like new again.

This is no joke. Smart technicians in the know, like myself and others, who are restoring old API and Neve consoles regularly use these ultrasonic cleaners to bring back the operation of switches and volume controls otherwise thought for dead. Of course this is a lot of work and when it comes to inexpensive consoles a much more daunting task, since they weren't built in mind for any kind of maintenance. Some of the switches and volume controls on these inexpensive consoles are much harder to remove than they are in their more expensive cousins.

Plus you really have to become quite expert at soldering. Something that is becoming a lost art due to surfacemount technology. Just forget about trying to repair surfacemount technology unless you are truly into microscopic ventures? I've screwed around with some of it but really don't want to touch it again.

Ouch! I hate when I get splashed by molten solder!
Ms. Remy Ann David

Well, there have been some crappy chemicals out there in the past ("Blue Shower" comes to mind; more like "Golden Showers"!) that were marketed to be used as a lubricant/cleaner for pots and switches. They did end up gunking-up the components something fierce.
But the Caig stuff, properly selected and used has done real well for me on Mackie, Yamaha, A & H, Soundcraft, and even an old (1973?) Neve Melbourne/w. P&G's. I think that "warm, soapy water", which was best for the discrete component design boards, might be a problem for these little, mass-produced "cheapie" mixers that the poster described that he has.
Those nasty faders are splash-soldered right to the main PCB, and they don't particularly like H2O. Not to mention that even accessing the little turds to clean them can be a big PIA with these newer, hermetically-sealed POC's. And there is definitely the probability that, because the faders may be soldered right onto the PCB, that the issue is from a hairline crack in the PCB...

good stuff Remy

there are various methods of getting things working and we techs do what we can with what we have available

I know I've used all the methods above
but
the luke warm soapy water and then complete careful drying
is often the best on so many electronic things

we have a cleaning spray here call Nifty ... I sometime use that

Head cleaning alcohol .. but you must test it on the plastics first

alcohol can suck up some residual water and moisture ... blow away with compressed air

ya do what ya gotta do

RemyRAD wrote: Of course that's what quickfix technicians make their living as on.

Generally the carbon or conductive plastic fader should be cleaned with warm soapy water and rinsed thoroughly.

purchase a small jewelry style ultrasonic cleaning device.

This is no joke.

Plus you really have to become quite expert at soldering. Something that is becoming a lost art due to surfacemount technology. Just forget about trying to repair surfacemount technology unless you are truly into microscopic ventures?

Ouch! I hate when I get splashed by molten solder!
Ms. Remy Ann David

#1. play nice there's a place for them (us) too....

#2.IME.. there's plenty of conductive plastics that dont like water... i've replaced too many keycontact switch boards and the like because of misinformed diy'ers...

#3. never thought about using one of those ... sounds like a good tip... thnx...

#4.shirley ye jest

#5.shame about the lost art and all... ever tried to replace a flatpack with a pencil iron???? ey ha! that's fun...lol... and begs the question is this all good advice for a guy with a "disposble"mixer?

if you get closer i'll splash ya myself.... but i still say ya haven't lived till ya grab a 600V line on an old hammond.....

On the contrary dementedchord, I grabbed the 350 volt DC plate current supply on my Knight Kit T-150A shortwave transmitter while grounded to a cold water pipe! I barely lived through that. That was when I was 14. That experience gave me HIGH-VOLTAGE PHOBIA. It took me many years to get over that experience. It really gives you much more respect for electricity to live through something like that. There's nothing like not being able to let go or breathe! Your life flashes before your eyes in mere seconds as you begin to lose consciousness. If you're lucky, like I was, while starting to crumple to the floor, it broke my thumb and forefinger free from the wire I was touching. I was promptly blown 4 feet into the side of our furnace which I put a huge dent into before collapsing on the floor paralyzed for hours! After a couple of hours, I was able to crawl (couldn't stand up for hours) upstairs, collapse onto the living room floor and sleep for most of the night. My parents thought I was doing drugs! I didn't want to tell them I nearly died tweaking up my shortwave transmitter. They would have taken it away from me and I couldn't have that now could I?

ELECTRIFIED!
Ms. Remy Ann David
and still cooking after all these years

LMAO.... oh...boy....i can see it... that 660v line was bad enough thank you very much luckily i wasn't holding a water pipe too... still pretty much threw me across the room.... also one time i started to replace the heating element in a water heater.... the box was mismarked.... dont know what i turned off but it wasn't the waterheater.... melted about 6" off a craftsman screw driver.... didn't have the balls to ask for a replacement.....

dementedchord! That's just as funny as one of my best friends was trying to tie in movie lights into this breaker box with a Craftsman Screwdriver, for this industrial film that we were working on, while I was standing there watching him. Unfortunately he slipped! Incredible explosion while melting the screwdriver in half and welding the ring on his finger to the inside metal case of the breaker box! We had to call the fire department as his hand was stuck inside the breaker box! They had to cut off the main power supply feed to the entire industrial warehouse building complex and cut the ring off of his finger while still in the box! He had wanted me to tie in the power and I said NO WAY! He's lucky to be alive today.

Shockingly real!
Ms. Remy Ann David