Page 1 of 1

Cleaning Arp Faders

PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 11:06 pm
by harry
Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone has an APP with bad faders (intermittent / stuck) and if so, does anyone know a good way to recondition the faders?

I wish that replacements were easy to get..

Re: Cleaning Arp Faders

PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 6:28 am
by Thirteen
Really the only way is to remove, dismantle and clean them properly. you can buy new carbon tracks that you can snap into your old slider frame if your old tracks are worn out. One thing that I have noticed about the majority of ARP sliders that I have tested is that the resistive values of the tracks are often much higher than is marked on the slider, I always assumed that it was an ageing thing and I do wonder how having sliders with values up to 50% higher than they may have been when new changes the overall tone and functionality of the synth.

Re: Cleaning Arp Faders

PostPosted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 1:49 am
by harry

Re: Cleaning Arp Faders

PostPosted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 6:58 am
by Thirteen
I haven't tried that particular brand of replacement sliders, if you can't restore your existing sliders it would be a reasonable alternative I would think. Some aftermarket sliders are better than others.

Re: Cleaning Arp Faders

PostPosted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 5:39 pm
by harry
Thanks for your input Steve.

Apparently they utilize the design of the original. This worries me as the design is prone to failure (dust / dirt falling into the slider, slider getting caught in the track / groove as gunk build up.
Shipping is a massive $68 as well, so it's a close to $300AUD proposition for a set of sliders that will eventually need servicing...

What someone needs to do is create daughterboard PCBs for those $2 alps faders on mouser...

Decisions decisions..

Re: Cleaning Arp Faders

PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 2:02 pm
by Nigel99
So far I have found the repro sliders not up to scratch. The plastic is soft and flimsy compared to the hard shiny solid originals, and they're textured which gives a different resistance and physical feel. Salvaging your old ones is probably the best bet if you can source the carbon tracks.

It's all a bunch of stuffing around from my experience and produces varying results...

Re: Cleaning Arp Faders

PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 4:21 pm
by Thirteen
I agree, none of the reproduction sliders that I have tried have been as good as the originals mechanically, I tend to buy replacement tracks for the original sliders but even with them I have noticed a significant failure rate, they are pretty fragile and difficult to insert without breaking.

Re: Cleaning Arp Faders

PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 5:12 pm
by Futureman
The original ones that I've seen all had gold plated contacts.

The repro ones I've seen all had zinc plated contacts.

There is always the option of the "lumina" mod.. Not cheap, but good if you want nice new faders and want your Arp to look like a Christmas tree.

Re: Cleaning Arp Faders

PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 6:13 pm
by harry
Interesting considerations.

If that's the case, i don't want to fork out $300 and be unhappy with the result..

My idea would be to make a set of daughterboard PCBs using common mill max pins to mate the PCB to the arp main board.
I would hopefully recycle the metal tabs that bend / twist to mechanically couple the daughterboard to the pcb, and place solder tabs on the daughterboard to solder these metal pins in place.

The thing i love about the old faders is that they slide freely (when they are serviced..) This allows me to use the LFO sliders and asdr-lfo sliders as a kind of modulation wheel, pitch bender (my arp does not have the PPC things.)

If i can find a new reliable / cheap slider that feels nice, moves freely, is the same length and shallow enough to allow for a daughterboard, i'll learn how to use eagle and get some boards made - a friend of mine is an EE, he'd be keen i think..

Maybe if anyone more knowledgeable can chime in with fader recommendations, i'll start looking up tech specs and start measuring faders, clearances etc...

Re: Cleaning Arp Faders

PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 8:09 pm
by harry
So this week i finally got around to servicing these faders..

Things i have learnt:
Fader Grease is the work of the devil..
An eraser is my new best friend.

They all came out really good, except 1 that is open (i measured across different parts of the track), and 1-2 that are out of spec (250k instead of 100k)..

Just thought i'd see if anyone here has ever brought a fader back to life using conductive paint? If so, could you point me in the direction of where to get the right stuff, and how you went about it?

Or better yet, anyone have a spare fader or two that they would part with?!

Thank you all in advance!!!

Re: Cleaning Arp Faders

PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 8:24 pm
by Thirteen
I would suggest installing a microswitch with the lever at the bottom of the HPF slider and using it to completely bypass the HPF when the slider is at the bottom of it's travel.

Re: Cleaning Arp Faders

PostPosted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 12:06 am
by harry
Hey Steve!

How's it going?

I forgot to mention that it's not an Odyssey, but a MK1 Axxe....

Still, I love it - sounds so so good...