Nord User Forum

this wd40 is not a lubricant, that is a different product.
edit:
Interestingly this wd40 contacts cleaner is advertised to not leave residue, however a small % of amazon reviews say it did indeed leave sticky residue (!).

What would a good deoxydizer that leaves no residue be? Isopropyl alcohol perhaps, maybe Pablo could shed some light?

WD40 (according to en.wikipedia.org):

A) according to the US Material Safety Data Sheet information, and with the CAS numbers interpreted:
- 45-50% low vapor pressure aliphatic hydrocarbon (isoparaffin)
- <35% petroleum base oil (non-hazardous heavy paraffins)
- <25% aliphatic hydrocarbons (same CAS number as the first item, but flammable)
- 2-3% carbon dioxide (propellant)

B) The European formulation is stated according to the REACH regulations:
- 60-80% hydrocarbons C9-C11 n-alkanes, iso-alkanes, cyclics <2% aromatics
- 1-5% carbon dioxide

C) The Australian formulation is stated:
- 50-60% naphtha (petroleum), hydrotreated heavy
- <25% petroleum base oils
- <10% naphtha (petroleum), hydrodesulfurized heavy (contains: 1,2,4-trimethyl benzene, 1,3,5-trimethyl benzene, xylene, mixed isomers)
- 2-4% carbon dioxide

I'd say, if it's "petroleum based oil" or "hydrocarbons C9-C11", good part of it will stay and collect dust. But I'm not a technician. Just my estimation.

Please understand that there is a WD40 brand product that is a contact cleaner which is not the lubricant you are referring to.

I found a data sheet of what you probably mean: "WD40 Specialist Contactspray" - compatible with metal, plastics, rubber.

I have a fair bit of experience with WD-40, not the contact cleaner, but the original "lubricant" (which is not either, by the way, it's meant to prevent water accumulation and oxidation. The lubricant component is there to help unlocking rusty or otherwise blocked mechanisms), and I would recommend you absolutely AVOID using it on anything electronic. It does leave a greasy film over the surface which will collect dust.

As for contact cleaners, I have no experience with the WD-40 branded one, but I do have experience with other brands, and you have to be careful there too, because some of them are actually more similar in formulation to WD-40 (the "lubricant") in that they contain an oily component. No contact cleaner should contain oil of any sort.

So you either choose a non oily contact cleaner, or you go with alcohol, which in my experience is the best cleaner ever for electronics. The only thing to be careful with is making sure that near surfaces aren't affected (discolored etc) by it. But for the electronics parts themselves, alcohol is the best.

varignet wrote:

Nutritivo wrote:Hi there,

Finally used WD 40 Contact Cleaner and now all the buttons are working like a charm! No even needed to open the Nord, I just sprayed a bit around every button gap and voilà!

Also, I got rid of some pesky noise in my interface's headphone output.

If you are experiencing some similar problems, I can't recommend this product enough.

Cheers!

I have a couple of buttons on my nord lead a1, incidentally the ones I virtually never press (for toggling fx type and for toggling filter type) that occasionally are detected as double presses. After having pressed them a lot today, they are now working fine.
But i'm worried this double press might come back.

Would wd40 contact cleaner you refer to be better than isopropyl alcohol? I have a can of the latter.

Also, I could try your method with the wd40 contact cleaner , i'm just dubious how does it manage to travel through the gap and the cap well into the button and into the contacts? I would imagine you would need to open the keyboard.

Alternatively I could open the keyboard and take the caps off and metal spring off the buttons and blow air and spray isopropyl alcohol on the contacts and spring?

Any recommendation? thx!

Sorry for the late answer.

The buttons are working fine. There are a couple that still double press time to time, so maybe I should finally disassemble the keyboard and try to clean it more in deep. But I would recommend you the WD contact cleaner any time. Use ave used it over some other stuff now, like a faulty Elektron encorder, and now its also working smoothly.

First, I used compressed air without luck, but I would recommend to first use air and later the contact cleaner. Has pressure enough to reach the contacts through the gaps, for sure.

About the formulation, it's not oily, and don't leave any residue. Also its not conductor, but anyway dry out quite fast. I guess that isopropyl alcohol should work in some cases as a gentle solvent.

Best of lucks!

Hi,

sorry If I jump into this conversation, but I have a similar behaviour with my nord stage 2 compact (bought almost 10y ago).
Many of the switch buttons double press, or jump settings.
Fun fact: when blowing directly in the gap the problem seems to fade away for a while.
It seems more like a mechanical problem, with the switch itself and their spring. Sometime they feel strong at touch, other time while not using the keyboard they get loose and might double trigger inputs.
I am worried cause I see this very pattern on a lot of buttons of my NS2 panel, beside I used or not some function (like the extern section rarely used, has the same fun stuff).

Is WD40 the only way to get around this stuff? Do you experience that aswell?

Grazie intanto,
Ciao