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Re: Stabilant 22 (stolen from windoze magazine)
What's the big thing here?? All this is a dielectric with a properly set
up break-down voltage (polarization voltage). I would not use it my
computer since it produces capacitive effects which can be REALLY bad to
precision electronics inside the computer.
They had these things back in 50s.
Alex
On Tue, 25 Feb 1997 Sdbigelow@aol.com wrote:
> How To
> Publication Date: February 1, 1996 (Page 291)
> Copyright (C) WINDOWS MAGAZINE 1996
> Keep in Contact -- Here are some ways to put the spark back in your system.
> By Karen Kenworthy
> Electrical contacts occur when signal-carrying metal meets another piece of
> metal. In computers, these contacts include places where the edge of a SIMM
> meets the prongs of a SIMM socket, and where the pins of a chip meet the
> metal receptacles inside a chip socket. Other contacts occur where cords
> carrying electrical power plug into hard drives and other internal
> components; where cables connect to your drives and adapter cards; and where
> the edges of adapter cards meet those 8-, 16- and 32-bit card sockets along
> the back of your PC.
> Normally, electrical signals jump from one metal surface to another without a
> hitch. But if a surface is dirty or corroded, the signal may become degraded.
> This can cause a number of problems, from intermittent data errors to the
> apparent failure of a drive, adapter card or chip. If you suspect you're
> experiencing such a failure to communicate, there are ways to put the spark
> back in your system. First, clean the metal surfaces that meet at the
> corrupted contact point. The metal fingers on the edges of adapter cards and
> some hard drives are easy to clean. Just take a
> rubber eraser and gently "erase" the contact surface. The white synthetic
> erasers sold in art supply stores are best--they don't leave as many crumbs.
> Avoid very abrasive erasers, and be careful not to rub too hard or for too
> long. You want to remove the dirt and corrosion, not the metal underneath.
> You can also clean many contacts with alcohol. Pure isopropyl alcohol is best
> because it doesn't leave a residue when it dries, but it's hard to find.
> Ordinary rubbing alcohol, the kind you find in any drugstore, will do in a
> pinch. If the contact surface is hard to reach or attached to your
> motherboard or a card, wet a cotton or foam swab and gently wipe the
> contact's surface. Repeat the procedure, using a new swab for each treatment,
> until the swab comes out clean. If you're cleaning cables or other contacts
> that you can remove from the computer, you may be able to rinse the contact
> with alcohol to remove large amounts of debris. It's not always possible or
> prudent to clean a contact. For instance, the contacts inside adapter card
> sockets are hard to reach. And the risk of damaging chips by removing them
> from their
> sockets often outweighs the benefits of cleaning their contacts. But even
> when a contact bath is out of the question, there's still something you can
> do to improve a connection.
> A small company named D.W. Electrochemicals (905-508-7500, fax 905-508-7502)
> has developed a remarkable liquid called Stabilant 22 that allows even dirty
> contacts to perform properly. Stabilant is an organic compound that allows
> electricity to flow where it should, but not where it shouldn't. For
> instance, within your computer, Stabilant enables signals to travel from one
> contact surface to another, but not between adjacent pins on a chip.
> Stabilant is a great conductor
> How does Stabilant pull off this trick? The explanation's a bit technical,
> but for the hard-core techies and terminally curious, here goes:
> Normally, Stabilant is an insulator. But in the presence of a large electric
> field gradient, it becomes an excellent conductor. An electric field gradient
> is the "slope" of an electric field. It indicates to what degree voltage
> levels change over distance (voltage difference between two surfaces, divided
> by the distance between the surfaces). Within your computer, the distance
> between a pin and a socket is so small that the gradient is very large (on
> the order of thousands of volts per inch),
> causing the liquid to become a conductor. But the distance between adjacent
> pins is great enough to keep the gradient low (on the order of tens of volts
> per inch)--well below the level Stabilant needs to make the transition from
> insulator to conductor.
> The diluted form of Stabilant 22, called Stabilant 22a, is best for most
> computer uses. Apply a drop to the pins of a chip while the chip is still in
> its socket, and the liquid will penetrate the contacts. Or use an eyedropper
> or swab to apply Stabilant to contacts inside adapter card sockets, cables,
> and drive power and cable connectors. You need only a single drop--just
> enough to cover the contact surfaces to a depth of 1 or 2 millimeters (about
> 4 to 8 hundredths of an inch)
>
> I found the stuff locally at a high end stereo shop, $27CDN.
>
> FWIW,
>
> Steve Bigelow
>