Don't despair, the sticky foam isn't impossible to
shift.
It needs an industrial vacuum cleaner, no furry
nozzles on the hose, just the meatal end, and use it
get all the powder off the surface before you do the
solvent thing. Use a fairly stiff brush to aid the
powder out from between the keys, don't push it in,
the stuff forms wads and they're harder to remove.
The next thing is the solvent. Try a few things on the
outside or underneath of the casee where no harm can
be done. I start with white spirit, and progress to
lighter fluid, then isopropyl alcohol, like you clean
tape heads with. Don't push the crud about, just
moisten a piece of kitchen towel or toilet paper and
wipe the crud off. The knobs actually pull off, but
don't dismantle the instrument before you clean it.
No electrical damage will occurr unless you spray
something inside the unit, and then power it up before
you get it off the boards. The boards are cleaned
after they're made, and then dried before power up.
The pots aren't easy to contaminate from the top
surface either. The push switches are the most likely
to suffer , but probably not from the foam, more
likely the careless spraying.
Another point to consider is: usually the foam goes
soft around the same time the battery leaks, that's a
pro job, the corrosive fluid eats the tracks on the
circuit board, so you need to know what was there
before.
--- lawjcrg < lawjcrg@... > wrote:

> Hello. I just joined this forum. I own an Oberheim
> ob-8 and dsx
> sequencer and a matrix 6. I just bought what was
> represented to be a
> fully functional ob-sx from ebay. It came with an
> anvil case. When it
> arrived I was shocked to see that black foam in the
> interior of the
> case was rotted and moist and had formed a black
> dust/paste that
> covered the synth controlls, was in and between the
> keys and has
> completed clogged all of the inputs on the back.
> Just picture someone
> throwing the keyboard in a puddle of mud, and that's
> what it looks
> like. I really wanted this synth, it was the 56
> present version with
> the blue stripes. I have a keyboard shop that works
> on my other
> synths. I was going to take it to them just to
> clean it before
> powering it up (I'd be afraid to do it now for fear
> of it having an
> electrical short).
> I'm concerned that even after cleaning up, this
> thing may be
> destroyed. I really don't know who caused this, the
> shipping company
> or the seller. In any event, this synth has all of
> its sounds in ROM.
> If the electronics are damaged and boards or chips
> have to be
> replaced, is it even possible on this synth Can
> original presets
> somehow be restored if so how
>
> I'd really like to keep it, even if I have to
> invest a little $$$ to
> get it up and running but I want to know if it's
> even possible. If
> not, I'll just fight with the seller to give me a
> complete refund.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help!!
>
>

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