So I finally figgered out how to open up my mom’s old slide-viewer deal, which is prolly from the 1975-era, as I suppose. To my surprise, before I could even change the batteries to the antique, massive rehaul of the electrode system would have to be done, seeing as how it looks like ionic MOLD grew over the whole apparatus. I got blue copper barnacles, nice yellow-orange ones (zinc?) stuck to all metal pieces of electrical contact, and they’re quite a bitch. Even after I replaced the two C batteries, the thing still don’t work. How can I get all them damned crystals off? Soak in some sort of solution? Grinding and scraping is too tedious. lemme know, thanks.
Quickest method is Coke, the soda pop kind and baking soda. Sprinkle soda liberally or democraticly and pour coke or similar on it and it will boil the scum off. rinse well in water afterwords or suffer sticky slides ever after.
Sandpaper and an old rag liberally applied is the method of choice however if you truly value the viewer.
My dad claims to have cleaned up an old flashlight’s contacts with some weak nitric acid. Do be careful.
Some tricks to prevent this:
- Remove the batteries when not in use (duh)
- For two-battery devices, open the device, remove one battery and replace it backwards. This way you’ll have the two batteries head-to-head (or butt-to-butt) and they won’t leak current. The batteries will stay fresh longer and won’t physically leak either.