+1


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Is sanding a metal contact a good idea? I know w/ electronics it is a serious no no to sand even slightly metal contacts as it permits corrosion and all kinds of other problems. You really want the contact surfaces to be smooth for best electric flow too, -yes??

Oh,
also

KEEP BLUE-LOCTITE FAR AWAY FROM YOUR TAMIYA MINI. Seriously, loctite will react w/ the plastic used to form the chassis making it brittle ...it will literally crumble. I learned the hard way, had my entire front steering assembly literally crumble during a race ...didn't even crash or anything ...it just fell apart (this was about 3 years ago).

But the loctite is good in metal parts I'm sure? Right? It has to be lol

The blue locktite will only attack plastic if you get it on the plastic. Maybe you used too much?
Besides the gear that the screw goes into (for lack of a better term) is either brass or some
type of metal. And that's where I intended to put it until Sak came up with the idea of using
the star lockwasher to secure the screw into the assembly. I have used the blue locktite on
both the Tamiya class cars as well as the Mini Z's (1/28th? Scale) without any problems.
You just have to be very careful not to over do it!
Just a small drop of it works wonders.

Absolutely no blue loctite anywhere near plastics on your mini... Only a good flexible CA glue should be allowed to dry up good before putting the screws back on... I also learned that very early in the mini racing game...The star washers are also good, but do not crank them down too much....

There are plastic safe thread lockers available. Tamiya sells a red gel version. (In tiny amounts). Permatex #19920 is made for plastics. I've got some blue stuff from Tthe hobby shop that's safe, too. It's out there, you just have to find it.

Hi eR1c! The only time I sand dirty electric metal contacts is when I am soldering. As you said, gold plating allows corrosion-free use for a long time. If anyone sands that plating off, you are now exposing metal to the environments which will corrode over time increasing resistance.

I've never had to sand my Deans connectors though.

its ok to sand it down to make it look nice. but you'll have to coat it with something to keep it from corroding.

Hopefully everybody understood that sanding connectors does not mean taking the gold plating off the connectors, but instead lightly scraping them with sandpaper in order to remove buildup, and make them grab better... I use fine sand paper mostly, 800 grit to 1000 grit, and apply light pressure... Corrosion is a myth....

How about you just e-tape the Deans temporarily together next time if yours are somehow coming undone? There's really no need to sand anything on the Deans. If you want to clean the contacts I would suggest using motor spray and paper towel first, if not some metal polish on a cotton towel or swab. It is much less abrasive than 1000grit, and will clean the surface nicely without much abrasion to the plating.

My Ntc3 deans had less connection all the way in then halfway in. The sanding flattens the gold plating surface for more surface contact between male and female plates, just like sanding ball diff plates gives better grab... No way to know if your deans connector pins are fully flat: I say sand them a little to guarantee a better connection between two flattened/cleaned pieces of gold connectors. Yes, you can also use some e tape, but only after sanding a bit...
I had low to no connection before sanding the deans connectors in my Ntc3, and great connection afterwards. That should tell you guys that sanding works, period... Yeah, you can also use electronic cleaner, etc, but only after sanding...
I can also add that it takes slighly more force to pull the deans connectors apart after sanding too.
Furthermore, I had glitches coming from a futaba transmitter once. I was ready to throw it away until I decided to sand all my AA batteries&transmitter springs/tabs , and voila, no more glitches: $100 tx saved + no new radio to purchase....

Dean's bars are gold plated, which means the thickness of gold is
extremely thin. With the current price of gold at $1300/ troy ounce,
we can't expect a pair of $5 Dean's connectors to contain very much of
it. In fact, the layer of gold on a Dean's bar is so thin that regular use will be
enough to wear out the gold, which leaves you with an exposed copper
bar that will oxidize.

Corrosion on gold connectors may be a myth, but oxidation on copper is a
scientific fact. There is no real point to sanding a copper bar,
as it will only re-oxidize. Just like any other RC component, wear &
tear will occur. If your battery connector is worn out, replace it.

Oh Bert. Next you'll be telling us Santa Claus isn't real.

The relationship between sanding the connector and it being harder to unplug is purely mechanical and shouldn't be taken as a sign of electrical conductivity improving. It's true that more surface area theoretically creates a better contact, but if you think of two hard surfaces with grooves contacting one another only on the high spots, you'll see less contact surface.

I think of it like tires on a drag car: they're most effective when there's no tread and they're clean.

So, my question is, when you were testing, did you test resistance before and after? (Test at either end of the wires, not on the contact surface of the connector.) Did you try cleaning the contacts and performing the same test? How about cleaning and bending the spring contacts out a bit? They tend to lose their shape and flatten out over time.

Just throwing these concepts out there, because corrosion is not a myth, nor is the Easter Bunny.

As mentioned before, the only time I've seen that happen to genuine Deans is when overheating the plug while soldering. The housing can melt and the plates can move out of alignment.

Yeah, definitely use a high wattage soldering iron when soldering leads to Deans. It needs to be done fairly quickly. I use metal alligator clips on the contact terminal side as heatsink while it also holds the connector in place.

I use something like this + a small c-clamp to hold the apparatus on my workbench. Search 'helping hand' on Amazon.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....8L._SX425_.jpg