[Coco] MPIs & Cartridges With Solder/Tin Contacts Can Now Be fixed With A Gold Contact Plug Upgrade!

[Christopher Smith]

Ok, this is all fascinating.  I had no idea Jerry wrote for Byte.  I have read his fiction, some of which is quite excellent.  It appears that his articles with respect to this stuff are posted on stabilant.com, if you can tolerate the hideously bad web design. :)

Chris

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Al Hartman" <alhartman6 at optonline.net>
> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Sent: Monday, September 16, 2013 10:52:22 AM
> Subject: Re: [Coco] MPIs & Cartridges With Solder/Tin Contacts Can Now Be	fixed With A Gold Contact Plug Upgrade!
> 
> I beg to differ. If you read his columns over time, and see how he
> has
> solved tech problems for himself and friend, and that his son Alex I
> a
> computer professional...
> 
> I take his advice VERY seriously. He helped me out of a rough spot a
> few
> years ago.
> 
> http://www.jerrypournelle.com/
> 
> I mis-remembered the name, it's called Stabilant 22a. Here's a quote
> from a
> review from PC Magazine.
> 
> "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 22 is an
> organic
> compound that allows electricity to flow where it should, 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 change over distance (voltage difference between two
> surfaces, divided by the distance between surfaces). Within your
> computer,
> distance between a pin and a socket is so small that the gradient
> very large
> (on the order of thousands of volts per inch), causing the liquid to
> become
> a conductor. But the distance between adjacent contacts is great
> enough to
> keep the gradient low (on the order of tens volts per inch)-well
> below the
> level Stabilant needs to make t 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 t is still in
> its
> socket, and the liquid will penetrate the contacts. 0 an eyedropper
> or swab
> to apply Stabilant to contacts inside edge 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 mills, (about 4 to 8
> hundredths of an inch)."
> 
> http://stabilant.com/revrw15h.htm
> 
> Amazon.com carries it.
> 
> - Al -
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: billg999 at cs.uofs.edu
> 
> > You can also apply a bit of Stabilant 50 to the edge connector. It
> > will
> > keep
> > the fingers from oxidizing over time. Jerry Pournelle, who wrote
> > for Byte
> > Magazine swears by it.
> 
> He used to write SciFi and often talked in his columns about the
> people
> who came over to actually install or fix any of the computers he used
> to write his books. (Like Dr. Godbout!!  Anybody remember him?)
>  Having
> read Byte (and his column) for many years, I never considered him to
> be
> tech savvy.
> 
> bill
> 
> 
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> 

-- 
Christopher Smith
Systems Engineer, Wolfram Research