General

Topic How to resurrect/clean cartridges in a different and better way

Dsbaum454

30-Dec(#1)

Hi Everyone!,

People have been told to use the alcohol and cotton swab method to clean games. I recently heard on YouTube a video about trying Brasso. This cleaner is meant for metals. Walla! The cartridge connectors are metal too.

You will need:

1) cartridge
2) Brasso
3) rubbing alcohol
4) q-tips
5) appropriate screwdriver or security bit
6) fine cloth

steps:

1) Open the cart with appropriate bit or screwdriver
2) remove the cart from its shell
3) Put a pea size amount of Brasso on a cloth
4) Rub the contacts of the cart
5) use rubbing alcohol on a q-tip, cloth, and clean up the "mess"
6) repeat step 5 2-3 more times
7) put cart back together
8) test

I recently bought 6 games for the SNES. Three of them wouldn't work at all, while the rest would sometimes work. I followed these steps and now all six work perfectly
It is important to remove at the end 100% of the Brasso. I read Brasso can hurt the cart if not all removed.

Dsbaum454

benstylus

31-Dec(#2)

Brasso is a polish, not a cleaner. It's abrasive and could potentially damage cartridge connectors if overused. It shouldn't be your go-to every time you want to clean a game.

Unless there is visible corrosion, I recommend using isopropyl alcohol plus q-tip as the first option.
Most folks say the higher alcohol content the better. I typically buy 91% but I've never had an issue using a lower amount like 70%. Alternate between wet and dry q-tips until no more dirt shows up on them

If a game still doesn't work after that, feel free to break out the brasso. Definitely make sure to use the alcohol again after that and get rid of any residue from the brasso.

If you have to regularly use brasso to get the same games working again, you might want to consider better storage options, as alcohol should be all you need for regular maintenance.

Gypsy

31-Dec(#3)

Use this instead of brasso: https://caig.com/deoxit-d-series/ It's safe and made for electronic device/contact cleaning.

Like @benstylus says most stuff will be fine with an alcohol cleaning but when not I bust out this stuff and it always does the job.

MrBean

* 31-Dec(#4)

No, this is false. Only an 80s kid blowing air and saliva into the cartridge, followed by their own unique way of putting it back into the console, is the proper resolution.

Also, recently eating Dorittos is known to help too.

benstylus

* 31-Dec(#5)

Gypsy wrote:

> Use this instead of brasso: https://caig.com/deoxit-d-series/ It's safe and made

> for electronic device/contact cleaning.

> Like @benstylus says most stuff will be fine with an alcohol cleaning but when not

> I bust out this stuff and it always does the job.

A contact cleaner is safer than brasso for sure. But I think many people might have brasso on hand anyway for other reasons, and if used as a backup to the alcohol method, it can be helpful too.

Just don't use it every time.

bill

31-Dec(#6)

In the 70s when our Atari carts didn't work so great, we'd take a pencil eraser and rub it over the contacts. It seemed to work great.

Dsbaum454

1-Jan(#7)

I admit Brasso should not be used for every dirty cartridge. The 3 non-working cartridges I mentioned needed it badly. The other 3 needed it, but not as much.

The most important thing is to clean all of the Brasso up. A cart that never boots up does me no good. I rather have a "Brasso exposed" cart than a useless one that never works.

There are many methods to clean. These include alcohol, Brasso, and eraser.

David Baum

HybridCRoW

1-Jan(#8)

Yeah, eraser tends to work. iso-alcohol and q-tip works for a good cleaning. Brasso is a MAJOR no-no, but it is mentioned if you use it sparingly and make sure to clean it off really good, it's fine.

Funny how I was looking at one of the NES cartridges I found in a box of mine and it says on the back not to use alcohol to clean the pins... LOL

sailorneorune

4-Jan(#9)

MrBean wrote:

> No, this is false. Only an 80s kid blowing air and saliva into the cartridge, followed

> by their own unique way of putting it back into the console, is the proper resolution.

> Also, recently eating Dorittos is known to help too.

As someone who had to clean out remnants of a packet of Flamin' Hot Cheetos out of an FC Twin and several SNES cartridges last summer, I say EW NO HECK NO BRING ME THE PEROXIDE IN ONE OF THOSE LITTLE SPRAY BOTTLES YOU USE TO SCOLD CATS! Or in a 55-gallon drum. Whichever is most convenient.

nonamesleft

25-Jan(#10)

sailorneorune wrote:

> MrBean wrote:

>> No, this is false. Only an 80s kid blowing air and saliva into the cartridge,

> followed

>> by their own unique way of putting it back into the console, is the proper resolution.

>> Also, recently eating Dorittos is known to help too.

> As someone who had to clean out remnants of a packet of Flamin' Hot Cheetos out of

> an FC Twin and several SNES cartridges last summer, I say EW NO HECK NO BRING ME

> THE PEROXIDE IN ONE OF THOSE LITTLE SPRAY BOTTLES YOU USE TO SCOLD CATS! Or in a

> 55-gallon drum. Whichever is most convenient.

Haha. How'd Cheetos get into the cartridges?

benstylus

26-Jan(#11)

nonamesleft wrote:

> sailorneorune wrote:

>> MrBean wrote:

> |>> No, this is false. Only an 80s kid blowing air and saliva into the cartridge,

>> followed

> |>> by their own unique way of putting it back into the console, is the proper resolution.

> |>>

> |>> Also, recently eating Dorittos is known to help too.

>> As someone who had to clean out remnants of a packet of Flamin' Hot Cheetos out

> of

>> an FC Twin and several SNES cartridges last summer, I say EW NO HECK NO BRING

> ME

>> THE PEROXIDE IN ONE OF THOSE LITTLE SPRAY BOTTLES YOU USE TO SCOLD CATS! Or in

> a

>> 55-gallon drum. Whichever is most convenient.

> Haha. How'd Cheetos get into the cartridges?

This was bought from a random dude after gamestop said they couldn't take it. There were also several cool games with it.

We didn't ask questions about the cheetos because the deal was good.

nonamesleft

26-Jan(#12)

benstylus wrote:

> nonamesleft wrote:

>> sailorneorune wrote:

> |>> MrBean wrote:

>> |>> No, this is false. Only an 80s kid blowing air and saliva into the cartridge,

> |>> followed

>> |>> by their own unique way of putting it back into the console, is the proper

> resolution.

>> |>>

>> |>> Also, recently eating Dorittos is known to help too.

> |>>

> |>> As someone who had to clean out remnants of a packet of Flamin' Hot Cheetos out

>> of

> |>> an FC Twin and several SNES cartridges last summer, I say EW NO HECK NO BRING

>> ME

> |>> THE PEROXIDE IN ONE OF THOSE LITTLE SPRAY BOTTLES YOU USE TO SCOLD CATS! Or in

>> a

> |>> 55-gallon drum. Whichever is most convenient.

> |>>

>> Haha. How'd Cheetos get into the cartridges?

> This was bought from a random dude after gamestop said they couldn't take it. There

> were also several cool games with it.

> We didn't ask questions about the cheetos because the deal was good.

that's very funny.

'finds a super Nintendo encrusted with cinnamon toast crunch' deal is good, so no questions. Clean it up later.

benstylus

* 26-Jan(#13)

If it was just the system we would have checked it out more thoroughly. But he had Super Metroid and that alone was worth more than we paid for the whole lot

Even if the FC Twin didn't work at all we still got a great deal.