BeoMaster 1400 - Cleaning potentiometer and such

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Nicholas Bell Posted: Thu, Jan 14 2021 10:13 PM

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Hi, 

I'm new to B&O, and HiFis and tinkering with circuits and stuff, so please bear with me if I ask anything too obvoius :)

I got my hands on a beautiful BeoMaster 1400 with two largr original speakers, all with a near-perfect exterior. I got the set from the first and only owner who bought it some odd 50 years ago (thats just mindboggling to me, being from a generation where life expectancy of electronic devices are one digit). Without being an expert on acoustics the sound is wonderful, but there is one problem. When operating the volume slider, there is a bit resistance and it makes a scratchy sound and cuts the sound on and off at random. 

I've been reading what I can on these forums and have gathered that cleaning the potentiometer might do the trick. So I got a can of contact cleaner (Entfetter 65, no idea if its good or not or if theres any difference to contact cleaners, being a noob and all) cotton tip buds, small screwdrivers and a pdf of the beomasters manual. 

I found pictures of the potentiometers too, so I have an idea of what I'm supposed to look for. 

I think I'm pretty much set to go, but have two concerns.

First, I can read that the plastic parts can become quite brittle, and am nervous to force anything to much. Do I have to actually remove/unmount and open the actual potentiometer to celan it out properly or will I be able to just spray and pray at any openings it has? And if i have to remoove and remount it, will this include soldering? And when cleaned, should the potentiometer be treated with something, oil or something like that to ease friction?

Second, since I reckon this will be the first time that the casing is being opened, is there anything obvious that I should check or be on the lookout for, when Im prying about inside it?

Any, and I mean ANY, tips or help will be very well recieved :-)

Kind regards, Nicholas