Dirty sockets

[David Weiner]

I bought a bunch of sockets that fit the B/NL 5991 rectangle tube , the pins on all 10 sockets were black
And I wanted them shiny and clean before I plugged
A tube into them soooo I tryed soaking them in
Lemon juice ,no effect, water, distilled vinegar, no effect
,water, grain alcohol, no effect, water, CLR scale remover,
No effect,water,windex, no effect,water , and then
Tarnex ! Yes this is what to use to clean black pins
Took about one hour ,all 10 sockets shiny.

[gregebert]

Be sure to thoroughly rinse; Tarn-X residue will continue to oxidize the metal.

It's been too many years since I took CHEM 2A, but my recollection is that it dissolves oxides and sulfides (Hint: your nose will tell you when metallic sulfides have been dissolved.....)

I've used tarn-x on some of my really dirty BNC connectors, and although they look cleaner than before, they are a long ways from being out-of-the-box clean.

Mine were blackened, probably because I used to experiment with sulfide stink-bombs for pranks when I was younger. Many common-metal sulfides are black (copper, iron, silver).