Hellerman sleeves turning to goo?

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Ike Zimbel

Well-known member
GDIY Supporter
Joined
Apr 17, 2011
Messages
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Location
Toronto, Canada
Has anyone seen Hellerman sleeves turn into goo? I have a 1997 build Drawmer 1960 on the bench that has any exposed Hellerman sleeves cracking and disintegrating, and in some cases seemingly oozing a dark liquid as well. There are some other ones which are partly covered with heat-shrink which may be a bit worse.
I have seen really old sleeves cracked and crumbling before, but I don't recall the liquid. As far as I can tell, I'm the first person since the factory to be inside this thing so I don't think the liquid could be from some "spraying demon" who tried to fix everything with a good shower of de-oxit.
Besides that, it's got the usual 1960 issues.
 
Hey Ike,

I was inside one about that vintage last year and I don't recall any unusual goop. Perhaps yours was packed into a rack of tube gear with poor ventilation? Or maybe a batch made from sub-par materials? One can only guess.

Mike
 
Yeah, it's weird. I also have a 1991 build here and it doesn't have that going on. It looks chemical in nature, which I hope isn't in some way due to the atmosphere in the owner's studio.
Anyway, I think 1960's are moving to the "thanks but no thanks" list. They used to be fairly straightforward repairs, but the two I have here are both "bench bombs".
 
Interesting.

I have quite a few pieces of gear and various interconnects with Hellerman sleeves, some of which date back to the early ‘60’s. Have never seen them turn to goo. Just the usual drying out and cracking.

Maybe some components that are leaching a chemical that causes them to break down?
 
I have encountered sleeves that sweat a clear liquid, which is conductive. The sleeving material is chloroprene - check out the chemistry on Wikipedia. Hydrochloric acid is involved in the manufacture, so I assume some chemical breakdown, or incomplete processing during manufacture, is releasing the acid. I am using more heatshrink sleeving these days ...
 
radardoug said:
Theres talk on the SSl forums of Hellermans turning to goo and conductive. The curse of old age!
Click to expand...
That might be seriously affected by heat. I've seen SSL9k channels where Hellermans (not sure if they are really made by Hellerman, but they look alike) seemed to have set free some acid. The 'protected' wires are all badly corroded and partly even fall off. That's by far the worst I've experienced. On the other hand I've never seen anything really strange happening in the V41 / 72 / 76 etc context. I only remember them getting hard, but never anything like in the 9k...

My conclusion: they don't like heat.

Michael
 
Hellerman is a SSL nightmare. It will corrode components and solder joints and cause shorts. Delete on site.
 
I once took a look at a tape deck for a girl I know , it was part of a Technics separates hifi , well when I say seperates , it was seperate boxes but an integrated mini system .

When I opened it up all the drive belts had turned to a sticky messy chewing gum like substance , I put it down 20 years usage in the girls bedroom , where she regularly used hair spray/laquer , aerosol deodorants and perfumes ,
vanity comes at a cost. Ive stopped using household aerosols of any description long long ago , breathing in that crap can't do a body good .
 
Neve VR modules on the small Fader I have an epidemic issue with this. Most cases it drives the distortion way high, on the rare ones it conducts between the plus and -16 and burns the board… Trouble ahead. Every module I work on I remove the sleeved shielded wire and replace it
 
We've seen it on all manner of gear, consoles and outboard, but not everything is effected the same. I wonder whether it is something to do with the oil that was used when the sleeving was applied? UK wiring departments back in the 70's and 80's always had a small pot with a piece of foam soaked in so-called "Hellerman Lubricant" that the fanny stretchers would be dipped in before sliding the sleeving on. This wasn't limited to audio departments, I saw this in many other industries as well. I wish we could find out what that was - I still have the tool, but no oil...
 
Of course , here in the UK, 'fanny' has completely different meaning to what it means to folk on the other side of the pond. 180 degrees out of phase you might say.

Cheers

Ian
 
What did the gynecologist say to his wife after coming home from a hard days work ?
Not now love , Ive been in it up to my elbows all day .
 
Hellerine is still available, although I still have the 10 fl. ozs. bottle bought from Future Film Developments. The MSDS describes it as "Gliding Oil on the basis of vegetable oil and ethanol". The oil is "ricinus oil", better known as castor oil, so it's quite benign. The problems we are encountering seem due to the decomposition of the chloroprene.
 
ruffrecords said:
Of course , here in the UK, '_______' has completely different meaning to what it means to folk on the other side of the pond. 180 degrees out of phase you might say.

Cheers

Ian
Click to expand...
Two nations divided by a common language.... :unsure:

That is just one of a number of terms that are innocent in the US and not so in the UK. I learned most of the obvious ones from multiple business trips into the UK. Attending multiple musik messes in Frankfurt I learned a couple hand signals to not accidentally make. :cool:

I didn't notice it until you mentioned it.

JR
 
My apologies, their more common name back then was honeymoon pliers - sort of bilingual now and sometimes forget the dual meanings!
 

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