Open invitation to contribute to a general Library article on refurbishment

[Rare Bird]

I always use a toothbrush & that good washing up liquid for deep ingrained knobs

[Marco]

I always use a toothbrush & that good washing up liquid for deep ingrained knobs

Cheese removal?

Haha.... There's defo a 'Marcoism' in there!

Marco.

[Beobloke]

Personally I use -

- Cif for metal/plastic parts (the 'Cif with Bleach' version if they're really manky). I also use it for the initial clean of wooden parts.
- Window cleaner for transparent plastic and glass
- Toothbrush for nooks, crannies and knobs
- Isopropyl Alcohol for CD lenses, tape heads and turntable drive surfaces, plus sticker or paint removal
- Teak Oil for the final treatment of wood finishes.

Apparently Cif foaming cleaner works well on textured surfaces like the leatherette cases of Dansettes and the like, but I've not tried this one yet.

By the way, that B&O looks great Barry!

[DSJR]

They won't be cheap any more

[Barry]

Thanks guys for you comments, suggestions and feedback.

I should have mentioned cotton buds, paper kitchen towel and spray cleaner for glasses (spectacles). And of course the use of lint-free cloth in critical areas, as well as the wearing of lint-free cotton gloves, to prevent recovering your carefully cleaned and polished surfaces with fresh finger marks!

Chris - I like the suggestion of using WD40. It is a fairly benign solvent and it smells better than iso-propyl alcohol. Methylated spirit is also OK but is more expensive than white spirit. Seems you too have discovered the use of dental floss. I also at times use inter-dental brushes (those miniature bottle brushes) to clean and get into small gaps.

Andy - Do CIF make a spray or foam product? The standard CIF cream is not really suitable as it is too abrasive and can leave a powdery residue.

It seems that, as I suspected, we have quite a few members here who have been through the process of 'scrubbing up' used items of audio gear they have bought from ebay, boot sales, or places like Cash Converters.


An open invitation (as mentioned in my opening post).

So guys, do you think an article, placed in the AoS library, on the cosmetic refurbishment and restoration of audio gear would be useful? If so then I would like it to be collaborative effort. You PM me with all the 'tricks of the trade' you have learnt, or been taught and I'll write it up. All contributions will be credited and acknowledged.

At this stage it is only the cosmetic refurbishment I want to consider. Electrical refurbishment will be the subject for a possible later article. Of course by cosmetic refurbishment I don't want to be restricted to electronic items - speakers are to be included as well.

André and Chris, you are both pretty knowledgeable about wood so I'm sure you will have some ideas and suggestions.

I would also appreciate ideas and suggestions on the re-spraying of metal equipment cases and enclosures. I have only had this done the once on a vintage Quad tuner, and that was done by my late father who was a panel beater by trade. He was able to mix-up the paint to match the Quad 'bronze' colour and restore the paint finish as new. Maybe local car re-sprayers are willing to do these small jobs - I don't know.

So that's the idea. Anybody interested? Do we have a deal?

Regards

[Spectral Morn]

They won't be cheap any more

Looking nice and sounding nice are two separate things.

Sadly though writing about anything these days can mean that its S/H value may go up (good for the seller bad for the buyer). Good example is the Technics 9600 tuner that HiFi World wrote about recently, these were selling for about the £100 to £150 mark before the write up, now the last ones on Ebay went for £180 and £257 Is it worth this kind of money....hard to say. I have yet to get one but won't be doing so at that sort of money.

Should we not write about kit in case this happens ? I would say no as old forgotten kit makes for interesting articles and discoveries. However for the vintage newbie and collector alike it does raise the bar for being able to buy these items However trends come and go and the S/H prices will probably go down a bit as has happened recently with some Leak Trough-Line tuners on Ebay.

Regards D S D L

[spendorman]

I always use a toothbrush & that good washing up liquid for deep ingrained knobs

I use ordinary block soap. Washing up liquid uses salt as a thickener (at least I was told that by the (Chief Chemist at Electrolux and they made detergents there). He told me not to use washing up liquid on cars for obvious reasons, (salt,- rust). He also advised if one has nothing else but washing up liquid to use for car cleaning, just a few drops in a bucket will break the surface tension.

[REM]

Detergents are the best de-greasers but washing up liquid should be avoided due to all the additives etc.

There is something called Puly Caff which is a reasonably pure detergent used for backflushing espresso coffee machines and is great at breaking down grease/oils etc., so should be good for knobs and buttons if you can remove them and let them soak for a while.

For really contaminated parts look at car cleaning products, Traffic Film Remover (TFR) is the industry standard stuff for de-greasing wheels/engines and the like and comes in varying concentrations, all should be used with caution (alloy wheel cleaners are fairly dilute TFR) the really concentrated stuff is caustic, approach with care!

Try blagging some from your local car valeters.

Cheers

[Marco]

Hi Neil,

Should we not write about kit in case this happens ? I would say no as old forgotten kit makes for interesting articles and discoveries.

Indeed - I completely agree. We should always seek to inform on such matters and not selfishly protect our own interests, regardless of the outcome in terms of raising prices. The latter, I'm afraid, is just life.

I must admit that such a notion had not even crossed my mind when shouting from the rooftops, for example, how good vintage Tannoys, Shure M3Ds, Celestion Ditton 15XRs, Lentek head amps or certain classic DACs and direct-drive T/Ts are in the right system!

Informing a wider audience, who might not otherwise have been aware of or have considered buying certain types of vintage equipment, and bringing joy to those people, as a result of them discovering that equipment and loving it as much as we do, perhaps even saving them money in the process from buying vintage instead of often vastly more expensive (and sometimes inferior) new equipment, *is* what it's all about.

This attitude is at the very core of the AOS ethos - and always will be

Marco.

[spendorman]

Detergents are the best de-greasers but washing up liquid should be avoided due to all the additives etc.

There is something called Puly Caff which is a reasonably pure detergent used for backflushing espresso coffee machines and is great at breaking down grease/oils etc., so should be good for knobs and buttons if you can remove them and let them soak for a while.

For really contaminated parts look at car cleaning products, Traffic Film Remover (TFR) is the industry standard stuff for de-greasing wheels/engines and the like and comes in varying concentrations, all should be used with caution (alloy wheel cleaners are fairly dilute TRF) the really concentrated stuff is caustic, approach with care!

Try blagging some from your local car valeters.

Cheers

Ordinary car shampoo might be safe and worth trying, will probably have some wax in it.