How I clean dirty yet delicate faceplates...

[VintageRestore]

I had someone on another forum asked me how I cleaned the super dirty yet delicate faceplates (full of electronics) on the 60-70 year old pieces of gear I refurbish.

I wanted to share here as well.

I will say I am at an inherent disadvantage with both the faceplate and exterior on the testers - I can NOT use water to wash them off.

Also, I can NOT spray any product directly onto the faceplate as it will seep into the electrical behind the faceplate and destroy the unit (it's ok on the outside metal case.

I've tried probably 20+ different products and have the following general observations - I will say in ALL CASES I either directly apply product to a microfiber cloth first or directly to a small tooth brush to agitate on the faceplate while immediately wiping it off before it runs into any of the switches.

Honestly the key is to end up using a multitude of products as no one does the best at cleaning and not damaging the faceplate.

Here are some general observations in no particular order for the faceplates (usually painted metal or aluminum) with plastic or metal switches:

1. Griots Interior Cleaner - decent cleaner but not strong enough on its own on most of these;
2. BlackFire Interior cleaner - better than Griots for cleaning power but may cause color transfer if used on a vinyl case exterior. Griots does not have this problem (I will use either/both of them with a brush to lather on the outside of vinyl or cloth cases);
3. I use a variety of APC's at different strength usually 1:20 / 1:10 / 1:5 (I have Carpro, Jescar and DuraGloss);
4. Wipe down with a panel cleaner (I like the Griots blue one - quite good though I also have Carpro and KC on hand) to both get the APC off AND it also does a nice job of cleaning as well!;
5. Do NOT apply anything paste rub on the faceplates - easy to get on and terrible to get off and may work its way into switches and make the gritty that you will never be able to rectify;
6. My TOP SECRET weapon that works FANTASIC? Though be careful as too much will take off lettering - it's a magic eraser. It's phenomenal;
7. The APC's are great with a small toothbrush on the large black plastic switches - they will appear clean with any other cleaner and then when you use a toothbrush on them with an APC - or the magic eraser (I use both) it will be gross the amount of crud still removedl
8. For the plastic meter covers I usually use a magic eraser followed by a panel wipe. If they are scratched-hazy then I hand rub just a tiny drop of Menzerna FS4000 on them to clear them up then panel wipe again;
9. I also will walk away when I think it looks good and then go back and I always see areas that can use more work. I usually do that 3-4 times and then I know it's really clean;
10. I'm going to say it again - panel wipe the heck out of it throughout the process to make sure you get the products off and they don't interact on the surface;
11. Never use hard pressure or push hard on the brush - instead do several general applications if need be;
12. WATCH CLOSELY every time you are near lettering so it if does start to take off lettering you can immediately stop before going too far;
13. Do not cross-contaminate different products on the same cloths or you'll get weird reactions;
14. Careful with APC's on bare aluminum - I tried them the other day and they caused a white hazing no panel wipe could get off. I was saved when I hit it with the Magic Eraser and then panel wipe and it saved me.

For the outside (talking metal and not cloth) I will spray with 1:1 APC, aggressive brush then panel cleaner wipe down. The good news is my "best case" scenarios on cases is usually what a car detailer would consider closer to an extreme case - so not worried about any micro scratches (within reason of course) as the outside will need extreme work regardless.

I'm going to be doing some upcoming posts of comparing Griots creams & pads vs. Menzerna product and pads vs. Scholl's products and pads.

I hope this helps and happy to answer any specific questions. I hope it didn't come across as a lecture - you guys are way smarter than me on cars. I just know from experience on these items what as worked for me through trial and error in this unique use case.

As an example in the picture you see of the faceplate on the TV-2 - that took 4 hours to get to the level of clean.

 

[Mike Phillips]

Great information and I like the emphasis on being careful so as not to change or alter any of the surfaces or materials - especially to preserve the originality.

-Mike