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General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc. |
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27th Mar 2019, 10:50 am | #41 |
Nonode
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Halifax, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 2,587
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Re: Polishing old cloudy transparent plastics
Great job Mr B. As a Gimp user too I particularly like the reproduction scale. I can see how Brasso, with its solvents, will have worked well in this case. Most of the examples I mentioned in an earlier post were in a much worse state and needed a more aggressive approach.
Alan |
27th Mar 2019, 12:23 pm | #42 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: London, UK.
Posts: 3,687
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Re: Polishing old cloudy transparent plastics
Yes this one wasn't too bad. I was using it as a test bed as I have 4 Heathkit GDOs lying around so if I killed one it wouldn't cause too much upset
Next I have a VTVM to do. |
27th Mar 2019, 2:48 pm | #43 |
Octode
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Wimbledon, London, UK.
Posts: 1,465
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Re: Polishing old cloudy transparent plastics
I recently bought a Heathkit AV-3U valve millivoltmeter which had a very cloudy meter-front. I polished it out using Brasso successfully. The one downside was that this revealed a 4cm crack going from the "L" in RMS Volts to almost the "3" on the Volts scale. I thought of trying to get a tiny drop of chloroform into the crack, but I think it is likely that this will make matters worse. It isn't too bad, actually.
This is the meter that hasn't got the proper handle, which is why I am still looking for one. Colin. Last edited by ColinTheAmpMan1; 27th Mar 2019 at 2:52 pm. Reason: Grammatical improvement. |
28th Mar 2019, 12:28 am | #44 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: London, UK.
Posts: 3,687
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Re: Polishing old cloudy transparent plastics
I actually saw a new in box movement go past the other day for one of those which had a nice clean front. I was considering buying it until it hit £26.50!
I finished the restoration of this GDO. It's working nicely even if the dial calibration is, err rubbish. I'm poking it at the digital scope to get the frequency out of it instead. Does the job! Quick picture: I shall attack the remaining VTVM in a few days once I've got over the shock of actually completing a restoration |
30th Mar 2019, 3:28 pm | #45 |
Pentode
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: South Coast, Western Australia.
Posts: 129
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Re: Polishing old cloudy transparent plastics
I always start off with 'Jif', or whatever they call it in your part of the world. It is cheap. I have had success on my father's Micra headlights (famous for going yellow) and, using a cheapo car buffing machine, on the very matt and faded orange superstructure of my glass fibre cabin cruiser. I finish off with Autosol or Cerium Oxide (red colour, cheap from China) on meter faces or homemade perspex knobs.
BC |