Eliminating nicotine odour.

[Andy - G8MNM]

Hi

I've recently acquired a Bush DAC10 which apart from the badge missing on the front appears on external and internal inspection to be in very good condition.

The only sign of work done in the past appears to be a replacement mains lead and volume/on/off control.
The 'LW' label was missing from the wave change pushbutton but fortunately I found it amongst the dust in the bottom of the case!

I would have resisted the temptation to do anything to this radio presently as I have a repair/restoration job on a DAC90 on the go at the moment. However, the DAC10 has obviously been used in a smokers house and it stinks! I have removed the internals and am in the process of washing the case halves before further cleaning with Meths (to remove the tar). That is quite easy, but how do I clean the chassis etc as that stinks more than the case! Does anyone have a suggestion (short of immersing it in a tank of alcohol for a couple of days!)

On another note the radio was reported as working which means the O/P transformer is OK and the speaker works. It still has it's full complement of waxies in place awaiting replacement!

(I've just replaced all the waxies on the DAC90 - which took a while - using a solder sucker to remove excess solder and then unwinding the component leads from the tag strip board)

I look forward to any suggestions.

Thanks

Andy

[Steve_P]

Remove as much dirt as you can, and then put the chassis in a sealed bag with some cat litter. The stuff works wonders!

Cheers,

Steve P.

[paulsherwin]

WD40 is good for cleaning the chassis. Obviously you wipe it off with a rag, rather than leaving it to dry

If you're a cheapskate, white spirit on a rag is almost as good as WD40. If you want a really pristine finish, rub the metalwork down with T-Cut, though this can be difficult unless the chassis has had all the components removed.

White spirit may be a better bet than meths to remove smoking deposits on bakelite.

Paul

[Andy - G8MNM]

Thanks Paul & Steve,

Good job I have a cat! I shall try out the cat litter method.

On the case I will try the white spirit. I only had Meths to hand at the time at work.

Andy

[BGmidsUK]

I've always used Servisol Foam Cleaner which works a treat on those nicotine stains, I used to deal with lots of equipment which resided in smokers' houses. It works a treat on cases and I expect it can be used on the chassis when sprayed onto a paint brush first worth a thought. Now where did I put that old toothbrush ...

[wave solder]

I used to service equipment from bookmakers shops, after a session with foam cleaner the equipment used to be quite a few shades lighter. I found once the staining disappeared the (usually) smell went also.

[ben]

I'm sure i read it on here that those blue toilet/urinal blocks do a good job if left in a sealed bag with the device. that is, if you like the smell of industrial disinfectant more then nicotine!

[BGmidsUK]

I can't actually smell nicotine, unless it's in high concentrations so to be honest I can only comment on the stain removal properties of some cleaning agents. Creams are useless in my experience, they just seem to move (or smear) the dirt from one place to another and you can't exactly rinse the resulting gunk off electronic equipment .. the foam actually seems to lift the dirt off the surface. I have always used this since my time in the service departments at a few of my former employers


BG

[Andy - G8MNM]

Hi BG,

Thanks for the info!

I'm originally from Leicester! Now reside in Scotland and find most of my radios on Ebay as the population density and hence number of radios is rather less up in these parts.

I shall be trying the computer cleaner soon on the offending Bush - the foaming stuff, we seem to have rather a lot of it at the moment.

Andy