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A Reason to NOT Epoxy Knobs

It might never be used, but I found sometimes those are the controls that get cranky first. Mono buttons etc.

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I've had luck with Lift Off product line on many an occasion...
A local thrift likes to use Crazy Glue to ensure parts 'stay together' in their store... I've soaked things with their Adhesive Remover and been able to pry apart super-glued power plugs in sockets and VMU units from Dreamcast systems.

Might work with loosening that epoxy, but I have to say I can't imagine taking a whack at that issue. Good luck to you Sir!

Edit: I wonder if either of these products will work? (Model Paint Remover or Gorilla Glue Remover)
No personal experience with these yet - both are new to me, but I'll be adding them to my arsenal now that I know they are out there. :D
 
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I've found that wrapping a piece of aluminum foil or double-sided tape around a split shaft holds the knob on squarely and securely without being difficult to remove.
 
I appreciate everyone pitching in their ideas to help a desperate man in a bad situation. This was to be my 'dream Luxman' instead of my Luxman from Hades. You folks have given me new things to try that I would have never thought of on my own. For instance, I didn't know of an Adhesive Remover or Gorilla Glue Remover. I will try anything! The scenario is unbelievable to me: a beautiful, vintage piece of Luxman history, the R-1050, just needs a little tune up, new lamps, but I can't pull the face off in order to get to access to the most basic things on this receiver because some Neandrathal used epoxy to glue on the knobs. Pitiful. I feel like singing that old Warren Zevon song, "Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me". But let's say I DO get the face plate off...where can I get those rotary selector switches (that I've broken by pulling the absolute guts out of while thinking the knobs where just a mite tight)..... I have to find those switches. Fortunately there's one interesting 'you-name-it, we-got-it' old parts store in town, three floors worth of an old warehouse with everything electrical. And cheap, too. It just takes a free day to go down there and start searching. The heck of this receiver is, the unit sounds wonderful! Such is life....
 
Stay with it Heresy. Don't shoot me for this but I have one more idea. Desperate times call for desperate measures and all. Saw the shafts off behind the knobs flush with the face plate. Make tubular splicing sleeves to slip over the shaft stumps to reattach the knobs after the repairs are done.
 
Are they metal or plastic?
If they're made of metal use the good old hair dryer and exercise your patience tug on them slowly until you start to feel the epoxy is begining to soften.
 
elcoholic, all ideas are welcome for my problem --- no shooting around here! The faceplate has a concave space where the knobs are inset, i.e., the knobs are below the outermost surface of the face. If I could get a saw underneath that delicate plastic faceplate and saw the shaft, that would fix that! I would find a way to splice a sleeve over the stumps. Excellent idea! Might even have a whack at that tomorrow.

Belo, the knobs are unfortunately plastic. Plus, the knobs are two separate pieces: an inner and outer parts. I've tried my wife's hair dryer (she still has hair) and it heated it up quite nicely --- I blistered my thumb and forefinger pulling on the knob. The outer part came off, but he inner part was still rock-solid on the shaft. The guy who epoxied the knobs on really knocked himself out for longevity.....
 
Something drastic... If you have replacement knobs use a pair of vicegrip pliers and squeeze the epoxied knobs until they break apart enough to get the face plate off.
(I did say drastic.):D
 
wondering if you could use a nut splitter tool .split the knobs ..
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If you could somehow inject acetone with a syringe into the epoxy it may melt it.A drugstore will sell you a a syringe with a fine point. You don't want to get acetone on the the plastic parts.

I have people come in with broken metaal frames and they have krazy glued the metal to the lenses. Duh!

I sure hope you have success,I can feel your anguish through the computer.
 
I have tried the hair dryer route, to no avail. THE last option (for me) is the 'nut splitter route / knob crusher route and then hope to find good knobs to replace them.

My pain does spill over, doesn't it? I shouldn't type at night when my pain meds have taken effect! Thanks all!

P.S. -- really? somebody krazy glued the metal frames to lenses???? There must be a parallel universe where krazy glue rules.
 
Seriously - try some LiftOff products. Might save you a lot of headache. I know I preach about them a lot, but their products have save my a$$ many a time. Most are available at your local HomeDepot or Lowes.
 
I'm down and out with my Luxman, so I'll try anything. There's a Lowe's about 2 miles from here. Never tried LiftOff but nothing can make this worse! Thanks for the tip!
 
Sorry to hear the knob trouble.
I thought you had a non working replacement on the way?

Wouldn't that have the controls/knobs you need?

Can't you destroy the knobs on the unit you have to get the faceplate off, then desolder the rotary controls from both and solder the good controls to your nice unit?

I just did something like this to an integrated amp that someone had broken the bass control shaft. The knobs were fine though...
 
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Thanks for your message, Twestby. Yes, the defunct unit is still on the way (very slow delivery). I am still waiting and I have the bench set up with a soldering iron and all the other tools I need to get to it. Fortunately there are a few knobs that were not epoxied so I should have a good lot of extra parts for other repairs down the road.
 
Alas, my non-working 1050 has arrived! Now I have a daunting (to me) task, that of swapping out two rotary selector switches: the Speaker switch ( two wafers) and the Function switch (huge! lots of solder joints, small, tangled wires, etc.). I am strongly considering having someone else do the job. I've solder for a very long time, but this has very tight quarters. Good thing I'm not a neurosurgeon---or any other surgeon. Still, I will pay go ahead and concentrate, concentrate, concentrate.
 
I know this may not sound like much for the vetted technicians, but I finally installed the replacement speaker selector switch for my Luxman R-1050. The moment of truth came 10 minutes ago when I hooked it up and tried it....through the headphones, FINE!!! When I took the step of switching on the "A" speakers, the left channel was clear, the right was not -- hardly even heard it. Uh-oh. To my BIG relief, my mistake was not rewiring something wrong, or a cold solder joint: it was the right channel speaker wires were not tight against the back panel terminals. A couple of twists and presto! Stereo again. I will lay me down to sleep with dreams (or nightmares) of replacing the Function rotary switch....later....much later.....
 
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