Faceplate & Knob Cleaning & Polishing: How do you get it done?

[JB8]

DISCLAIMER: There may already be an extensive thread (or many of them...) around this but I didn't see it, so thanks in advance for your contribution! Always good to have an updated version of best practices.

For some context, I started working on project receivers at the beginning of the pandemic and have thoroughly enjoyed the learning process specific to refurbishing late 70's low-watt receivers. After a successful repair, some, like the Yamaha CR-420 and Realistic STA-78, have really come to life with a good faceplate cleaning. At the start I was basically just using hot soapy water, looking to remove grease, dust, dirt, but with minimal aggression. I then started doing things like pulling the faceplate and knobs, soaking the knobs in hot dish washing soap before taking an old tooth brush to them, and eventually polishing both the dial "glass" and faceplate itself. For the glass I really like the Novus plastic polish options (works great on the 330s'c), and for silver faceplates I've been using Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish applied with my finger tip. For a classic black faced receiver, I recently used baking powder (again, just with my fingertip) for the first time on an STA-78 (shown in the two pictures without it's lights on) and feel like the results were excellent.

I'd love to hear what you're doing to cleanup the faceplate and knobs on your vintage gear, so please chime in and post picks, for god's sake, we want to see your gear!!

 

[Binkman]

G'day;
IMO You cover just about it. gentle dish det. gentle polishing if needed. I recently restored cosmetics on an Onkyo Integra with modest spray paint on the face top only and edges.. face finish and graphics printing was intact, The knob arrows are slightly indented and washed out. I used a white pastel crayon to touch these up filling and gently wiping excess. I suppose I could cover with a fast spray enamel matt clear sealant but the pastel has hardened.

btw nice photo's above.

 

[goodolpg]

https://www.google.com/search?q=cle...HZ1TBBwQrQIoBHoECAQQBQ&biw=1600&bih=757&dpr=1

 

[JB8]

Thanks, @goodolpg, the VP mentioned this google thing on an interview recently, now I see what she was talking about, ha! Well, I'm dumb... Oh well. No need to post here, my friends, please check out the link above, it has everything you'll ever need specific to cleaning your faceplate, knobs and all. Cheers

 

[krautmaster]

Check out what a coat or two of Poly can do for an STA-78 cabinet (It has been recapped and I use it as my garage stereo playing through a set of Bose 301 series II speakers):

 

[grinx76]

DISCLAIMER: There may already be an extensive thread around this but I didn't see it, so thanks in advance for your contribution!

For some context, I started working on project receivers at the beginning of the pandemic and have thoroughly enjoyed the learning process specific to refurbishing late 70's low-watt receivers. After a successful repair, some, like the Yamaha CR-420 and Realistic STA-78, have really come to life with a good faceplate cleaning. At the start I was basically just using hot soapy water, looking to remove grease, dust, dirt, but with minimal aggression. I then started doing things like pulling the faceplate and knobs, soaking the knobs in hot dish washing soap before taking an old tooth brush to them, and eventually polishing both the dial "glass" and faceplate itself. For the glass I really like the Novus plastic polish options (works great on the 330s'c), and for silver faceplates I've been using Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish applied with my finger tip. For a classic black faced receiver, I recently used baking powder (again, just with my fingertip) for the first time on an STA-78 (shown in the two pictures without it's lights on) and feel like the results were excellent.

I'd love to hear what you're doing to cleanup the faceplate and knobs on your vintage gear, so please chime in and post picks, for god's sake, we want to see your gear!!

View attachment 2458839 View attachment 2458838 View attachment 2458836 View attachment 2458837

beautiful model
sexy thing

 

[JB8]

Wowza, @krautmaster, looks amazing!! Great work, I'll use your pics as inspiration!

Gotta say, using the baking soda on the face made a huge impact, I've never really seen the grain pop as much as it does now. And i'm with you, @grinx76, whole lotta sexy going on here!

 

[Binkman]

I use it as my garage stereo playing through a set of Bose 301 series II speakers):

sacrilege! unless you have a very nice garage... show piece fer sure!

 

[krautmaster]

I have a stereo in almost every room: "living room" has a Parasound Halo system: dual A21+ Parasound amps, Parasound P6 preamp, Parasound T3 tuner, Rotel Tribute CD player, Rega Planar 3 TT playing through Monitor Audio Silver 500 speakers & W-12subwoofer.

The "family room" has a Parasound A23+,amp, P6 preamp, T3 tuner, Cambridge Audio CXC CD Player (it is a stuttering POS that will be replaced soon), P6 has I-tunes/Sirius XM playing through the PC, Dynaco A25 speakers & Klipsch 10" subwoofer.

My "office" has a Parasound NC 2250V2 amp, Parasound NC 200 preamp, Onkyo 9090II tuner, Yamaha 300CD player, Marantz 6200 TT, Infinity RS4b speakers with Klipsch 12" subwoofer.

The master bedroom has a Parasound NC 2125 Amp, Parasound NC 2100 preamp, Onkyo 9090II tuner, Cambridge audio CD player and Dynaco A25 speakers with 10" Polk subwoofer.

That leaves the STA-78 and Bose 301 series II relegated to garage duty, but I do a lot of car maintenance and wood work out there so it gets used frequently.

 

[JB8]

I see a CD player included for 4 of the 5 systems, just curious what your go-to favorite CD's are? Looks like there's a lot of tuners and TT's too, but I'm always curious what recorded content people are playing through these majestic systems!

 

[krautmaster]

I listen to almost everything except Rap &Hip Hop because my ears are too old & too slow to understand a single word (they talk way too fast). I play mostly classic rock and alternative (Floyd, Zeppelin, Springsteen, Mellencamp, 3rd Eye Blind, Pearl Jam, Nervana, Goo Goo Dolls, etc.), a little country (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Brooks & Dunn), lots of classical (Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Puchini, etc.) and some jazz (but that is mostly on FM radio)

 

[JB8]

Goodness, that's quite the lineup! I'll be over in an hour, regardless of what you've got playing, I'll be happy, ha!

 

[Chris __R]

I recently used a Magic Eraser (gently) on the faceplates and knobs of an STA-2000 and a Marantz 1060 and they came out nicely. That, plus some Howard’s really cleaned them up.

 

[JB8]

@chris_r those look fantastic, and great tip with the Magic Eraser. I'm sure you have to be super gentle, as you noted, but the results look stellar! I think I'll try it on the end of some knobs, they seem to be more stubborn at times to get clean. Also, any knobs with tiny ridges, like those found on some of the early Pioneer SX's, they can be tough to get perfectly cleaned out.

I know this is a redundant thread but I'm sure digging the pics and tips!

 

[krautmaster]

If you have any 70's - early 80's silver face Onkyo equipment use only soap and water- the lettering comes off very easily, especially the last of the silver stuff (the ones with a satin-flat finish, the TX-3000, TX-5000, TX-7000, etc) the lettering falls off those if you look at them too hard !

 

[needforspeed]

Soaked everything in DAWN for a few hours, Dry throughly, Polished with MOTHERS wheel polish