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I ruined some nice knobs! Anybody know how to resurrect them?

ConradH said:
If these are actually solid metal of some thickness, using a drill or (better) a lathe, and polishing them up with some fine (grey) Scotchbrite should work. If you want a true "brushed" look, use coarser Scotchbrite. My fear is that the "metal" is plating or some other thing that won't react well to refinishing.
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I wish I had a metal lathe. Oh, so handy for so many things. Sigh. Drill doesn't spin fast enough for nice polishing, and the motors usually aren't robust enough for continual use without overheating.

Those look like solid brushed aluminum. But your point is well taken if it was plated.
 
Pio1980 said:
For cleaning knobs like this next time, try a few drops of Jet Dri or similar in distilled water in an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner.
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That's citric acid and surfactants which should improve wetting. I haven't tried that for clenaing. I've found that Fantastik or Scrubbing Bubbles removes just about any sort of dirt. But be careful as it will remove lettering from cases and glass.
 
Thanks guys. It seems like it was a machined finish and I think it was plated and the plate is partly or mostly gone. Not much success with anything short of an emery board and that does not provide a factory look. I am giving up on making them nice and just settling for clean and satined or brushed until I can find a used set somewhere. There is a valuable lesson here.
 
Kahoona said:
Thanks guys. It seems like it was a machined finish and I think it was plated and the plate is partly or mostly gone. Not much success with anything short of an emery board and that does not provide a factory look. I am giving up on making them nice and just settling for clean and satined or brushed until I can find a used set somewhere. There is a valuable lesson here.
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Ahhh, well, plated you are out of luck. You might, depending on where you live, have a shop that can replate them for not that much. I've had things done for very little where I paid cash and wasn't picky about when the job was done.
 
Retrovert said:
"Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! And it ain't over now!" — Bluto
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"Hell no! And it ain't over now. Cuz when the going gets tough......
...
...
...the tough get going!"
 
Many of us have some similar stories, I can tell you that a lye soak is not advised to degrease a model airplane engine, nor is Fantastic to clean the silkscreened side of a glass radio dial.
 
Pio1980 said:
Many of us have some similar stories, I can tell you that a lye soak is not advised to degrease a model airplane engine, nor is Fantastic to clean the silkscreened side of a glass radio dial.
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Also, Fantastick is a bad way to clean a gold anodized Jefferson clock too. Or any anodized finish!
 
Retrovert said:
I wish I had a metal lathe. Oh, so handy for so many things. Sigh. Drill doesn't spin fast enough for nice polishing, and the motors usually aren't robust enough for continual use without overheating.

Those look like solid brushed aluminum. But your point is well taken if it was plated.
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Instead of putting the abrasive brush in the drill, what about making up a D shaft, putting that in the chuck, and spinning the knobs? Gently apply a 3M pad to the sides as the knob spins, and press against the spinning face for the "turned" look?
 
PastTechFan said:
Instead of putting the abrasive brush in the drill, what about making up a D shaft, putting that in the chuck, and spinning the knobs? Gently apply a 3M pad to the sides as the knob spins, and press against the spinning face for the "turned" look?
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Now, that could work!
 
Pio1980 said:
Many of us have some similar stories, I can tell you that a lye soak is not advised to degrease a model airplane engine, nor is Fantastic to clean the silkscreened side of a glass radio dial.
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It needs to say that on the bottle! Warning: Do Not Use on Radio Dials, Silkscreened Panel Labels, or Decals.
 
PastTechFan said:
Also, Fantastick is a bad way to clean a gold anodized Jefferson clock too. Or any anodized finish!
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That was the original formulation of Fantastik, which had sodium hydroxide in it. Alkali will strip anodizing like nobody's business because it removes oxides. Not as well as acid, but it will still make a mess out of it.

I have deliberately removed badly damaged anodizing with metal polish so I could paint the surface. Acid worked better than a weak alkali solution which just stained it.

The new Fantastik is just benzalkonium chloride a very good surfactant, which is why it takes off labeling which is just loosely stuck to the glass or metal.
 
if it was a machined finish, you could fake it with a brushed finish with some Scotchbrite and a drill press...
 
Don't forget to soak the faceplate to match! <G>

I like the D shaft in the chuck thing ...
 
Steampunkt!

Just to prove the OP ain't the only big dummy out here ... this is what happens when you leave an unprotected faceplate laying flat in storage where mice might decide to camp out ... apparently mouse pee is pretty caustic ...

faceplate-damage-9001.jpg


No amount of polishing was gonna fix that one, but I was lucky enough to find a real nice replacement at a very reasonable price on da bay. We live ... we learn ...
 
sKiZo said:
Just to prove the OP ain't the only big dummy out here ... this is what happens when you leave an unprotected faceplate laying flat in storage where mice might decide to camp out ... apparently mouse pee is pretty caustic ....
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Urine is basically salt plus ammonia plus water. The corrosive power is a function of how much water is present. Human urine is less concentrated.

I looked it up, and the osmality (amount of dissolved solute) of human urine is 1,430 mOsm/l, a gecko it is 325, a dog is 2,087, a house cat is 3,250, and for a house mouse is 7,000.

So if you really need to get your amp peed on (I don't judge), best stick with geckos. A great slogan for the Gecko Pee Acceptance Society would be: Gecko Pee Destroys Your Amp Less!

Maybe it needs a little polishing, but it's a start.
 
Gotta be careful with the care and feeding of those cherished vintage pieces. A good friend had a Marantz 10B and was letting the faceplate soak in some detergent and the dial letters came loose and "floated away". I still can't imagine the sinking feeling of knowing that you've ruined a rare piece like that. At least there's plenty of fixes for your discolored knobs. Heck if you were local I'd let you pick through my 5 gallon pail of knobs; no doubt there's either exact or very close matches in there.
 
motorstereo said:
Gotta be careful with the care and feeding of those cherished vintage pieces. A good friend had a Marantz 10B and was letting the faceplate soak in some detergent and the dial letters came loose and "floated away". I still can't imagine the sinking feeling of knowing that you've ruined a rare piece like that. At least there's plenty of fixes for your discolored knobs. Heck if you were local I'd let you pick through my 5 gallon pail of knobs; no doubt there's either exact or very close matches in there.
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I have done this
 
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