Cleaning of radio chassis

jeswonderin wrote:

cliff, i thought the saying was, 'if it moves, salute it. if it don't, paint it'.

once a poorly-liked ensign was catnapping by the ecm dog house aft the 2nd stack on dd757. he woke up to shiny grey shoes!
don't know what he did, but i'm still jeswonderin

My 1st ship was DD 756 (USS Beatty). All the JG's on our ship we too scared of the old Chief's to fall asleep outside of their state rooms!!

Steve
KJ4SLK

The red "Scotchbrite" pads are good for really bad stuff. I buy them by the carton. They are used by body shops and other industrial prep work.

I would Imagine if you literally stripped all the parts off a chassis, you could use a steam cleaner. We did that with Navy electronics, we used a powder form of KELITE, and water, then used steam to mix the detergent and its pressure.

If you used a pressure washer, it to should work, but with a long list of cautions.

To remove light rust, scotchbrite pads should work OK, also you could use metal polish. To make the chassis look pristine, spray paint it with aluminum, or steel color, one is galvanize spray paint, with Krylon brand (Borden Paint co.)

Wow, IMHO naval jelly would be a last resort, 'specally around electronics. That stuff is just plain nasty. Depending on what you have & how bad it is... someone on the radio-boatanchor forums suggested a 50/50 mix of ammonia & 409 applied with toothbrush & elbow grease. I plan to try that when I drag my 1940's homebrew transmitter out of storage. But that is worst case...I'll leave it in the back of the truck and do that job outside !
Probably have to dry it out with a leaf blower or hair dryer & let it sit for a week or so before slowly applying power.
MD

Lucky He didn't have the Chippers around! LOL

cliff, i thought the saying was, 'if it moves, salute it. if it don't, paint it'.

once a poorly-liked ensign was catnapping by the ecm dog house aft the 2nd stack on dd757. he woke up to shiny grey shoes!
don't know what he did, but i'm still jeswonderin

It won't work if the rust is heavy, but you can always use a dremel tool and wire brush the rust off.

If it's heavy rust try the wire brushing and I even use tiny jewelers files in tight spaces, then the naval jelly.

You can use tape to cover the sockets, Electrical tape will resist, the best, in my opinion. You could use Q-tips to apply in tight places, and use them to remove the jelly also. You do need to wipe with paper towels and then flush the area with water to help neutralize the acid, a little baking soda afterward would help. I would avoid the underside of the chassis around electrical connections and parts though. Naval Jelly will discolor steel to a grey color so you may have to use metal polish to get the steel to look better.


Then use the NevR-dull to polish if not pitted.
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If it is seriously pitted and you want to cover it, use an epoxy mix that has steel or aluminum mixed in. It may be hard to find but DEVCON makes both as a putty, and they are sand-able and drill-able. Its actually very good and strong. The metal chassis itself must be completely clean of any grease or oil and dirt to work. Its a thick goo once mixed and needs to set for 24 hours to harden .

I've seen the results of spraying with a steel or silver paint on the entire chassis top and it does look very good and covers the imperfections. An old saying is in the Navy "Paint covers a multitude of Sins"

Hi guys i have used nevr dull on ceramic coated exhaust headers on a car, works really good never thought to try it on my radio chassis. I will give it a try!

I've seen some at Lowe's, and also Ace Hardware.

Nevr Dull will work on very light rust removal, it has a petroleum product in it, smells like kerosene.

Thanks for the heads up on Navel Jelly using gloves and glasses. Cliff where can I get this Nevr-dull??

Don't use steel wool around sockets.
One product I have used, is magic wadding called NEVR DULL, It can be used on just about anything, even glass. It leaves a protective coat. Polishes Gold, metals plastic etc. You need to use a lot of elbow grease though.
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I have some Naval Jelly and it does remove rust, but you have to use rubber gloves and safety glasses to be safe, and it takes several applications on thick rust.

I have an ultrasonic cleaner that helps with varible caps and small hardware and parts.

OK all... In cleaning the chassis of the old radios, what do you recommend. Like to get any rust off- plus make the chasses look as new . Anything we should not use around the tube sockets or other parts on the chassis.
Might like to attempt to completely strip one of my old AA5 sets and rebuild the whole unit at some time. But not ready for that. I have a few I just want to clean up and restore for now. Someone suggestion Navel Jelly ??
Thanks
Cliff Dice