Black Plastic Restoration

There have recently been a few black boxes that have come up for sale with badly weathered cases, most notably that BB40 and a JVC 550 that ended today. I've had thoughts about them but have no idea if it's possible to recondition them back to life without paint. I like the raw plastic finish much more so would only take something on if I could maintain that.

There've been a few threads but I didn't find the definitive info I'm looking for.
Can it be done for the likes of this:

Would Novus plastic polish do the trick? It will restore transparency to hazed and slightly scratched tuner glass (acrylic/lexan), but what about the body (ABS)? Maybe?

OTOTH, Koala Polish claims to polish ABS: http://www.koalaproducts.net/beforeafterpolish.html

BTW, did you win the 550 auction?

Go!

=ml=

This is a subject I have thought of as well. I have wondered if you can fine sand then polish a black box. Has any one done this?

Lasonic TRC-920 said:

This is a subject I have thought of as well. I have wondered if you can fine sand then polish a black box. Has any one done this?

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Chris, Fine sanding and polishing will give a glossy look with variations in the gloss one can get based on the plastic used back then. We lose the rich matt finish look.

Most of those plastics used back then were cheap thermoplastics with very low melt point and low plastic deformation temperature.

Only nowadays we make the best plastics like ABS, TPO, POM, PMMA, PC and all.


In some cases sanding can gum up the surface depending on the quality of the plastic.
The priceless look is from the matting effect from the paint used for these models.

Practically impossible to make it look good without painting!

http://www.mtf.stuba.sk/docs//internetovy_casopis/2010/3/szeteiova.pdf

I thought this would be interesting to read to get some idea about plastics and thier uses.

I worked so many years developing coatings for interior and exterior automotive application.

Paint JVC used on M90, RC550 and all were very inferior for chemical resistance. Never even use light soap to clean these paints. Most household cleaners will attack the paint no matter if it is even diluted.

Wipe new is amazing but keep in mind it will not come off once applied,iv never used in on a boombox but i have other things thats plastic and it truly is amazing stuff.

A little wd-40 looks great too if you use just a little and it stays on for a long time,and if you dont like it just wipe it off.

Peanut butter is the best ever product for cleaning up ABS and similar plastics , the only proviso is that the item being cleaned must be kept away from dogs for a few hours after application.
In case you doubt me, the bumper bar on the small Peugeot in the picture below is in the process of being given the peanut butter treatment, this was the smooth kind though I guess that the abrasive properties of the crunchy variety may be advantageous if the surface of the plastic had been a bit scratched up:



And that 20 year old bumper is still clean and shiny, some three years after the treatment was completed.

I can however accept no responsibility for any peanut butter-related damage caused to members' boomboxes if the stuff falls inside the mechanism and causes tape speed instability so go carefully!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ri5cszSKEg

So that's where the rest of that jar went!

GHETTOBLASTER4LIFE said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ri5cszSKEg

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OK this is hilarious...I even watched it when they put both dogs together!

OK, now I'm hungry...

Great info here.

I knew about the low heat damage that can occur with the older plastics. I did not know the peanut butter trick, but it totally makes sense. The natural oils would be good.

We have seen amazing paint jobs, but still wish polishing could bring back the matt black.

Lasonic TRC-920 said:

Great info here.

I knew about the low heat damage that can occur with the older plastics. I did not know the peanut butter trick, but it totally makes sense. The natural oils would be good.

We have seen amazing paint jobs, but still wish polishing could bring back the matt black.

Click to expand...

Here is the thing you have to careful of with any oils...you may end up with a more satin finish than matte. I have used Pledge Revitalizing Oil to even out color on black plastic with oily spots. Once applied I let it sit for a few days and then wiped it down with a damp cloth with warm water making sure I left no drops anywhere for any length of time. Repeated three times. This reduced the "satin sheen" from the Pledge on my Vector VMC-100. Now it looks as flat as it can be but will take patience and time to get to that point. And of course the type and porosity of the plastics will be the biggest question.

And dogs will be much less likely to lick your box if you use the Pledge. Oh dear, I hope that first sentence doesn't translate as badly as I think it might!