Need help restoring a metal plate.

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howie1976

howie1976

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I've gone as far as I can go restoring this metal plate from the Rising 20/20 I'm working on. I've cleaned it with soap and water and I've let it sit in Simple Green for 5 hours. This is the best I can get it;image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg

Can anybody suggest any other product that can erase the remaining imperfections or is this the best I can expect? Thanks!
 
BoomboxLover48

BoomboxLover48

Boomus Fidelis
It is brushed Al finish with printed letters and all covered with a light clear top coat (if any).

Unfortunately that is the best one can get! Leave it as it is... it only adds to the beauty of an old boombox.

Soaking in simple green was not a good idea. You got lucky there. Paint technology was very old back in the 80s and chemical resistance was very poor to begin with. The letters would have peeled off. Some paints even didn't have good water resistance property.

Paints on a few boxes even discolored with light soap water.

M90 paint is one of the worst on boomboxes. It is hard to find an M90 with discoloration on the original paint.
 
howie1976

howie1976

Member (SA)
BoomboxLover48 said:
It is brushed Al finish with printed letters and all covered with a light clear top coat (if any).

Unfortunately that is the best one can get! Leave it as it is... it only adds to the beauty of an old boombox.

Soaking in simple green was not a good idea. You got lucky there. Paint technology was very old back in the 80s and chemical resistance was very poor to begin with. The letters would have peeled off. Some paints even didn't have good water resistance property.

Paints on a few boxes even discolored with light soap water.

M90 paint is one of the worst on boomboxes. It is hard to find an M90 with discoloration on the original paint.
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Thanks for the advice. I think twice about using simple green next time.

I did go ahead and use this Mother's polish.image.jpg
It did help by bringing back some of the luster.
 
Palmer

Palmer

Member (SA)
Most likely the imperfections you see are under the clear coat . It even looks like you can see spots where the clear has been rubbed off along the upper edge. A light cleaning is most likely all it can handle now . And as others have said Simply Green would not be the best in this case. I use Tamiya polishing compounds . These are used to polish paint finishes on plastic scale models and come in three different grits . Best to start with the finest grit first just to be safe and only try the courser grits if the finish can take it . Once you mar the raw aluminum there won't be much that can be done to spot repair it .
 
howie1976

howie1976

Member (SA)
Palmer said:
Most likely the imperfections you see are under the clear coat . It even looks like you can see spots where the clear has been rubbed off along the upper edge. A light cleaning is most likely all it can handle now . And as others have said Simply Green would not be the best in this case. I use Tamiya polishing compounds . These are used to polish paint finishes on plastic scale models and come in three different grits . Best to start with the finest grit first just to be safe and only try the courser grits if the finish can take it . Once you mar the raw aluminum there won't be much that can be done to spot repair it .
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Thanks for the advice. I'll look into that compound.
 
Lasonic TRC-920

Lasonic TRC-920

Moderator
Yeah, there is little that can be done... :-/ Maybe put an ad in the wanted section for a better looking panel, but chances are, that's what ya got.

OR, completely strip it, find a screen printing house and have a custom print job done. It would cost, but it could be done. But you would need to SCAN the artwork first, clean it all up on the computer then have it printed.
 
howie1976

howie1976

Member (SA)
Lasonic TRC-920 said:
Yeah, there is little that can be done... :-/ Maybe put an ad in the wanted section for a better looking panel, but chances are, that's what ya got.

OR, completely strip it, find a screen printing house and have a custom print job done. It would cost, but it could be done. But you would need to SCAN the artwork first, clean it all up on the computer then have it printed.
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I think I'll leave it as is, and chalk up the imperfections as the character of a 30 year old vintage piece of electronics history!😃
 
blu_fuz

blu_fuz

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I agree, its easy to fix everything and make it look new but it is only original once.
 
Beosystem10

Beosystem10

Member (SA)
Fixing up a classic boombox is like making love with a beautiful woman, because..
Hisrudeness said:
When you re install try a thin layer of baby oil, it will hide some of the imperfections.
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S

static2000g

Member (SA)
howie1976 said:
I've gone as far as I can go restoring this metal plate from the Rising 20/20 I'm working on. I've cleaned it with soap and water and I've let it sit in Simple Green for 5 hours. This is the best I can get it;
attachicon.gif
image.jpg
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image.jpg
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image.jpg
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image.jpg

Can anybody suggest any other product that can erase the remaining imperfections or is this the best I can expect? Thanks!
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yours looks better than mine! lol
 
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