[Hallicrafters] Cleaning the metal beast- a few thoughts

[Neil]

I'm restoring an S-76. It was dusty, greasy, stained, and a
little rusty when I started.
I haunted the electronic supply stores for some kind of
strong, but non-damaging,
cleaning solution. Ended up with several, names I don't have
at the moment, but they
are highly volatile compounds. You don't want to breath
while using them. Both of them 
lubricate and clean at the same time, which I wanted since
the controls were partially
seized and rough on rotation. This type of cleaner purports
to leave no residue. Of course
they float the crap, so you have to wipe it up continuously.
I also used paint thinner
as a cleaning agent for the chassis and other non-electronic
parts.

Results. The solvents/lubricants worked well for hard to
reach areas. The paint thinner was just
as good, much cheaper, and left a nice clean sheen on the
metal... but because it isn't
propellant-based, it wasn't as easy to use in the cracks. I
used stiff paintbrushes of various 
sizes to scrub the small, hard to reach areas. And lots of
q-tips. 

Next time. I'd hesitate to use the volatile chemicals again
partly because of the impact
on the environment, but even more because of the lingering
solvent out gassing. My s-76 still
stinks. I've blown it with hairdryers, let it bake in the
sun, and given it time. Still makes
me wonder what I'm breathing as I recap it. I think getting
the cabinet back on, and the tubes
fired up for a while, may finally blow out the remaining
odor.

This is a fun project and I get instantly relaxed, in a
stressed-out world, whenever I dig in.


Neil Murphy KI6HJS
www.ghostdog.com