[Johnson] Had a Nice Ranger 1 Cleaning Surprise

[Bry Carling]

That is a great description, Scott. Thank you. Be careful with the johnson 500. They are a real back breaker.

73, Bry, AF4K
-- 
Sent from my android "relatively smart" phone. Please excuse my brevity.

_____________________________________________
From: whitebear1122 at comcast.net
Sent: Tue Feb 07 10:02:17 EST 2012
To: Johnson at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Johnson] Had a Nice Ranger 1 Cleaning Surprise




Over the weekend I did a cursory clean of a Ranger 1 that was given to me by a local OT.  It had been unused sinced the early 70's, sitting on the floor next to his operating table. 



It looked horrible, and I"m talking HORRIBLE.  The front panel was grungy and looked like it full of corrosion, same for the cabinet. Splotches and corrosion.  There was cat or dog fur on it too.   Mice droppings on the floor and area.  The HBR-17 receiver that was sitting either on top or below  it had gray and green fuzz growing on the topsides of the  knobs so that kind of gives you an idea of what was going on nearby .  So I did a cursory clean with my favorite jar of GOJO hand cleaner (without Pumice obviously) and a toothbrush.  That Ranger cleaned up and looks nearly new.    The front panel that looked corroded and damaged cleaned up with a nice and bright paint finish.  Guess the grime protected the original finish and lustre for all those years. 



The only two distractions on the front panel are a couple of miniscule paint dits around where I had to removed two strips of 40 year old masking tape over the Ranger name and Viking logo, and then where the OT must have lost his mind one day and use one of those fine line engravers and engraved his callsign on the panel below the bandswitch knob .   I was able to get the tape and  the adhesive off without damaging the silkscreen.  



I'm not done by any means.  The knobs are  horribly grimey but one of them cleaned up with the GOJO and looks new.  I almost have a new respect for 'grime' and how it protects the original finish. hi hi 



I haven't pulled the chassis out yet so I don't know what the insides look like.  Wish me luck.   



Just thought I'd share the Ranger 1 experience.  



I wonder if I matched the front panel maroon, I might be able to use a fine fine brush and fill in the engraving.  It'll never disappear but distraction will be greatly  minimized.   I'll have to check Glen Zooks site to see if his paint formulas are  up there. 



I saw a photo recently of a Johnson 500.  Sigh... T hat 500 is still such a gorgeous transmitter!! 



73, Scott WA9WFA
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