[R-390] Current thoughts on washing

Tue Oct 8 21:14:10 EDT 2013

Picked up a can recently of ZEP Aerosolve II which has been pretty good in the absence of Tri-clor.  Its active ingredient is Tricloroethyene as opposed to Tricloroethane.  I’m not a chemist and the difference between the ethyenes and ethanes is not clear to me but it does a good job of degreasing and cleaning electrical/electronic stuff.  May be tough on some plastics and paints....but I’m sure Tricloroethane did some of the same.

As with anything like this...use it outdoors where there is plenty of ventilation.

Cecil Acuff
Gulfport MS
K5DL

From: Bob Camp
Sent: ‎October‎ ‎8‎, ‎2013 ‎6‎:‎23‎ ‎PM
To: Tom Frobase
CC: R-390 at mailman.qth.net list
Subject: Re: [R-390] Current thoughts on washing

Hi

I've been down this road before. It's not pretty. 

If you soak it in anything like water, you discover all sorts of things that you never thought would rust do. Neat things like the inside of resistor leads. You also discover that coils are a real wonder to (eventually) dry out. I once spent a *lot* of time working on radios that went under water. If you go this way, you will need *lots* of very clean water and a good bake oven. 

Solvents (freon / tri-chlor / nerver gas) might work better. They all seem to be on the same sort of list these days.

That gets you down to things like petroleum based solvents or alcohols. Fire / explosions / death by vapor come to mind there. At least you wouldn't be breaking any laws. Being sure that you haven't found a solvent that dissolves some part of the radio could be tricky. 

Bob

On Oct 8, 2013, at 2:00 PM, Tom Frobase <tfrobase at gmail.com> wrote:

> I was fortunate to pick up a Motorola R-390 at the Belton Hamfest last weekend.  That is the good news the bad news is that the radio looks as if it was stored in a barn.  Mud dabbers nests in the coax sockets and lots of dirt, good news is no mouse droppings or blood hi hi !
> 
> Although I have restored numerous r-390 and r-390a's, I have never totally immersed anything but the  chassis plates and the gear assembly after removal.  I have a large ultrasonic cleaner that I use to clean the gears.  I usually clean the chassis with ajax or other mild cleanser and of course the normal paint and powder coat refinish on the knobs and other parts
> 
> So if I were to immerse the modules would I use a mild dish washing detergent in the ultrasonic cleaner and use DI water in the ultrasonic to rinse?   What about the IF covers and BFO, do I remove the covers to keep from trapping moisture,  RF cans are removable they can be cleaned otherwise.  
> 
> I would be tempted to try it with this radio, I know this has been covered a million times before but I would like to hear the current thoughts ... tom, N3LLL
> 
> 
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