[R-390] Wiring harness removal and cleaning

[Robert Moses]

For sheet metal work talk to an auto body shop. Warn them that the metal
is aluminum and subject to cracking so go easy on it. (Of course after
the electronics are out of the chassis.)

On 09/08/2014 10:32 AM, Tisha Hayes wrote:
> Do not be too worried about using distilled water. Chuck's videos show the
> garden hose cleaning method of working on the radio and it is just fine.
>
> Since you are pulling the decks and modules for individual cleaning and
> hopefully removing the panel meters you can treat the chassis like one big
> object for cleaning.
>
> Hot soapy water, lots of it, a soft scrub brush or paint brush and a bit of
> scrubbing power similar to doing pots and pans. Work the hot soapy water
> into all spots, clean out the bushings and all of the mechanicals on the
> front panel of dead grease and dirt. Rinse it all down with a garden hose
> (blast things a bit if you like).
>
> At the end you could use a gallon of distilled water to just do a
> splashdown rinse of the chassis to chase away any mineral-laden water. Blow
> it out with compressed air, then either leave it in the hot sun for a day
> or two or bake it gently in an oven at around 120 F for a few hours.
>
> Be nice to the potentiometers on the front wiring harness if you can. After
> things dry they might like a little bit of De-Ox-It, the same thing with
> the connector contacts.
>
> Since these radios were probably exposed to much worse than what you are
> going to do to them with the bath, what's the net-loss?
>
> Lots of the flat metalwork that may be dinged up or bent can be pulled off
> and re-flattened with a hammer and a hard surface. Some of the metalworking
> wizards could do even more.
>