Cleaning Philco Tuning Dials

[gary rabbitt]

HI, Are you talking about the dial cover, or the dial itself?

The yellowing in the dialcovers goes all the way through the plastic. You can polish the plastic so it has a gloss, but the yellow will not come out.
I have heard of guys dipping into chlorine bleach. I still can't see how the bleach goes "inside' of the plastic sheet and lightens the yellowing.


Or, are you talking about the amber color on the marked dials, such as a model 84? That color has darkened over the years and other than cleaning them of VERY carefully with water, I don't think there is a way to lighten the marked dials themselves. If you want a lighter dial, there may be repro ones you can get.

[philcoradio1234]

Quote:The yellowing in the dialcovers goes all the way through the plastic. You can polish the plastic so it has a gloss, but the yellow will not come out.
I have heard of guys dipping into chlorene bleach.

Im talking about the dial cover thanks for the fast reply i guess its a mark of age with the old philco and i really don't want to bleach it.

[gary rabbitt]

Hi,
For me, the yellowing doesn't bother me at all, and sometimes looks better than a fresh crystal clear cover. What bothers me is the cloudy effect of surface grime, and minor scratching.

A simple cleaning with a mild soap and water first, then a very mild polish like a 'cleaner wax' like Kit, will bring back the gloss on the surface. "Rubbing compound" would be too coarse, thus removing too much of the plastic where you'd have to go back to finer and finer polished to get the gloss back.

[amosbanjo]

My Model 20 dial celluloid was warped and was coming delaminated (2 layers capturing the numbers). I was reluctant to use any solvent to clean it so I used a damp cloth with special care on the inside of the two layers, and had pretty good luck. I got a tip from another site in straightening out the warping: Unrivet the dial from the hub, clamp between two pieces of glass, and place in a pan of water. Slowly bring the water to a boil for 5 minutes or so, then turn off heat and let cool. Straightened the little guy right out. Now I still have to figure out how to sandwich these two layers back together. Any ideas?

Partial solution until better one comes along: I took a piece of 1/16" polycarbonate plastic and cut two overlays using the original dial celluloids as a pattern, tapped out the rivet holes in the wheel to 4-40, and, with the celluloids sandwiched between the overlays, attached it to the wheel. Before and after pix below.

Note from site admin: Sorry, but the photos which were attached to this post are no longer available.

[Preston4479]

planigan Wrote:Ed, I too tried this on a 37-650 dial and it did not remove the print. I have what looks similar to fungus on the dial face so I really scrubed it with no effect on the print. Embolden, I grabbed my trusty WD 40 and would you believe same result. Print not effected but still that fungus looking something on the dial. The dial is a lot cleaner then it was though. PL

I'm new at this so I apologize ahead of time for any crazy questions I may ask. I was wondering if you think WD-40 will work on the plastic tuning dials found on the Philco 620, 630, and 37-604? I was recently given all three of these radios and thought I would take them apart and clean them up. Input from anyone is greatly appreciated.

Brian

[7estatdef]

I think I'd stick with the MOS before fooling WD-40 and others. I've used it and work good without removing the ink. Fortunately replacement dials are available but if you can save the original you'll save some green.
Terry

[Preston4479]

Just to let everyone know. I went with the mineral spirits for cleaning the plastic tuning dial and had no problems at all. Worked great for taking that layer of dust and dirt off. Thanks for the advice.

Brian

[Arran]

Just as a note, the same trick works for cleaning nine and seven pin European tubes with the wash away markings. Unlike American and Canadian tubes they used wash away ink to print the tube numbers instead of etching, here they only used the stuff for the brand name label but usually etched the numbers.
Regards
Arran

[codefox1]

duplicate

[codefox1]

If the printing is on the back, and you are really careful with a moist qtip, nicotine (tar) will usually succomb to ammonia or mineral spirits. Don't let it leak onto the back where the printing is. Take your time. Of course if the dial is plastic, all bets are off.

[rocketeer]

FWIW, having no mineral spirits handy, I decided to try DexoIT D5 on a safe part of the dial on my 116X. It worked like a champ, without damage to any lettering, so I did the entire dial. It did a great job. I did not spray the DexoIT directly onto the dial, I sprayed some on a soft cotton rag and wiped it with the rag using a clean rag to dry any residue.

Larry