The PHILCO Phorum
Zenith TO Knob Bright Removal - Printable Version

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Zenith TO Knob Bright Removal - Greg - 11-11-2016

Does anybody know of a non-destructive way to remove the knob brights from Zenith TO knobs. I have a pair for an H500 that are a pretty corroded and I would like to polish them. I think polishing them would be a whole lot easier if I removed them.

My only idea, and I don't like it, is to drill a small hole through the knob from behind until I hit the bright. Then I could try pushing it off of the knob from behind.

It doesn't seem like there is any space around the edges to allow me to pry them off.

RE: Zenith TO Knob Bright Removal - klondike98 - 11-11-2016

Welcome to the Phorum!
Icon_wave

I do not think those brights come off easily.

RE: Zenith TO Knob Bright Removal - Radioroslyn - 11-11-2016

Hi Greg and welcome,
Your up there by Bob, Klondike and he seems to have an affinity for Zenith sets too. I'm down by Philly. Removing the brights from the knobs w/o damage is going to be difficult at best as they are pretty thin. A better solution may be to just rip them out and replace w/a new one. Check your local hardware store for replacement knobs with brights for various things like light dimmers and such. Most likely you'll find something a bit larger remove and cut it down to size and fit.

RE: Zenith TO Knob Bright Removal - morzh - 11-11-2016

If you are willing to risk (BTW, why?) - Try heat, see if they come off.

RE: Zenith TO Knob Bright Removal - Phlogiston - 11-11-2016

(11-11-2016, 09:27 AM)morzh Wrote:  If you are willing to risk (BTW, why?) - Try heat, see if they come off.

The knobs melt too easily. I am surprised by this one. Most of the brass falls off of the ones I have found and often has been lost. They may not be on there all that good - but good luck.

RE: Zenith TO Knob Bright Removal - Radioroslyn - 11-11-2016

(11-11-2016, 03:37 PM)Phlogiston Wrote:  
(11-11-2016, 09:27 AM)morzh Wrote:  If you are willing to risk (BTW, why?) - Try heat, see if they come off.

The knobs melt too easily. I am surprised by this one. Most of the brass falls off of the ones I have found and often has been lost. They may not be on there all that good - but good luck.

Hi Guys
You also may find that the corrosion is bad enough that you can't make them look good anyway. If those where made now days they have some sort of gold tone plastic piece. I wonder if there is a gold tone plastic tape??

RE: Zenith TO Knob Bright Removal - klondike98 - 11-11-2016

Greg, what model TO do you have?  I have two knobs from an 8G005 that are not too bad and which you would be welcome to, but I think from the description you have a model with solid brights in the center of the knob.  

[Image: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/54621529/zenith8G005_35.jpg]

RE: Zenith TO Knob Bright Removal - Greg - 12-06-2016

Now that the chassis' done I've gotten around to the cabinet.

I haven't decided how to remove the brights yet, but I did try buffing one on the knob. Do you know that if you buff it enough brass turns to silver  Icon_eek -- oops! They're so small, I figured they'd be solid brass.

I'll either get some plating compound and fix the originals or take the coward's way out and use the spare, bright-less knobs I have with the repro brights I got from Antique Electronic Supply a while back. They don't seem to carry them any more.

RE: Zenith TO Knob Bright Removal - Arran - 12-12-2016

 Maybe you could try the opposite of heat with the knob brights, freeze them instead and the glue might give out.
Regards
Arran

RE: Zenith TO Knob Bright Removal - Kenneth F. Besso Jr. - 12-12-2016

just go over top of them,,,,,GLUE ????

RE: Zenith TO Knob Bright Removal - Greg - 12-13-2016

I thought about trying to freeze them. If it was cheaper I would buy some of the wart remover spray and freeze try freezing the brights in the hope they would shrink enough to crack the glue beneath them.

The other thing I thought of was to glue something to the tops of them and try to pull them off. However I think that could end badly. I don't know what would stick and if it did how I'd get it off...

Maybe if I wait 65 more years they'll fall off on their own.