[jrblasde]

Good morning, folks:

     I know that I’ve hinted at it before, but I’ve been sitting on a nasty Philco model 48-482 for a couple of years now. It had to have been in a heavy smoker’s home, because a thick, sticky coating has permeated throughout the chassis. Literally every mechanism was gummed up. I’ve tried many times to clean it out, but the effort is extensive to get even small components cleaned up. It seems most difficult to clean the metal components. I had robbed a few components from it when restoring my 46-480 as well—a light socket, the 7F8 converter tube, and both 7H7 tubes. 

Anyway, I stumbled across another one. Same model, but with a much cleaner chassis! It’s missing the speaker and the tuner is locked up, but the radio I’ve been holding onto has these very parts. I believe my plan will be to utilize the first one for parts, and I intend to restore this new one. I’ll send photos once it arrives!

[bridkarl]

That sounds like a plan. I suppose in theory you could somehow steam clean it, but I doubt it.
I’ve cleaned out some metal radio cases with Simple Green and the nicotine just ran off - it must have been 1/8 inch thick.

[jrblasde]

The new 48-482 arrived today! As promised, here are some photos of the cabinet:

   

   

   

   

The chassis inside is in fair shape as well. The top side is a bit dirty and has a couple of small rust spots (none are bigger than dime sized), but the underside is remarkably clean.

   

   

As the description said when I bought it, the tuner is pretty well frozen; it probably won’t rotate more than five to ten degrees. Perhaps I can clean it, but if not I’ll yank the tuning capacitor out of my donor set. I’ll also use the speaker out of the donor set, which I already know to work. 

I can’t help but recall a conversation I had when working on the electrical restoration of my 46-480. I had mentioned briefly that the first 48-482 I bought had a Bakelite capacitor in the power section. It was shocking to many folks to think that a late ‘40s model would have a Bakelite capacitor, so I looked at the parts list. It did not indicate that there should be any Bakelite capacitors in the power supply section of the 48-482, so I think we all decided it must have just been an available substitute. But look at this one—it has one, too!

[Arran]

Joseph;
I wonder if that was tobacco tar, or kitchen grease on the chassis of your other 48-482? My experience with tobacco tar is that it usually comes off with isopropyl alcohol, if not then acetone will usually cut it. One thing that I have not tried is automotive hand cleaner on a chassis, I usually reach for trisodium phosphate TSP, and it works well on dirt, but not so much on that nasty mix of oil and dirt you get sometimes. Varsol or kerosene also cuts grease, so does turpentine. I think that the late Ron Ramírez would sometimes use hand cleaner with pumice on really grungy chassis, or maybe that was Kirk?
That new set looks like it's just dusty, so a vacuum cleaner and a brush is a good place to start, then something else later is a damp rag doesn't work.
Regards
Arran

[jrblasde]

Well, you may be onto something! You’re right, cooking oils are generally much harder to clean off than cigarette tar. I guess I hadn’t considered that possibility in a radio before. Haha, such a nice radio to have been in someone’s kitchen!

Takes me back to my time working in food service while in college. WOW, that grease is nasty stuff! We would get concentrated degreaser from our supplier that we were supposed to dilute ten-to-one or something like that, but sometimes even the uncut degreaser would struggle to break up the most stubborn buildup! It burned like crazy if you had any cuts on your hands.

[Arran]

Joseph;
One of my first radios was an RCA-Victor clock radio, which I still have, and it was absolutely caked with a mixture of grease, and dust. Thankfully I was able to wash most of it off, but it must have been a kitchen radio in someone's house, maybe not near the stove but that stuff tends to aciculate on a lot of stuff nearby. It has a bout the same feel as that rubberized paint they were covering everything with a few years ago, AFTER it goes bad!
Now that I am reminded of it I should pull it out and service it, it's an odd model with a Chinese red paint job, and a reverse painted plastic front. It's probably been two decades since it was last powered up, and it could use a new paint job.
Regards
Arran

[MrFixr55]

I have dealt with the kitchen grease issue. Try oven cleaner if nothing else fails. Do use rubber gloves. and be careful around aluminum. Mask off sockets and sensitive components. The reason why oven cleaner feels slippery is because it is turning the oils in your skin to soap. Soap was made by mixing lye (Sodium Hydroxide) with animal fat or vegetable oil to produce stearates (soap). Dishwasher detergents are quite alkaline and can also be tried. This may be why those Pholks that have cleaned tuning capacitors in the dishwasher have come out with such shiny clean results.