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Solvent Polishing Cloth

Started by cihensley@aol.com, October 17, 2013, 05:45:12 PM

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cihensley@aol.com

I have uploaded a number of postings on using various solvent to repair and polish plastic telephone parts. John (TelePlay) sent me a sample of a fabric he found to use with chemical polishing. The weave of the fabric has enough "tooth" in it move chemically softened plastic. I tried with a 50/50 mix of MEK and denature alcohol. It did reduce the need for fine grit micro-mesh sanding by filling in fine scratches to achieve a desired gloss before final polishing with Novus 2. I plan to try various other ratios of MEK (or acetone) to alcohol to further test the trade off between sanding and chemical polishing. John has added to the restoral arsenal.

Chuck

Doug Rose

Hey Chuck...I was just thinking of you. I wondered where you'd been. Good to have you back. I'll give it a try....Doug
Kidphone

Contempra

Quote from: cihensley@aol.com on October 17, 2013, 05:45:12 PM
I have uploaded a number of postings on using various solvent to repair and polish plastic telephone parts. John (TelePlay) sent me a sample of a fabric he found to use with chemical polishing. The weave of the fabric has enough "tooth" in it move chemically softened plastic. I tried with a 50/50 mix of MEK and denature alcohol. It did reduce the need for fine grit micro-mesh sanding by filling in fine scratches to achieve a desired gloss before final polishing with Novus 2. I plan to try various other ratios of MEK (or acetone) to alcohol to further test the trade off between sanding and chemical polishing. John has added to the restoral arsenal.

Chuck


Hello. Acetone is not recommended for plastic because it melts the plastic... pay attention if you use it...

cihensley@aol.com

Yes. That is the point, controlled melting.

Chuck

TelePlay

#4
I'm using 40% acetone with 60% ethanol on the cloth on ABS (edit: black '55 500 and a black '41 302) with extremely great success. The ethanol is 70% and 30% water, so actually 40% 42% 18% acetone ethanol water respectively.

Contempra

Quote from: TelePlay on October 18, 2013, 11:18:06 AM
I'm using 40% acetone with 60% ethanol on the cloth on ABS with extremely great success. The ethanol is 70% and 30% water, so actually 40% 42% 18% acetone ethanol water respectively.


okay but ABS and plastic are not the same thing my friend :) its just my opinion.

TelePlay

#6
Quote from: Contempra on October 18, 2013, 01:53:21 PM
Quote from: TelePlay on October 18, 2013, 11:18:06 AM
I'm using 40% acetone with 60% ethanol on the cloth on ABS with extremely great success. The ethanol is 70% and 30% water, so actually 40% 42% 18% acetone ethanol water respectively.


okay but ABS and plastic are not the same thing my friend :) its just my opinion.

It's trial and error starting with a low concentration of acetone and/or MEK (say 10%) mixed with any one or two of many other solvents including but not limited to isopropyl alcohol, methanol, ethanol and the water included in these off the shelf products to "buffer" the ketone used (or DCM) to get a "cutting" mixture on the fabric that works with the phone being restored. Too much acetone and yes, you will have to sand off light fiber marks. Not enough acetone or MEK and it has no affect as a chemical sandpaper.

So far, I've used this technique on a '55 500 and a '41 302. The chemical mixture applied to this special lint free moderately rough cloth I found eliminates the need to use micromesh. I can take a surface that has just been sanded with 800 grit wet sandpaper and chemically sand it with the mixture on this "solvent polishing cloth" and go right to a surface ready for Novus 3 or Novus 2 and get the final shine in a matter of minutes.

cihensley and I (and I'm sure others) have been working on chemical solutions to phone problems for about 2 years. This fabric I found is not available in any store. I ran across it a few months ago through my work and sent some to Chuck to try out. Both he and I found this to be a very nice and quick way to shine up a phone. Getting the chemical components and the mixtures right is the key.

The work continues. Will this work on soft plastic? Maybe, but the chemicals and the mixture will most likely be different. Will this work on bakelite? No.

Contempra

Hi teleplay ;).. this is your business if you want to try a little bit acetone in a mixture. After all, this...is your telephone my dear friend and I can't stop you..if it is a success, good ! if no,...........:) give mesome news anyway...

TelePlay

#8
Quote from: Contempra on October 18, 2013, 07:57:22 PM
Hi teleplay ;).. this is your business if you want to try a little bit acetone in a mixture. After all, this...is your telephone my dear friend and I can't stop you..if it is a success, good ! if no,...........:) give mesome news anyway...

I made an error, Contempra. I forgot to mention that these phones being worked on have major problems, such as this project of mine that is still in progress and was put aside a few months ago for a couple of other projects that came up, including removing some deep dings from the front of a 500 shell just below the dial.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=5239.msg107204#msg107204

I'll dig out the project box this weekend and take photos of this "unfinished" corner using the solvent cloth and chemical mixture to show you what it does, as an example only, because after I "polish" it, I will have to rough sand it before adding more liquid plastic to level out the surface. I'm nowhere near done with building up and smoothing the busted out corner on this 302 shell but it would make a great candidate to show the solvent cloth polishing process in action.

Why? Because they can live again with a little ingenuity, care and gentle work.


Contempra

Quote from: TelePlay on October 18, 2013, 08:31:14 PM
Quote from: Contempra on October 18, 2013, 07:57:22 PM
Hi teleplay ;).. this is your business if you want to try a little bit acetone in a mixture. After all, this...is your telephone my dear friend and I can't stop you..if it is a success, good ! if no,...........:) give mesome news anyway...

I made an error, Contempra. I forgot to mention that these phones being worked on have major problems, such as this project of mine that is still in progress and was put aside a few months ago for a couple of other projects that came up, including removing some deep dings from the front of a 500 shell just below the dial.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=5239.msg107204#msg107204

I'll dig out the project box this weekend and take photos of this "unfinished" corner using the solvent cloth and chemical mixture to show you what it does, as an example only, because after I "polish" it, I will have to rough sand it before adding more liquid plastic to level out the surface. I'm nowhere near done with building up and smoothing the busted out corner on this 302 shell but it would make a great candidate to show the solvent cloth polishing process in action.

Why? Because they can live again with a little ingenuity, care and gentle work.



I see that it has its good sides to heal a wound on the case indeed!.. However, to clean it is probably something else. Thank you for your explanations



TelePlay

Quote from: Contempra on October 18, 2013, 08:40:24 PMI see that it has its good sides to heal a wound on the case indeed!.. However, to clean it is probably something else. Thank you for your explanations

Yes, not for cleaning. For repair only. There are a lot of posts and ideas and working fixes/repairs under this section of the forum including many on just cleaning and polishing a "plastic" phone in otherwise good condition to a mirror finish.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?board=24.0

A lot of members have contributed to a lot of stuff in that section alone. Browse through it when you have some time.

Contempra

Quote from: TelePlay on October 18, 2013, 09:34:47 PM
Quote from: Contempra on October 18, 2013, 08:40:24 PMI see that it has its good sides to heal a wound on the case indeed!.. However, to clean it is probably something else. Thank you for your explanations

Yes, not for cleaning. For repair only. There are a lot of posts and ideas and working fixes/repairs under this section of the forum including many on just cleaning and polishing a "plastic" phone in otherwise good condition to a mirror finish.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?board=24.0

A lot of members have contributed to a lot of stuff in that section alone. Browse through it when you have some time.


It's an idea. I think that acetone would be a very good idea to repair a corner or a crack. but we must go there with parsimony