Removing cigarette tar from chassis
 

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I have used rubbing alcohol for that purpose. Set the chassis on its side or at a slant, spritz a bit from a spray bottle and work with a soft rag or children's toothbrush as needed, and keep going until it runs clear.

This can clean up everyday gunk (smoke, cooking grease), but won't remove corrosion, of course.

Can't guarantee what might happen to lettering on boards, but that would be easy enough to test with a Q-tip dabbed in alcohol.

I know boatanchor guys who run their grubby chassis through a dishwasher, but I would not, repeat NOT recommend that under any circumstances.

If your chassis looks good after cleaning but still seems a little stinky, give it a day or two. I recently finished a Hallicrafters SX-28 that was coated in decades of cigar tar. It seemed faintly smelly after the initial cleaning, but that quickly dissipated.

If patient cleaning with alcohol doesn't get rid of the tar and stink, you can step up to stronger solvents. I have washed a couple of truly awful chassis with lacquer thinner, believe it or not, and it didn't seem to harm anything.

Rubbing alcohol would be the safest and won't remove paint unless rubbed.
 

Laquer thinner is much stronger and will remove labels, paint and glue from things. Don't use laquer thinner on wires or coils, etc. I wouldn' use it at all.

Since everthing needs cleaning I would use Phil's alcohol method.

Formula 409 or Fantastic would work great but needs to be thoroughly flushed with distilled water, then it would need to be flushed with alcohol to get the water out, then it needs to sun/air dry for several hours.
I would remove any paper labels and reglue them afterwards.
Putting anything valuable in the dishwasher is nuts.

How about before and after pics?

imagine what the wife would have to say about the dishwasher afterwards

look for something called Flux Off in a spray can, you can wash the whole thing down with it then relube and mechanical parts.

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I had a friend in Memphis that used to stand the chassis up at an angle and wash them with a water hose. He would then let it air dry in the sun. Always made me nervous, and I don't recommend it. I use rubbing alcohol, but I know one tech that kept a bottle of pga on the bench for cleaning boards and such. It would either clean it off well, or he could just have a drink and not care anymore. Actually pga does work prety well, but I will stick with the rubbing alcohol.

Bill R

May sound foolish at first, but...
 

...I've done three that way so far including my operational CTC2 chassis. It works well. Obviously, you don't direct the stream into the tuner, and you're going to replace the paper caps anyway. I know others who also use the technique successfully.

I recommend distilled water because of the chlorine, chemicals aand minerals in
 

regular waters.

Then a thorough flush of isopropyl alcohol would help expell that pure water. Followed by the sun/air drying.

I think that would be the safest method to ensure no minerals or chemicals stay behind to corode some microscopic area that could lead to problems.

I know Andy is a great guy but using a dishwasher is about as lazy as it gets and is very likely to leave corrosive micro deposits.

So, it works fine afterwards...what about months or years from now.

Come on fellas.. how about some credit for giving the obvious best advice.

Is that ask'n too much?

My primary interest is the wellfare of the rare electronics and the happiness of all who use them.

Now read these posts again, no one has advocated putting things with coils or other moisture trapping electronic parts in the dishwasher.
Personally I use a spray called "Con-Tak" which is a fairly mild solvent cleaner, it is an environmentally sound replacement for what would have been Freon cleaning spray. Am kind of leary myself of using water, but I have had TV's which are soaked with rainwater work fine after drying out completely so water cleaning is probably pretty benign especially if the chassis is forced-air dryed.

I agree Chad. Not mentioned in my above post: the procedure is an outdoor event, and I use an electric leaf blower to dry the chassis and remove areas of 'microscopic' moisture.

Once the chassis is back on the bench, the time consuming cleaning with a toothbrush, paper towels, and a solvent is next, anything from Windex to a vinegar-based kitchen cleaner I bought years ago.

Don't know if it's still in stock (64-4345), but Radio Shack electronics cleaner with a built-in brush does a fine job for me.

Here's a before/after picture of a water-cleaned 1951 color-ready Admiral -- no more dust and cobwebs. Check the 1956 Philco TV-123 color chassis after its thorough water cleaning, degreasing, and polishing. Love it when the tube shields shine up like that.

Putting the RF deck off an R-390A isn't as screwy as it sounds-it's stainless, mostly mechanical, & unlike civilian stuff, R-390As are kinda designed to be worked on.

That chassis looks nice. The problem here in the central to eastern part Texas(and for that matter, the entire southeast) is that the humidity rusts the chassis somewhat over the years(especially if the TV is in a non-climate controlled area), so some re-coating is usually necessary for things to look that good.

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That's a neat cabinet design.
 

Much more cool than the basic box which I like also.

I think dishwashing liquid would work well with soft wiping on the CRT frame so as no too loose the paint. I wouldn't use anything stronger than Formula 409 or Fantastic on a damp terry cloth rag to do it. It will be nice to see it cleaned up without loosing paint, letters, stickers, inside and out.

Shouldn't that big hot resistor under the flyback area be on the other side of that terminal strip to not heat up that small side transformer as much? Would the factory have put it like that or is it a replacement that was installed wrong? Is it the original terminal strip?

If that terminal strip is burned to the point of being brittle and easy to break would that mean it is a high hours set or did those strips burn out with average to low hours?

I have cleaned a really gooked up chassis like that with laquer thinner. But I didn't just pour it on the chassis, I used a rag with the laquer thinner on it, or a brush (small paint brush, tooth brush, ...) dipped in the laquer thinner, so I could keep it away from more sensitive parts. And I'm talking about using laquer thinner specifically, not paint thinner. So for really bad sticky cigarette gook, I have resorted to laquer thinner and it worked ok. Although I don't know if I would recommend it given how powerful of a solvent it is, I'd try the rubbing alchohol or one of those other products first.

Laquer thinner is fine on metal but
 

it is 3 or 4 times stronger than paint thinner and will definately remove paint from the CRT frame quick!

I always wash any chassis I'm working on with a hose. First remove any paper and cardboard items, then I spray the chassis with a detergent. Then I use the hose to completely rinse it. I avoid spraying the hose inside the power transformer, but otherwise I spray everything. The key is to allow a long time for the water to dry. I leave the chassis out in the sun if possible for a couple of days. If not, I use a heat gun to dry it off.

I've never had a problem with flybacks, IF cans, or anything else as long as I don't get impatient and apply power before the set is completely dry.

The reason I say to avoid paint thinner is that it drys slowly and leaves an oily residue, I'd never clean anything like a chassis with paint thinner, same goes for turpentine and other similar products.

Andy, I don't know what the weather is like in your area, but I would start by spritzing rubbing alchohol and carefully brushing with a children's toothbrush or chubby artist brush. Repeat from top down until the alcohol runs clear.

In this part of the world, the humidity is gonna hover close to 100% for the next few months, so hosing it off on the driveway and drying in the sun (ha-ha, what sun?) is not an option.

It's a balance between functional and beautiful. It's not hard to clean a chassis so that it will be perfectly functional. The TV won't care a hoot if there are, say, some surface stains on the top of the chassis after cleaning. If you want the chassis top to look shinier (some times I do, some times I don't care), try some metal polish. The TV will work the same either way.

I know a few boatanchor fanatics who remanufacture a set (I wouldn't call it restoration) by stripping the chassis down to bare metal -- removing all components and wires, drilling out and replacing all of the original tube sockets, etc. -- having the chassis either replated or repainted, then building it all over again. Maybe that's worth it for a once-in-a-lifetime set, but so far I haven't met such a critter :-)

Phil

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Use Automotive Brake-Kleen.

It's not as strong as lacquer thinner, and it leaves no residue by design. Evaporates completely on its own in minutes. The older stuff (with clourine) was pretty much dry-cleaning fluid, and the new stuff might be too.

Just realized, you're in CA. You'll probably have to get a permit, pass a test and take out a bond to buy Brake-Kleen. :D

Haha
 

I have heard that in California you need a permit for just about anything!

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simply wow...
 

the baby is looking very very COOL!

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