Early 50's Motorola w/UHF on N.O. CL
 

http://neworleans.craigslist.org/fuo/1135537958.html

No affiliation - looks like it has a built-in UHF tuner.

I won't make any attempt to bring this one to Michigan....but it does raise a question I've had for a long time:

What is it with some old knobs - especially Motorola, and obvious in the CL photo, that take on a white waxy substance that I can't seem to wash off? Is there any way to get rid of it?

Is this a leftover fron Katrina? Might have been in water.

Not sure but I have some old amps and tuners that have knobs that get the same way. My Eico HF-20 amps for instance. The good news, the stuff cleans off easily, and the knobs look no worse for the wear......

There must be more than one kind of "white substance X", I have knobs that seem to be made of the stuff, in lieu of plastic.

I've played with various cleaners trying to find something that will simply dissolve it; in each case I've had to scrape it off with some sort of tool. Seems to be a mold; the knobs always look great underneath. I have seen a few that had a more serious problem, as if the plastic had rotted or something. (similiar to the yoke covers on many fifties sets.)

Some kinds of early plastic were soy-based and attract a bacteria that attacks the plastic. The same sort of thing happens to the plastic covers on Predicta TVs.

There is no miracle goo that will magically stop this stuff and prevent it from coming back forever. People use various things on Predicta covers, such as buffing them off with Novus polish and then applying a coat of hard wax. I don't think there's any permanent remedy, but at least you can make it look better for a few years.

Phil Nelson

Lord no, you'd have had to have been here I guess to see what Katrina did to wood and electronics!