"wb5kcm" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Mar 10, 6:30 am, Dave wrote:
I have just started to restore a HQ-145. The external
cabinet is 9.7+ and is
fine [for now]

The chassis needs a good mechanical clean up. What is a
good 'stuff' to remove
hard cased surface dust and some minor
staining/discoloration?

If the 'stuff' exists, is it commonly available?

I use some stuff called "Hood Cleaner" made by RubaChem
Inc. Computer
maintenance division, PO Box 9841, Englewood, NJ 07631,
1-800-548-3285.
This is a foaming type cleaner. You spray it on and let it
sit for a
while. It will loosen up the cooked on dirt etc. Seems to
be real safe
on plastics etc. I would not use it on silk screen labels,
especially
on dials that type. Avoid spraying on components that can
absorm
moisture. Spray it on a cloth and wipe around sensitive
components or
areas.
It really works wonders on cigarette smoked up plastic.
Hope this
helps.
73 de Randy, wb5kcm

FWIW, I worked for Hewlett-Packard a great many years
ago in a factory repair facility. We routinely washed entire
instruments using a mild solition of dishwashing detergent
in water. This was sprayed using a paint spray gun. After
washing the chassis was rinsed off using plain water and
then blown out with compressed air. Then it was baked in an
electric oven running at about 130F for a minumum of 48
hours. I usually left stuff in for a longer time. I don't
remember any more if we had any kind of brush but I suspect
we did.
Before washing certain parts were removed. This
included meters, rubber stuff (because of the heat) and
hermetically sealed transformers and inductors. The reason
for the latter was that if the transformer did not have a
perfect seal (and many did not) some moisture would get in
and wouldn't bake out causing short. This was a long time
ago but I don't remember that any instruments were not
washable. Note that the detergent is the kind for hand
washing, not dishwasher detergent.
At least some of these instruments had ferrite core
inductors. I don't rememeber any difficulty with these but
would be careful nonetheless because there are many kinds of
ferrites and some may not like getting wet.
Most of the spray on cleaners appear to be about the
same as the "streak free" type glass cleaners using butyl
alcohol. While this is safe on many materials it _will_
attack certain plastics so I avoid it for anything but
glass.

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Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA




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