Knob Paint Removal

[Dbdavid]

Hi, can anyone tell me what the console knobs are made of for a 1961 GTE? Are they Bakelite?

Mine are covered in paint and I would like to get them cleaned and polished again.

Any suggestions on paint removal and polishing after?

Thanks

Dave #2677

[John Vardanian]

I used paint remover on one of my plastic knobs and it melted the surface. If you were going to use a paint remover be warned.

john

[Dbdavid]

Thanks for your input John. That is exactly why I am asking as one google suggestion was to use paint thinner and fine steel wool. These parts are far too expensive to experiment on...

Dave

[peterp]

I don't know if the knobs are bakelite, or if the comments in this link are accurate, but there seems to be some potentially useful info here -> http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/vie ... hp?t=87859

[Dbdavid]

Thanks Peterp, that is a very good link! Would be nice to know exactly what these knobs are made of.

Dave

[John Vardanian]

If the knob is not fluted, you can spin it against a scotch pad. Do it carefully and lightly and the paint will eventually dust away. Then you polish it back to a luster.

john

[tyang]

The black knobs are definitely not Bakelite. They're a hard plastic. I know mineral spirits won't dissolve them but it may not be strong enough to remove the paint either! if you do use stronger solvents, do it quickly before it starts to eat away at the plastic, otherwise sand it off slowly.

Good luck!

Tom

[Dbdavid]

Here is the before and after pictures, the knobs were painted black and had white overspray! These are from the heater box doors.

I mounted a M4 machine screw to my drill and used 600 grit sandpaper (wet) to remove the paint, then extra fine steel wool wetted with a drop of dish soap,finally some Simichrome on a wetted extra fine pad followed by polishing it with a piece of cotton

The attachment IMG_1363.JPG is no longer available

In hindsight I could have skipped the Simichrome (polish) on the pad and just used the cotton sock to apply and remove the polish.

Thanks for the help everyone.

Dave

[Dbdavid]

Here is the before and after picture. Everything looked fine in the preview.

[Dbdavid]

Sorry Tom, I didn't see your post, I used Simichrome as I assumed the knobs were Bakelite. I will try polishing with some plastic polish and see if it is better.

Dave

[Melchior]

I do not know the material but I polished them with my polishing machine. I used the softest disc and the finest polishing wax - see the result - it worked great. After polishing I painted the letters in white, took colour clenser to remove the colour from where it should not be. Did this quite fast and soft to not have the clenser too long on the material - worked also great.

[Melchior]

That‘s the machine to be precise The old paint in the letters was scratched out with a needle before the new white paint was put in.