Removing paint from radio

[tcash158]

We have several portables the have a white paint pin number on the front of them and I need to know how to remove the white paint from the front of the radio? Any help is greatly appreciated, I have to clean these numbers off and so far I have not found anything to get into the roungh plastic and get all of the paint off the front of the radio.

[jackhackett]

I've found that an acid brush with the bristles cut very short is good for scrubbing markings off radios, you'd need to use some kind of solvent that will work on the paint without damaging the housing though.. maybe mineral spirits? Test it on an old housing or inconspicuous spot first. Use the brush to scrub in a small circular motion. I've mostly had to deal with radios marked with whiteout, isopropyl alcohol works on that. Since you say it's white paint it may actually be whiteout... seems to be a common method of marking radios.

[Bill_G]

Sharpie paint pens are alcohol soluble. Apply liberally, let soak, scrub with the acid brush as Jack recommended, wipe off with wet rag, reapply alcohol as necessary, and finish with a dab of WD40 to restore luster. Acetone will craze polycarbonate housings.

[Tom in D.C.]

Most of the various things (Goof Off, etc.) that remove the markings also discolor the case, unfortunately. Most of us, if we're intent on keeping/using the radio, change out the case for one that has not been painted. I have an XTS1 right now that came to me painted and first thing I did was to buy an unmarked case for the day I get rid of the radio. Meantime the channel label covers the painting nicely, there being 48 channels and no display on this unit.

[n7maq]

We use Jif-Action contact cleaner (or used to) by GC Electronics, they don't make it any more and they replaced it with Jiffy Bath cleaner. The new stuff is not as good, but it will still work on a lot of paints, and markers. As pointed out above get a GOOD acid brush and cut it short to scrub with. You will know fairly quickly if the cleaner you get will dissolve the paint or not. As stated above, be sure to test a small area of the housing to be sure you don't have something that will discolor your housing.


Jim

[Karfield]

Here is what I've done both at depot and here.

Mineral spirits is by far the safest thing to use on the housings. However it'll spread the paint out and you'll have to work with it for a while. Once it's nice and thin you can use some WD-40 to get rid of the rest.

If your case is already a bit dulled and dirty and you are quite desperate flux remover will tear that stuff right off there. However you'll case will be more of a flat black instead of the semi-gloss black.

I generally save the flux remover for the castings or back housings as many refer to it as flux remover also works well to remove permanent marker from the aluminium castings.

[smokeybehr]

I use 91% isopropyl alcohol and cotton swabs, cotton cosmetic rounds, and cheap toothbrushes to do 95% of my cleaning. The other 5% I use some really good solvent that we have at work that will dissolve adhesives like crazy, but not harm plastic. You could probably use mineral spirits as well to do the same thing.

[545]

I usually use finger nail polish remover applied with a cotton ball. Usually 1 or 2 passes and the paint is gone.

[smokeybehr]

I usually use finger nail polish remover applied with a cotton ball. Usually 1 or 2 passes and the paint is gone.

Be careful with the acetone, or as has been mentioned above, it'll cloud/craze the case.

[Bill_G]

There's some low fume / no fume fingernail polish remover that actually does a good job of taking off some paints without attacking plastic. But, as mentioned numerous times already - do a swab test before going great guns, or you could be looking at a case change.

[dh6kq]

...another way would be to use an ultrasonic cleaning system with mild soap or alcohol solution (the one or the other work pretty decend, depending on the kind of paint).
This equipment is running with moderate heat, the cleaning cycle may take between 30 min to a few hours.
You might find this equipment at you local optician shop - if the radio is tooo dirty you might have to pay for the detergent (beside the beer for him).

Regards
Andy

P.S.: ... probably you might find it advantageous to remove the electronic stuff BEFORE diving the radio...

[dispatcher7586]

To clean up my radios and my friends radios, I use a black sock, 70% Iscopropyl alcohol, soap/water and a tooth brush. It removes the dirt and loosens up the paint, markings and sticker glue so its easiler to scrub it off with the tooth brush!