Cleaning Chassis More Effectively

[Greg Gore]

Hi Everyone,
     It seems my antique radio and boatanchor project list is not getting any
shorter these days so hence my quest to find a better way. Right now each
project set at my QTH is removed from the cabinet and carefully disassembled
completely down to essentially a wired chassis with only the transformers and
sometimes the tuning capacitors remaining in place on top. This is done to
better clean each hardware item individually and also to facilitate getting
in all the tight places. At the present I am using various cleaning agents
carefully with different size brushes and cotton swabs and wiping cloths.
This method is very time consuming but usually results in a nice job when
finished with a varying degree of success due to discoloration of surface
plating or corrosion on the chassis in places. I was wondering if anyone in
the group has ever tried specialized media blasting. I was thinking of
getting an enclosed air powered blasting cabinet and equipping it with ground
walnut shells, pecan shells or small size plastic shot. I would imagine you
would want to use low pressure and just lightly dust over the top of the
chassis.  Naturally you would want to plug certain holes and carefully mask
off certain areas and be very careful about cleaning when finished. My
question to the group is, has anyone had any experience with anything like
this? I would like to be able to quickly remove years of accumulated dirt and
grime and at the same time brighten the appearance of the chassis and mounted
parts without etching the surface or otherwise altering its original
appearance.  Knowing of my interest in old radios my boss recently handed me
an early 30s cathedral at work one day that he found while cleaning out his
fathers attic. He's hoping I can get it fixed up to look good in his family's
living room. The set is dirty and grungy with about 60 years of accumulated
grime everywhere. I would like to find a better way and start with this one.
Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Greg Gore; WA1KBQ