As per my very recent post I am working on a complete Monitor Bowl Fire. I intend to do my best possible fettling and impress all of you (probably an unrealistic goal ) Anyway, in trying to polish the hell out of the aluminium reflector, I have come up against a small problem.... There is some kind of glue like residue on the aluminium that just clumps up and spreads without coming off the metal. I have messed around with this for a while but its proving hard to remove this stuff. I can only think it is the accumulated hard baked old polish from its 60+ years of life. I am going to have to resort to some pretty nasty chemicals to get it off. Anybody else ever seen this problem before ?? Mike
Try cleaning it with turpentine -real gum spirits of turpentine, not the ersatz crap. Us old farts used gum spririts of turpentine to polish aluminium to a brilliant lustre, nothing else works as well. The reason? When you dampened your polishing cloths and the like with gum spirits, the volitiles would evaporate, leaving a layer of gum resin to seal the aluminium from the oxygen in the air, keeping the shine on the surface. Murph
Careful with the chemicals on aluminum, raw aluminum is pretty delicate when it comes to surface finish. Lots of stuff will etch it pretty easily. Try whatever nasty chemical you move on to on something else aluminum first. Good luck, looking forward to seeing your results.
Try wiping in one direction. Also try kero or coleman fuel as a solvent. If it still balls up you will be moving it towards an edge and can then pluck it off. Certainly no acids or caustics on aluminium
Mike, Is it just in one spot or over the entire reflector? If it is just in one spot, like the adhesive for a label or sticker have found WD40 to be one of the best solvents for tape type adhesive there is. Spry some on a paper towel then rub the glue off. Afterwards some soap and water gets rid of the WD40. If it is a coating like lacquer or a clear coat paint you will probably need a chemical paint stripper. As noted above try it on a non-critical part before proceeding. Best of luck, look forward to pictures.
Murph......thanks for your suggestion which is a damn good one I use proper turps in my beeswax wood polish and there is nothing else like it. I will give it a go. kind regard, mike
@msgermaine As Al just loves to react with oxygen I'm speculating that Monitor coated their reflectors with something to keep them nice and shiny, some form of lacquer. So a solvent approach would be best but it is now quite old and difficult to remove. I have a Tilley with a copper reflector which I could burnish, but I'm not sure what performance in the IR range that would achieve and they were never that brilliant to begin with.
@Pitsligo , Alex, I don't know why it wouldn't work on brass, working with aluminium is its own animal, polishing, welding painting, makes it a SOB to work with in respects. Murph
@Murph, Thanks, I might try it on the brassies I use aboard the boat, to help protect them from salt air. Others have recommended various waxes, but I know I've got turps ready to go on the shelf. Alex
