How To Clean Penn Level Wind Side Plates

Found an article on the subject, actually it's about restoring old bakelite telephones, but I guess the same procedure will work for any bakelite... The article is in Swedish but y'all tin can get the URL and attempt Google translate or something :http://www.stsf.org/arkiv/ToT/Renovering_av_bakelit_1997.pdf

I'll try to give you the highlights.

Kickoff off, cleaning old grime, clay and other stuff.
The article suggests acetone as it won't damage the plastic and is quite inexpensive. For other kinds of old plastics it suggests pure spirits. Use a clean rag and some elbow grease and the dirt will eventually come off.

Polishing
Chrome polish (it names a item make, Autosol) with some balmy annoying in it. Again apply an old clean rag and showtime polishing away.

Sometimes the bakelite have been "bleached" from the sunlight and, for example information technology was originally black, it can look a bit dark-brown in colour. According to the article, chrome shine won't assistance at that place. But it suggests using colored car wax, which can exist found in many different colors.

If you desire to remove deeper cuts or scratches starting time with fine sandpaper (800 grit or higher) and sand abroad. The surface will exist matt but after some chrome polish information technology will regain most of it'south luster.

Again, the higher up is fetched from an article well-nigh restoring old bakelite telephones. I haven't tried it myself so don't hold me responsible for any mishap. Experiment on a broken side plate starting time if you take one.