Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John Figliozzi, who writes:
Sean at Universal Radio in Reynoldsburg, OH put me on to another terrific product that does the job fabulously and quite easily. It’s called MaxPro Ink/Adhesive Remover and is a citrus-based cleaner/solvent that won’t harm the radio’s plastic casing. You can get it on eBay for around $11 with free shipping:
It took me a total of less than 3 hours to clean both my E1s. I used a lot of paper towels, working a section of the radio at a time, spraying the solvent onto the towels and then rubbing the surface free of the degraded and sticky rubberized coating. After removing the coating, I simply wiped down the radio with a wet paper towel to remove any residual solvent. They are now clean and smooth and look like new with all the white print intact. And my hands didn’t suffer any from contact with the solvent.
A reminder if you do this: It’s important to seek out citrus-based solvents and avoid petroleum based solvents. It was so easy with this product that I wished I had done this a long time ago and wasn’t so nervous about taking it on.
John Figliozzi
Halfmoon, NY
Thank you, John! I just noticed that a few of my rubber-coated receivers are starting to get tacky. I like the idea that this adhesive remover is gentle on the chassis. Click here to search eBay for MaxPro Ink/Adhesive Remover.
We’ve posted a number of solutions for sticky radios. Click here to view past posts.
It was terrible design flaw, but the reason is an interesting one. It’s to make the devise seem more valuable than what it is.
Wonderful point of marketing deception. In reality, for the long run it makes it less valuable. In the ’80s the auto industry got the idea of vinyl top cars that (sort of) looked like convertibles with the top up. But the vinyl deteriorates and peels, water gets under and rusts. In general the resale book value was lower. I know of shops that would remove it and repaint the roof.
I don’t know who came up with the crackpot idea of spraying rubberized coating, but I have a notebook PC that was coated with it. I used denatured alcohol that solved the problem but was very smeary. A liquid called “goof off” works a lot better. I think your Idea of the citrus cleaner is on the mark. Alcohol is OK for a junky PC you don’t care about the cosmetics but I would not use it on a collectible.
Thanks for publically documenting this!