This has been a busy week, but Wednesday evening I took a few minutes to finally remove the sticky residue on my Grundig G6.
In case you’re not familiar, back in the day (roughly 2009 to 2013) Eton/Grundig covered a number of their radios models with a rubberized coating that unfortunately breaks down over time and becomes tacky or sticky to the touch. The Grundig G6 was one of those radios.
If you’ve been an SWLing Post reader for long, you’ve also no doubt read our numerous posts about cleaning off this mess. There are a number of solutions, but it seems the most positive long-term results by employing a de-greasing product called Purple Power (click here to read archived posts). Indeed, it’s the solution Eton Corporation recommends and the one I used to clean my Eton E1 XM.
Pre-cleaning, the G6 was incredibly sticky. It’s hard to see in the photos, but it was so sticky, it was challenging to remove it from its OEM pouch where it had been stored.
The Purple Power solution is effective, though. It requires only a few minutes to clean off the residue, then another few minutes to do a final polishing (I use a simple window cleaning solution).
The results are so impressive.
When I pulled the G6 from its pouch before cleaning, the back stand fell off. I believe it actually stuck to the inside of the pouch.
I’ll likely follow in Troy’s footsteps and eventually replace it with a 3D printed one. I’m not in a hurry at this point, though, as I’ve so many other things on my plate at present.
It’s so great to enjoy the G6 once again. It is a gem of a compact portable. One thing that surprised me? I forgot how fluidly the tuning works with no muting between frequency changes and how quickly (immediately) it switches into SSB mode. In the day an age of DSP portables, we’ve forgotten that these legacy receivers are actually better at both of these tasks.
Next up is my Grundig G3 which is quite sticky. I need to pull it from its storage bin.
Have you rescued a sticky radio recently? Please comment!
Can someone tell me what station on shortwave radio station is ukrain on?
Several years ago i removed the goo from my Eton E1 and E10 using 91% isopropyl and cotton rags and swabs. It took a bit of work, but they both came clean and the cases look and feel much better, and don’t collect dirt and dust. Also, when the hinge pegs on the E10 stand broke off, i drilled out the broken bits and replaced them with brass rods. Now the stand works better than before.
Hi, I tried oven cleaner & different methods but I always had a little bit gunk sticky left in certain spots.. until I tried something different. It worked great & cleaned it all off & polished it at the same time. 70% alcohol & a bounce or Gain dryer sheet. Gain dryer sheet did great. Wish 8 could add pictures as Grinding M400 shines new.
Tip for non-USonians: what’s sold as “Purple Power” (and “Simple Green”, and several other frequently-recommended cleaners for this sort of thing) are not necessarily the same products around the world. For example, in the US “Purple Power” is an ethylene glycol based cleaner/degreaser; here in Aus, if you ask for “Purple Power” you’ll get a sodium hydroxide based degreaser.
One will clean the gunk off your radio; the other will clean the gunk *and most of the labelling* off…
Some years ago I removed the goo from my Eton E1 and E10 using 91% isopropyl alcohol and cotton rags and swabs. It took some time and elbow grease, but they both cleaned up beautifully and have stayed that way. Also, when the hinge tabs on the stand of the E10 broke, I drilled out the broken tabs and replaced them with brass rod, and now the stand works better than new.
That’s a really nice rescue job!
What a hot mess in the first photos. I have some later RL Drake gear that has sticky paint, but that was made 40 yrs ago!
Grundig lost me as a customer after that fiasco. I bought a CCrane Skywave next.
Looks great. Mine has the added problem that I took it on a beach vacation several years ago and not only is it sticky but it has some sand grit stuck to it.
My Grundig G3 is perhaps a little sticky, but seemingly it is not much worse than it was after a few uses from new out the box. I do wipe it occasionally with a spray of Pledge electronics-safe surface cleaner or similar, so that might be the difference.
I have a G6 Buzz Aldrin that I put away a few years ago. I took it out and it had the worst case of the stickies ever PLUS the digital readout is off by 833 khz no matter where and on every band except FM. Weird – too bad too because it was a great performer.
Like Mike said alcohol work perfect 🙂
Bye and have a good 2021 !
Bye,
Jarno – PA3DMI
I followed this a few years ago and used GO Gone K kitchen Degreaser worked great but then few months later could not turn on anymore and if I did get it on could not shut off then and then finally died, Love the help you provide way back then.
Once got a mint G3 off eBay which had the stickies.
The popular solution then, was to remove it using isopropyl alcohol.
A laborious task, for sure, but since it had worked beautifully for my E100 I gave it a shot.
Ended up removing all of the silk screen printing from the front panel too.
I used a baby wipe to get rid of the sticky residue from my Eton G8 Traveler.
Peter