Cleaning A Dial

[sign216]

I'm working on an in-floor safe. What's the best way to clean the dial, without stripping off the paint?

I washed it with very hot water + soap and toothbrush. Some of the black paint came off or faded to white! And it didn't remove all the grime.

Solvent will only do more damage, so I'm open to ideas.


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[billdeserthills]

My Dad used to take the dial off, chuck it up in his drill and spin it while hitting it with a white paintstick

https://markal.com/products/bandreg-paintstikandreg

You could probably just re-paint the messed up numbers with White Out

https://www.hobbylobby.com/art-supplies ... p/80981490

[MartinHewitt]

Is the gray stuff the stripped zamak?

[sign216]

Is the gray stuff the stripped zamak?

No, the grey isn't down to the zamak, it's the paint. Paint clouded up because of the very hot water and soap, as I was washing it. Some paint reverted back to black, others didn't and stayed grey. I might be able to buff out the grey, but there's also the chance the buffing could take it off if I get too aggressive.

I've got a white paint stick for the numbers, but I'd rather clean it, than stick paint on top of grime.

[sign216]

I used black shoe polish, and then white paint stick. The polish wasn't as effective as I'd like, and the paint stick left a whitish cast over everything.
Still, it's an improvement, just feel like there's better techniques out there.

Learned one thing; some dials are not safe with very hot water and soap.


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