Hi,

Is there a remedy for the finger wear marks that develop on some of the older silver buttons? Has anyone had any success repainting these?

Cheers,

Matt 

 

No, don't paint them.  They're just brushed aluminum.  By rubbing fingers on them over many years, the finger plus the oils on the skin start to lightly polish the metal.  To "unpolish" them you'd just use some ultra fine sand paper.  I'd probably try 2000 grit (note, not 200!).  If you look closely on the metal you'll see a vertical direction of grain.  You must rub in this direction.  Also, you must use an actual flat sanding block.  Otherwise, you'll get a tiny bit of visual distortion caused by uneven sanding if you try to just hold the sand paper with your fingers and rub.  Assuming you've never done it before, I'd practice on some similar looking aluminum first.  Actually, if you give me a day or two, I can test it out on some old beocord buttons I have that look like that, and verify that that grit will work.

Austin 

Thanks Austin,

Paint! What an idiot!

 
Sanding sounds much wiser. If you do a test, let me know as I'd be really keen to hear / see the result.

Cheers,

Matt 

 Hello all vintage products lovers,

The Beocord 5000 as the Beograms 4002 /4004 /6000 and the Beomaster 6000 quad have the same problem.
Their keys plate is made of a steel blade which is coated with matt varnish; over the years the finger prints tend to polish and make this matt varnish glossy or in case of important wear the nude metal can be seen.
In the past I have tried to re-spray such a keys plate on a Beocord 5000 after having protected all the other parts and letterings. The result was quite correct but not perfect.
I planned to dismantle (unglue) the entire steel plate and to take out with solvent all the varnish until the nude metal. Then I will give it to a car painter to be sure to have a professional matt finish like B&O original one. Not very easy particularly re-glueing the small plastic parts under the keys!

Marc

Actually Antony Garcia did used to paint these - as said above, the tricky bit is removing the panel.

Teddy_fr:

 Hello all vintage products lovers,

The Beocord 5000 as the Beograms 4002 /4004 /6000 and the Beomaster 6000 quad have the same problem.
Their keys plate is made of a steel blade which is coated with matt varnish; over the years the finger prints tend to polish and make this matt varnish glossy or in case of important wear the nude metal can be seen.
In the past I have tried to re-spray such a keys plate on a Beocord 5000 after having protected all the other parts and letterings. The result was quite correct but not perfect.
I planned to dismantle (unglue) the entire steel plate and to take out with solvent all the varnish until the nude metal. Then I will give it to a car painter to be sure to have a professional matt finish like B&O original one. Not very easy particularly re-glueing the small plastic parts under the keys!

Marc

 Yes, I did mean to say steel in my original post, not aluminum, sorry.  This is interesting about the varnish though.  I think if one were to lightly sand the whole area with an ultra fine paper though, the look would be similar even without the varnish.  Grant it, the varnish would probably keep it looking nicer longer, but if the owner doesn't mind having to refinish the keys again every several years, might it be worth it to skip the trouble of applying the varnish?  Actually, come to think of it, I wonder if a buffing wheel with a coarse emery compound might be better than ultra fine sand paper.  Thoughts?

Austin
 

Yes Peter that is very tricky to remove the keys panel without risking to fold it!
If you are not sure in your nerves and in your patience, avoid the dismantling.
For cleaning the black plastic plates of a BC5000 or of a Beomaster 6000, Lausvi I would suggest you a classic cleaning product for windows (like Ajax or so...) very smoothly because they are, too, coated with a glossy varnish.
Avoid absolutely cleaning products for plastic or polishes, they will remove this thin varnish and will definitively ruin the original finish. Never put adhesive tape on these black plastic plates too!

I think that is very dangerous sanding the panel, Austin,  you could risk to reach the nude metal (very brilliant) and it could be worse!

A good restoration is when you cannot see that it has been restored!

Marc 

 

Marc, my intent was to reach the bare metal though.  How brilliant or shiny the metal will be would depend on the coarseness of what you're using to polish it.

OK.  Completely ignore everything I said up until this post.  I looked at our beocord 5000 which I haven't looked at for a long time, and had forgotten that the button panels were a darker color than the surrounding metal frame.  The darker color is the thin layer of varnish on top.  Since I had forgotten exactly how the buttons looked, I was under the impression that they were the same finish as the surrounding metal, such as the section where it says "beocord 5000."  If you had done what I said, then the buttons would end up looking the same as the surrounding metal.  As the others said, the only way I can see around this is to somehow reapply this varnish.

The thin metal plates are stainless steel, not alu.

I have tried different things, abrasives, chemicals etc. but haven't found a good solution yet other than replacing the affected panels. Anthony mixed grey-ish paint with some silver and was happy with the result though it obviously didn't have the hairline pattern like the original surface and probably wasn't as resistant to wear and tear.

Martin