Cleaning grease/grime off clock & timer face?

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ken

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Jul 26, 2012
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So I got the backsplash of the 67 GE range apart today. Would appreciate thoughts on the best safe cleaner to use to get the grease & grime off the clock and timer face that made its way through the holes in the panel glass over the past 49 years. Cant take the chance of using anything that would damage the paint/printing.
 
You might

Try bar soap.. Wet your finger with hot water, rub soap bar, and apply to clock face, let sit a min or two, use hot wet paper towel to rinse and dry.
HTH
 
If the paint is flaking anywhere, don't even attempt to do anything.  You will in all likelihood regret it.

 

If the paint appears to be uncompromised, try a small area with cotton swab and plain water just to test the paint's durability.  The problem with using any type of cleaner on an old painted dial is that if the paint survives the cleaning, the treated area is likely going to be a lighter shade than the rest of the dial.  You really have to be careful, and should use light pressure and more strokes rather than the other way around, and know when to stop.  Use a gentle, diluted cleaning agent.

 

Sometimes just giving the glass a good cleaning will make a big difference.

 

.
 
The paint/graphics appear fine. No flaking anywhere. This range was a greasy mess when I got it. Glass definitely needs a cleaning but so does the clock/timer face. Its got that grease/dirt thing going on. Grease gets on the surface and works like glue where dirt and dust then collect.
 
red juice

There is a product called 'red juice' available at the clean team. Go to google, type in 'red juice' and it will come up at their website. Available only in concentrated form. You get a spritzer bottle, fill it up with water, but leave about an inch to inch and one half space for the red juice concentrate. It's works well on hardened fingerprint marks and grease on cabinets and elsewhere. I used it to clean the backsplash console on my 1961 g.e. tol stove. It had painted blue and white background on the glass, but the clear portions were so covered with aerosolized grease, you couldn't see the clock. I just sprayed it on, rubbed it with my finger, and rinsed with half and half, vinegar and water, to remove. Best and most gentle cleaning agent I ever used.
 
forgot to mention

I didn't actually spray it on the timer face. It didn't need it. I dipped a Q tip in the spray and wiped down the very bottom of the clock box where some dust and grease had accumulated, and it cleaned that right up. I also used it to clean the piano keys button selectors on top of the stove. It worked very well. Good Luck. les.
 
Cleaned it over the weekend. I first tested an area with water only to make sure the paint wouldn't rub off. I then used dish soap (green Palmolive) and water mixture with cotton swabs. I used a lot of them. I gently went over the entire surface in a circular motion. It took quite a while. Took the grime off very well without any damage to the paint or graphics. There is still some faint staining at the bottom of the face where the grease was the heaviest. That shows only when you tilt it at a certain angle and get the light just right so I don't think it will show once reassembled. Funny thing as I continued to clean it I realized the background is actually dark brown and not black as I originally thought!
 
I am glad it worked out okay for you. I always think of diluted "Dawn" safe enough to rescue wildlife from crude oil spills. Arthur
 

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