Restoring Edison data plates

[mjbarnes]

When I started cleaning this the black paint (?) comes off quickly. How do people deal with these? I might be okay just cleaning and reinstalling but does anybody have a method of painting the background and leaving the letters sharp? Thanks!

I will also need to get hold of a couple of tiny rivets or round-head nails to re-attach this to the upper bedplate. Any suggestions?

[Lucius1958]

The usual way is to spray paint the whole plate black, then carefully scrape and sand the excess paint off.
I believe you can find brass escutcheon pins to use as fasteners.

- Bill

[Jerry B.]

I do it a little different than Bill but probably get the same good results. I would:

1- Spray the clean ID tag with black paint.
2- A day or two later take a Q-Tip damp but not soaked in lacquer thinner to remove the paint from the edge of the tag and other flat surfaces like box where the serial number is stamped.
3- Next, once dry, gently rub the tag with 0000 steel wool to remove paint from the higher surfaces.

It's really easy and I think you'll be very successful. If you're a bit too aggressive and remove too much paint simply shoot it black again and go at it again. On a Victor tag I use the Q-Tip a bit more to remove most of the paint from Nipper, the Trademark machine, and the large lettering followed by 0000 steel wool.

Please report back with your results.

Jerry B.

[fmblizz]

I have had great success with spraying black and then letting it dry for 24 hours. I then use polishing compound on a piece of glass. Laying the tag face down in the polish I use a small block of wood to lightly move it around in a scrubbing motion to remove the paint on the high parts. Keep checking your results by rinsing with water. I then fine tune the removal of some stubborn paint using a popsicle stick with polish until satisfied. 320 wet and dry sandpaper can also be helpful.

If the plate is brass, I have had very good success using a cheap nickel plating brush setup to plate over the cleaned raised areas but they have to be clean or it will not take.
after completion I shoot a clear coat over the entire plate to help preserve it.

Good luck

Blizz

[mjbarnes]

Thanks to Bill, Jerry, & Blizz. I opted for the last method -- plate just needs some black touchups. Hard not to remove the thin nickel but I am shellacing over (since I have shellac going for the bedplate already).

[fmblizz]

Nice job. Looks great. Walk away. LOL

blizz