Getting rid of cigarette smoke...

[Cathovisor]

...or more specifically, the smell of it from radio cabinets.

Yesterday I picked up a nice Murphy A74 from the auction at Gnosall - it was a lot more than I'd normally pay for a late 30s superhet - and as I carried it to the car there was a powerful waft of stale fags coming from it.

Cleaning the chassis and allied parts of this vile stuff will be easy, but it's the inside of the cabinet that bothers me - I don't really want to go swabbing water and lemon/baking soda/whatever around inside a wooden cabinet unless I have to for obvious reasons. The outside will respond to what was called Libnet (now Liberon Wax and Polish Remover), and the grille cloth is so filthy I'll have to find a replacement.

Any thoughts...?

[peterscott]

There was a product advertised on TV for removing odours from carpets and upholstery and I can't recall its name but I suspect this product uses the same technology.

Mr Muscle Oxy Odour Eliminator Clean Scent

Peter

[Cathovisor]

I must admit, I did consider Febreze...!

I might have a go tomorrow, once I've removed the chassis and all the usual bits and pieces. In fact, a good going over with woodworm killer (I usually apply this whether or not a set needs it) might wash the worst out first.

[Lloyd]

Would giving it a scrub with white spirit shift it? Might just make it stink of that instead though...

Or maybe some of Maplin's antistatic foam cleaner spray?

Regards,
Lloyd.

[marc]

Hi Mike,

I had a lot of success with Mr Muscle kitchen cleaner from the pound shop.
Sprayed it on both internal and external surfaces of a 23" KB set and watched it's 60 a day habit literally run off it in brown streams and then damp sponged it. I gave it a couple of goes and followed it with spray furniture polish, it looked fine but it was still a bit whiffy but after a few days the smell had all but disappeared.

Marc.

[crackle]

Mike
If you are going to replace the speaker cloth you have nothing to loose by trying the method I found to help.
Use Cif foam bath cleaner, being a foam it does not penetrate as deep as liquid cleaners.
I spray it into a cup and use a soft tooth brush to gently brush it onto the cloth in a small area, leave for a few seconds then suck it off with a vacuum cleaner.
Using this method i have found it does not interfere too much with the glue holding the cloth.

Mike

[Cathovisor]

Would giving it a scrub with white spirit shift it? Might just make it stink of that instead though...

I noticed that the woodworm fluid seemed to dissolve the tar on the motor of an HMV 370 I bought yesterday, which was not even remotely as bad as this. I have some fairly powerful alkaline detergent which may get used on the interior; it's such a shame as the set is in pretty reasonable order otherwise.

The chassis will get scrubbed and stripped of above-chassis components to allow me to clean and T-Cut the chassis properly.