Restoring faded switches

[kpke]

Does anybody have a solution for restoring the finish on the faded red switches?

I'm kind of hoping for a chemical restoration process. The sanding and other methods I've tried so far are going to take much too long.

Other than that I am ready for reassembly.

[kobra]

I would paint them and then put a new OFF label.

My red switch was good to begin with, but this pic illustrates how nice the labels can look. These are just off a regular old cheap brother label maker.

[kpke]

Thanks kobra. Those labels do look quite nice. Are they printed on clear tape? Did you clear over them?

I'm amazed your red switch looks so nice after seeing some of the stuff from your build, like the wheels! You must have done something to the red plastic, eh?

I have found that the heat gun is bringing back the red on the plastic switches. It's a very tricky process to keep from melting the plastic though.

I also purchased a set of these Australian repro switch blocks. A bit of a risk. If they look good I will put them on my 500. If they look too cheap, which is what I am expecting, I will sell them or put them on a different project bike.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/132871470797

[kobra]

Thanks kobra. Those labels do look quite nice. Are they printed on clear tape? Did you clear over them?

I'm amazed your red switch looks so nice after seeing some of the stuff from your build, like the wheels! You must have done something to the red plastic, eh?

I have found that the heat gun is bringing back the red on the plastic switches. It's a very tricky process to keep from melting the plastic though.

I also purchased a set of these Australian repro switch blocks. A bit of a risk. If they look good I will put them on my 500. If they look too cheap, which is what I am expecting, I will sell them or put them on a different project bike.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/132871470797

This switch pod was a "spare" in the box of parts, so it likely never saw the light of day. The one on the bike was pink just like many of yours.

As for the labels - I just stuck them right on top of the gloss black. I figured if they get messed up I can print another one, but I have found that they hold up quite well for many years in other use cases.

[75RD350rider]

That looks great!!

[JonW]

Ive scraped the pink oxidisation off with a knife blade and then polished with plastic polish, but finding a better one is always easier/faster/better. Remember these switches were fitted to lots of other bikes of the era so finding better ones for cheap is possible and then swap the bits you need to yours.

[kpke]

Thanks Jon. You are right, they were probably used on many different models. It would be nice to find a source of new parts.

11/23/22

I went into production on my best attempt at restoring the plastic switches on the handlebar switchgear. I was mostly successful and most of the red plastic switches came out looking fairly good. Certainly a whole lot better than the whitish pinkish faded parts they were. The process is extremely sensitive and it is quite easy to melt the plastic with a heat gun. It also took way too looooooooong. The gray plastic switches I was able to get away with just scraping it with a razor blade.

First I purposely set the heat gun down on one of the parts I was going to restore just to show you what would happen if you fucking do this. This did not help much.




I found that razor blade scraping first then using the heat gun worked best.




Before and after shots.










Video here.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/vHFQ7iVxpvk[/youtube]

[tacky1]

That looks a 100 times better Ken.

[JonW]

I agree, thats solid work there Ken.

The melting made me wince... :/