I have a few early Eames, Zenith/Herman Miller transitional armshells. They are Lemon Yellow and of the last Zenith production, so not too valuable. They are in ok condition, but I suspect they have been left outside at times.
I have tried to clean them up a little and they slowly come back to life. Still, some dirt has been imbedded in the surface, where the gel-coat has worn off partially. I wonder if there is a way to get the dirt out and re-sealing the gel-coat?
I've not found
I've cleaned up a few dozen or so of these shells and I havent yet found a product that works wonders. What has typically worked best for me is an auto-fiberglass polish like "NuFinish". If the gelcoat is gone it is pretty difficult to get it back. One thought I've had for a shell completely stripped of gelcoat is to take it to an auto paint shop and have them put a few clearcoats on it. I dunno what that would do to the value - the chair I have is basically worthless so I'm gonna give it a shot.
If you search the forum I know this has come up a few times - I think some other people have had decent suggestions.
fiberglass is just fine ...
fiberglass is just fine if you leave it sleeping and do not stir it up...
It can be very harmful and toxic if you start to gind on it with out a mask , and gloves , It is truly one of the major wonders of the post war years the only reason manafactures got away from it cause it can be toxic to the employee.
.....just like bakelite
Thanks Lucifersum &...
Thanks Lucifersum & LRF.
I did search the forums and some of the earlier questions about repairing etc are actually written by myself...
But this damage was different than the other ones I've experienced. It is as if the gelcoat is gone in places and the dirt has gotten imbedded in the chair. There's lots of white fibers throughout the chair. In some places it looks like there are also some black fibers, but this is really just dirt.
I have tried Autosol which is a german polish for chrome, fiberglass and plexi, but it makes no difference. I was hoping to find a way to get a cleaner which would really get the dirt out and then re-seal it with a new layer of clear gelcoat.
i bought 15 shells from a...
i bought 15 shells from a vender who had got them from a University.
they stored them in a dirty dirty warehouse we ripped the covers off
but the back side of the shell had great fiberglass fibers on them we used a lot of paint thinner and they look o.k. but
the dirt is embetted in the fibers (looks fair ) at least we got t he red paint numbers off.
I am always interested in getting them show room clean so if anyone can fiqure out to do it let me know at Retro Redeo.com
Thanks
I guess it depends
I guess it depends on what the 'dirt' is. If it is grease, ink, oil or something the solvents should work. If it is actual grime - particles of dirt etc. you might need to go at it with a bristle brush of some kind. Just be careful - abrading the surface will most likely cause more loss of the gel-coat and kick up some of the glass fibers. I'd wear a particulate mask, long sleeves, and some gloves. And safety goggles.
the chairfag tutorial is good,
I tried it myself. There also was embedded dirt in the fibres, so I used pickling agents after sanding. After an hour you can remove the dirt with a hard brush, some fibers will "wash out" as well (in some areas the dirt was to deep inside to remove it completely, especially above the shockmounts).
I applied Penetrol three times to make sure the coat is persistent. The results are good, given the original condition. The pictures show the shell after the first sanding, with the first Penetrol coat and after the third.
If you do it this way, protect yourself as Lucifer described, I'd also do it outisde.
here's what you do.........
buy some 409 surface cleaner. by a sponge with one side sporting a green scrubby pad.
spray the entire surface on one side with 409. SCRUB !
wipe off and repeat.
when you are done spray it down with glass cleaner and dry.
then follow up with auto wax and wax as you would a car.
this is the best your shell will get.
accept it and enjoy !
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