Cleaning and Reinstalling Brass Letters

[Bigdawg]

I'm putting this in general instead of dimensional letters because I'd like thoughts from anyone that has dealt in cleaning brass

We have to reinstall 30 or so brass letters that were originally put on with what looks like liquid nail. No kidding.No idea where they originally came from. No studs and we have to make a pattern. Capital letters are about 3" high. We are going to be using vhb tape on the back of the letters - and right now we are basically cutting it to the shapes. Problem is that you are going to see small tape sticking out because of the difficulty in trimming

Any thoughts or help on how to:
(1) trim the tape - exactos are getting stuck in the VHB.
(2) clean the liquid nail and excess tape pieces off the letter without damaging the finish
(3) polish the finish.

This is my last day here at the office and of course there has to be issues! I really need to get this done before I leave so any ideas to make it easier would be great!

 

[John Butto]

1. tape, use 3m 4910 (.5" clear) 0r 4941 (.5" gray) and lay out a 12" strip on vinyl backing paper and cut in half, .25" with utility knife, then cut size you need for back of letters, if they are thin stokes on letters, cut tape to .125".
2. put brass letters face down on soft cloth and take a small razor blade holder and scrape off glue, slowly so blood does not occur.
3. most brass letters have a clear finish on them either newer ones with the two part clear or old ones with laquar (sp) so polishing will scratch the finish, if they are really bad, you have to sand with wet and dry and reapply clear.

 

[Bigdawg]

Let me clarify - the gunk is on the front of the letter - we got the back cleaned and are using the 4941 tape.

Yep - it's lacquer on the fronts... so sounds like the guys will have the pleasure of fixing these

 

[John Butto]

try rapid tac adhesive remover for front to take off glue and tape first, because that won't harm the finish as bad, also fingernails are great tools

 

[CES020]

We put VHB tape on our cutting mat, use a new knife blade and cut it into small pieces. You can then easily pick up each small piece and put it on the letter. Only other choice I would think, would be to put it on, let it hang over, flip it over, so the face is down and trim it from the backside, coming in 1/16" or so from the edge.

I've done it both ways. I'm sure it's not the best way, but it's worked a number of times for us.

 

[SightLine]

If the brass is not clear coated and you want to polish them and have them stay looking good you will need to clear coat them after polishing or they will tarnish pretty quickly. If they are clear coated then you have a couple of options. If the clear is trashed and cleaning/polishing with auto wax will not make them look good then you will need to use a paint stripper to remove all of the laquer clear coat before polishing them. To polish something like that I'd use a bench buffer - if one is not handy then use a bench grinder and install a buffing wheel on that. That many letters by hand will not be fun. For bench buffing you will still have the inner bits to get by hand. You would need a sturdy sisal wheel for the initial cutting and a looser softer cotton flannel wheel for the final finishing as well as a couple of sticks of rouge. Then when done clearcoat with a couple of coats of Nikolas 2105 laquer and they will stay shiny for several years.

it really depends on the level of polish/cleanup your customer is looking for. If going for all out polish though I'd just get a jug of xylol and paint stripper to get all the old clear and glue off and get them down to clean metal. Polish, clear coat, then put new VHB on. Cut the vhb into strips on a cutting mat with some scrap backing paper. Changethe blade point often - use a utility knife with snap off blades so you get a fresh point often when cutting a LOT of vhb you wet a paper towel with some oil, wipe the point area of the blade often on that to help keep it from grabbing and sticking in the vhb so much - dont go overboard with the oil as you want to minimize contaminating the adhesive.

Of course doing all this, not easily going to be a one day before you leave the office job.... If anyone ever wants to know tons about buffing/coating metals Caswell Plating is an excellent resource and very reputable company - they also carry some hard to find products but they do not carry Nikolas laquer. I've ordered that in the past from Votaw Tool - it's a bit tough to find. There are more modern acrylic based laquers but I've found them to not work nearly as well often imparting some odd color to the finish. Nikolas is an old school nitrocellulose based finish. Good stuff. By the way - I may have gone into this way more then what you are even needing - as a hobby I collect antique electric fans which usually have a lot of brass including the blades so over the years I've found what works best.

 

[MikePro]

+1 to rapid remover/goo gone on the face to remove the gunk. It even breaks down paint if you let it puddle long enough, but will never damage the metal.