Head and spot light reflector restoration

[Snakeoil]

Hi,

I'm a new member and this is my first post on this site. I am in the process of bringing a '47EL back to life. Bike is original paint and I'm taking every precaution to keep everything as original as possible. I'm currently working on the head and spot lights, all of which are chrome. I want to clean the internal reflectors which appear to be chrome plated brass. The old gaskets have melted over time and left a sticky and in some places, rock hard mess. I was going to soak these in mineral spirits to soften up the old rubber but wanted to make sure I was not going to do any damage. Plan was just to soak the rims where the goo is. Then I thought I'd do a light cleaning of the reflector and polish with chrome polish. Before I do anything, I thought it best to check here first.

Any tips, cautions, tricks, etc would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Rob

[GMMORGAN]

I would not try cleaning the reflector parts with chrome cleaner. I have always had good luck with toothpaste and a very soft cloth, like a diaper of tshirt. I would clean a very small section, then be sure to use a clean part of the cloth, as not to scratch the reflector. Hope this helps

[Perry Ruiter]

My understanding is the reflectors are silver plated. Clean with whatever you use on the family heirloom silverware ... Perry

[Snakeoil]

You know Perry, there was a little voice in the back of my head that was telling me it might be silver plate. But what made me dismiss that thought was it should have shown some signs of tarnishing after 50+ years in storage. One spotlight did seem dark inside, but that was on the glass.

Thanks for the caution. I don't think silver polish would hurt chrome anyway.

regards,

Rob

[Snakeoil]

I thought I should post my findings so the next guy does not have to ask. Yes, it appears that the reflectors are silver plated. The dark haze on the glass appears to be tarnish. The reflector in that spotlamp was also dark in some areas. Not sure about this, but the deteriorating rubber gasket, which had turned to goo might have had some volatiles come off that contributed to the tarnish.

Polishing with basic silver polish brought the reflectors back. The one from the darkened spot does appear to have some plate damaged from the long storage with tarnish present. But not enough to require replating. The reflector in the headlamp also had two ares of where the plate is "pitted" to the metal base material.

The silver polish took all the faint scratches out as well. Brand was Twinkle. My wife had it, but you can buy it in most supermarkets.

Thanks and regards,

Rob

[Chris Haynes]

Originals were indeed silver plated. Model A guys are using a new, high tech thing these days.

UVIRA reflectorization
Merlin, OR 97532-1137
541-474-5050
uvira@terragon.com