anyway to repair faceplate bubbles?

[rhinofly]

Youve all seen em. Those nasty little bubbles in the black paint. Anyone found a good way to fix them?

[Kamakiri]

Well, you can always do what I did today and call McIntosh for a new face glass :p:

If anyone thinks they can do well in experimentation, I'll have an MC2105 glass and a C28 glass as well that you're welcome to play with.

[dewickt]

Much cheaper way is carefully cut out the bubbled areas and apply a very heavy coat of Rust Oleum gloss black paint (1/2 pint can - not spray). "Heavy" means gob it on using a screw driver and let dry overnight. This is a virtually un noticeable repair as long as no lettering is involved, just be carefull when cutting out the bad areas, I use a sharp exacto knife to cut untill I get to good paint, this will keep a tiny silver looking streak from showing up at the junction of the old and new paint.

[CarlV]

Thanks Terry! One of my MX110's could use your tip.:)
Is there a way to seperate the clear plastic panel that bonds itself
to the paint in other pieces with the backlit lettering?

Carl

[dewickt]

Get under the plastic with thin knife (razor) and slice the double sided (black) tape, if you try to pull it off the paint will come up with it. If all else fails and you can't get the plastic off, try a heat gun on low setting and heat the plastic to possibly get it to release from the tape.

[rhinofly]

Sweet! This I can do. I have one bubble on each of my Mac pieces and this sounds like a piece of cake to do.

[CarlV]

bump :)

[Rich Andrews]

Sweet! This I can do. I have one bubble on each of my Mac pieces and this sounds like a piece of cake to do.

Rustoleum will match some but not all of the black ink/paint McIntosh has used on front panels over the years.

I would advise extreme caution. Take a piece of glass first and paint it with the repair paint in question. I have seen many different shades of black and using the wrong paint could become a rather large problem. If the test glass and the existing front manel match in direct sunlight, great. If not, then it is time to do some experientation. I have a MI3 that I sucessfully repaired but it took a few weeks as the thinner used in the paint I was using would react rather strongly with the existing paint so I had to evaporate the thinner out of the paint before I could use it. The repair turned out very good (invisible) and I was able to save 100% of the lettering.

You can try to use some clear to put the existing paint that has bubbled back onto the glass without much issue. It all depends on the type and extent of bubbling. That method generally works good with larger bubbles. Some guy was selling a repair kit, but again one has to be very careful and skeptical as some paints/coatings will react with what is on the glass causing it to act more like a paint remover than anything else. :yikes:

Good luck and be careful.

rich

[exracer]

now how about prevention- why does the glass bubble ? from direct sunlight ? or from placing it on a mc1000 during a weekend party ? my glass is perfect id like to keep it that way..

[soundoc03]

Probably no simple answer as I just received a brand new glass from AC for my MC-2255 with bubbles already present. (They just sent me another no questions asked)

[Little Nellie]

In the past, I have use model airplane paint and that works great. I too found there are different shade of black on these vintage Mc's. Most hobby shop will have different brands of black paint and they all are different shade. So try it out on a small area to see which one come closest.

Carl, on the MX110, that is the easiest to fix. There is no lettering on the glass. Use some masking tape to lay out the outline of the window on the show side. Remove the entire old paint with acetone on the painted side. Make sure all acetone residue are removed or it will leave you some grey colour stuff on the glass. Transfer the window layout on the painted side with masking tape. Get a spray can of gloss black rust-oleum and have at it. Let the sprayed side dry for an hour before removing the mask. I used 3M blue masking tape with good result.

For those face plate that has lettering, if the bubble is small, I just leave them alone. I had one that started out as about 1/8" dia. and by the time I start cutting the paint away, it grow larger and larger. Damn near did that one in.

Silas

[pathologymd]

I stripped and "refinished" an MR71 front glass by masking off and using two-part black epoxy screen printers ink with great success. I unmasked the glass before the ink set, and baked the glass at about 200 degrees for an hour or so. Tought as nails and looks absolutely original next to a factory MR67 front glass. I just bought another front glass from Radio Daze to keep as a spare, and it is worth the $40! Hopefully, they will continue to expand their McIntosh offerings.

Bill

[CarlV]

Yes, it it a easy straight forward repair on the ones without backlighting. Just after I had posted that it became in need of Terry's care. He did a sweet job of repairing it, doing his restore, align, etc. Actually, he has done both my MX110's. :)

Carl

[Laemmle]

Yes, it it a easy straight forward repair on the ones without backlighting. Just after I had posted that it became in need of Terry's care. He did a sweet job of repairing it, doing his restore, align, etc. Actually, he has done both my MX110's. :)

Carl

Terry DeWick, Gods gift to audiodom!

[tony-w]

I would just send the unit to Terry, besides no more bubbles you'll have a better sounding unit.

[titanstats]

I tried Terry's fix on my C27 a while back, and it worked like a charm. Used Tremclad, and had no problems with the paint matching; the plate looked brand new when I was finished. Found that it helped to use a really strong light in the process -- helped to find some very small bubbles that were starting to develop. Thanks again, Terry! :thmbsp:

[dj_AmTraX]

Can someone post a picture DIY on this?

[titanstats]

Dj, I did take pics as I was doing this, now the trick is to find them! I'll post 'em when I do.