Advice on restoring old buttons/joys?

[menace]

Anyone ever brought some old leaf joysticks and buttons back from the brink of death (i.e. tossed in the garbage)  I have a bunch I skinned off some old machines and they are good, if a little dull--anyone know what would work to bring back the shine and remove the surface scratches on these.  Would a buffing wheel do it ya think?

[SirPeale]

Wash the parts with dish soap and hot water.  Use a scrub brush.

A buffing wheel will certainly bring back the shine on the handles.

[menace]

Yeah they all got a real good bath since the machine they come off of was termite infested--After the cold we have had here I'm pretty sure the buggers are dead but it was pretty gross all the same.  I will try the buffing thing and post for posterity.

[Grasshopper]

Well I don't know about the buttons, but the best way I have found for polishing ball top handles is to put the handle in a drill, preferably a bench drill. Then start the drill and rub the handle with some cloth dipped in the paste that is used for removing scratches from car bodywork. You can rapidly remove fairly deep scratches this way.

I've heard that toothpaste works just as well but I haven't tried it.

[Stingray]

I cleaned some really cruddy buttons the other day with Simple Green. These things were super gross looking and most of them came out looking great. I let the really bad ones soak for a few minutes, took them apart first and removed the microswitches of course.

-S

[menace]

is simple green like a windex type thing or stronger?  

I'm also looking to remove scratches since must of the gunge came off in soap and water.

[Stingray]

It's a liquid, but it's a lot stronger than Windex.

-S

[SirPeale]

Simple Green is a degreaser.

It's pretty nifty stuff.  I use a different degreaser (a citrus based one) but only because I couldn't find the stuff in my area.

[spidermonkey]

http://www.interstat.net/washthecar/index.cfm/action/productdetail/product_id/125.htm

I use this stuff for years and it is in my opinion the best spray cleaner/degreaser there is. I did in fact use Simple Green before I found this stuff.  You can find it in auto part stores,hardware stores and home improvement centers. You won't be dissappointed.

[OSCAR]

A buffing wheel with polishing compound works pretty good.  On rusty, old Wico joystick shafts, I use a wire wheel brush in my drill press to remove the surface rust.  Then I use a polishing compound with a cotton buff wheel to shine them up.  Once done, they look great.

I've heard that some people use a plastic polishing compound with a buff to shine up old buttons and had pretty good results.  I haven't tried that yet, but I threw some in my last order so I hope to try it out soon.  Some of my Sinistar translucent buttons are a little dull, and I'm going to try to shine them up.  http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=9737

[menace]

Thats what I was looking for!!  I bought a small buffing wheel for the drill press and it does put a nice shine on things, but this would definitley enhance it--thanks oscar!  Ironic that the reason I need to do this is for the bartop mame that you designed--funny how things work

[MinerAl]

For initial de-gunking of filthy used non-electronic parts, I've had great success just putting them through the "pot-scrubber" cycle of my dish washer.  Plastic, steel, and aluminum all come out without the grunge.

Then the polishing can begin