Regular scented dishwashing detergent bath is safest for plastic
pieces and makes a good bath for everything.
Citrus cleaners will work faster but may be too harsh. I use a
variety of acid brushes cut down and soft tooth brushes and paint
brushes. I learned all about it with inside telephone systems. I
have had to throw away some mics after immersion.

VFO230 will have fragile plastic, encoder and markings, so very weak
solutions there. Housing should be dipped in a stronger solution and
brushed. Boards will be a problem as anything you do will wash
debris under the chips causing shorts between pins. If you do dip
the boards, it is risky but use clean de-ionized water in the final
rinse.

In article .com,
wrote:

i bought a nice kenwood vfo 230 and it smell's so strong of cigarette
smoke it is sicking it is outside any good idea's how to get it
smelling good agn thanks del k9fcm

I saw an article in an audio magazine some years ago, by a guy who was
servicing a stereo receiver which had this problem.

His advice was to open it up, and leave it outdoors in bright summer
sunshine for several days to several weeks. The heat helps drive out
the smelly volatile compounds from the tobacco-smoke tars, and the
ultraviolet light breaks down the tars.

Depending on the equipment's construction and what it can tolerate in
terms of solvents, you may also want to try a washdown with a
plastic-safe circuit-board cleaner - one designed to remove flux
residues and organic contaminanants without damaging components.

Switches, potentiometers, and other sliding contacts will probably
need to be cleaned to remove the tobacco tars... a properly-
formulated contact cleaner spray, or a liquid applied on chamois swabs
or other cleaning pads, should be used for this.

Unfortunately, tobacco-smoke tar is tough and tenacious. Consumer
Reports apparently uses it as their "hard to remove" contaminant when
testing glass-cleaning products.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
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