The dustcover of by eBay purchase Thorens TD160 was in very poor condition. It was scratched, marked and in some places had some nasty blotches. In keeping with the ‘use what you have’ ethos of this restoration, I already had a 3M headlight restoration kit that I had used a few years earlier with great success. How different can it be? The kit comprised of a 500, 800 and 3000 grit sanding discs. Basically, you start with the 500 systematically cutting back the surface until it look ‘frosted’. Then repeat with the 800 and again with the 3000. Then the cover is smoothed out with rubbing compound (also part of the kit). The only thing I added was to polish the finished dustcover with automotive wax, which surprise, surprise I already had hanging around. The wax did make a difference giving the dustcover a more ‘clear glass’ like finish.
I didn’t use a drill whilst rubbing down with the 500 grit discs as I thought it might be too aggressive and instead did it by hand – in hindsight I feel this was overly cautious. That said it removed most of the major damage. The longer you spend on the rubbing down process, the better the finished result. I spent around 1 ½ hours and to get a perfect job should have spent longer but I did start by hand which is time consuming. The I spent another 40 minutes using the rubbing compound and another 20 applying the polish. All in all, a good morning’s work.
I’ve taken before and after pictures so you can see the difference.
Overall, I’m fairly pleased with the result, the dustcover does look a lot better, which vastly improves the look of the deck. The whole process was easier than I’d imagined, all it needs is to be systematic and to take time, although most dustcovers will be in better condition and won’t need anything like the time mine needed.
To fix the hinge damage I bought some metal hinge covers – under £10 on eBay - that were superglued onto the outside of what remained on the dustcover.