Various cleaning questions

[Duer 157099]

1) a piece of really scratched and mottled (mineral deposits? :shrug: ) art glass (blown?) - it's like a shallow dish, really heavy thick glass, but almost completely thrashed, just looks horrible. I tried a brief vinegar treatment, to no avail. I can't seem to remove "it" with my fingernail - I just don't really know what "it" is, but it's on the surface of the glass. Perhaps it's etched? Scratched? - any tips or tricks that I should be thinking about?

2) what about that aluminum that was "mistakenly" put through the dishwasher? Is there any recovering it or is the damage permanent? Same q for other metals that don't like the DW - not even sure what it is, but sort of looks like pewter, but maybe it's just dishwashed-aluminum? Also have some "Magnalite" pans that seem to have similar issues - shiny coat is gone, probably via dishwasher (these are anodized aluminum I believe).

3) ok this isn't a cleaning question and probably belongs in the DIY section, but I'll post here anyway - it's about a vintage blender that I'm trying to clean but cannot quite completely disassemble and I'm at a loss now what to try. I've looked everywhere for a service manual that has a diagram showing how it's constructed, but there's just no way, it's too old and too uncommon (Hoover blender). The design is unlike any current models I've seen, so I can't even use that strategy. So, here's the problem: I need to pull the motor out, but there's the shaft thingy that goes through a piece of plastic (part of the housing) and it's connected on the other side by the rubber piece that engages the bottom of the pitcher (boy here's a case where a picture would be worth a thousand words)

Let's see if this works, here's a similar blender on ebay, see the black rubber thing in the center of the base? That's the thing that's preventing me from pulling the motor out the bottom, and I can't figure out how it's connected. It doesn't just pull off, and it obviously won't screw off, so how do I get it off? Clearly this is why they no longer design blenders this way. Do I have to completely dissassemble the motor to remove the shaft? Does anyone even know what I'm talking about? :shrug:

[yy4me]

1. Back to Wenol, especially to polish the metals. A thin wipe

over a part of the surface, a rub with an old soft rag, then a buff with an another old soft cloth. Is the material Armatelle(sp)? That is the stuff made to look like pewter but is really heavy aluminum. Sometimes Wenol will work but that seems to best lend itself to other cleaning jobs.

Your bowl leaves be without an answer, seems like some acid ate through the surface, and as to the blender, I'll bet someone will know. I get myself into trouble with projects like the blender. I'd try to lever the black thing off and knowing me, break it.

[Duer 157099]

4. Guess it's time to get me some Wenol

Thanks for the reply!

Yeah, I constantly get myself into trouble with such projects, and usually it's just because of something really stupid, like one screw won't untighten (or the screwdriver or drill bit is just too short) and I end up stripping it and then that leads to a whole cascade of disasters. But somehow I keep coming back for more, lol.

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. Blender answer (I think....)

http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-repair-small-appliances5.htm

The shaft is called the drive stud

The above site states:
Tightening the Drive Stud: If the motor operates well, but the blade in the blender jar doesn't turn as it should, the problem may be the drive stud. The most frequent cause is a loose drive stud. To tighten the drive stud:

Step 1: Remove the base and turn the blender over. The other end of the drive shaft will protrude from the bottom side of the motor.

Step 2: Grip the drive shaft with a wrench or pliers, then turn the blender on its side to attach a wrench to the drive stud.

Step 3: Hold the drive shaft steady as you turn the drive stud clockwise.

The other cause of drive stud problems is the rounding of its corners, requiring a new drive stud. To replace a worn drive stud, reverse the instructions for tightening a drive stud, install the new part, and tighten it.

On Edit:
Found another site that has even better info (hopefully!)
http://www.fixitclub.com/Small_Appliances/Blender.shtml

[Duer 157099]

3. Thanks for the links - but unfortunately...

This blender has a completely different (and stupid) design from any made today - I cannot even get to the underside of the drive shaft without completely taking the motor housing apart (I mean, after the blender base is already opened). It's not even obvious if I *can* take it apart before disconnecting it from the plastic housing - what I'm suspecting is that the rubber thing atop the drive stud is just sitting on it, that is, is not screwed into it (like other blenders, there would be a nut or bolt *through* the rubber thing that secures the rubber thing to the shaft. But, due to age, I think the rubber is either so dirty or old that it's fused to the drive shaft and I cannot just pull it up without destroying it. I'd apply more pressure and try other ways, if I knew for sure that it was supposed to just come off by pulling straight up, but absent knowing that, I'll likely just destroy it and replacement parts are not an option.

It looks like I'll have to venture into the innerds of the motor itself to see how to release the drive shaft so I can pull it up through the top (if that's even possible) ::sigh::

It's inevitable in projects like this, which should be so easy, that one detail like this just completely messes the whole thing up.

[grasswire]

5. may I ask why you want to remove it?

Just curious.

[Duer 157099]

6. It's grungy and icky dirty and I'm trying to clean it thoroughly

Plus, throw in some anal-retentive compulsiveness and that about covers it :D

(it came from a thrift store, so it's not *my* grime - I have a much higher tolerance for my own) :)

[yy4me]

7. Love your last line, I think that covers about all of us!