Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Problem with gunk on steel computer cover

So here is the top cover for my computer. Its basically a thin steel sheet. I have this gunk thats on it which resembles a cross between gas sludge, sandpaper and mold. It feels rough like sandpaper, looks like mold and won't come off like sludge.
Anyone have experience removing this???
So far I have tried various chemicals, soaking in vinegar, metal and vinyl brushes, etc. May try a polishing wheel on a bench grinder but don't think itll help much.

Any suggestions?

I usually use a pneumatic palm sander with 120grit to knock it down then prime and paint over it.

Interesting idea. What volour paint do you usually use? Clear coat? Or do like a silver

I use 120 on an orbital sander, light coat of etching primer and a coat of the rust oleum hammered spray paint. silver or gray works and the imperfections in the metal are highlighted by the intended hammered finish of the paint. No need to clear.

Ahhh ok.
May give that a go then!

Looks like corrosion to me. Not going to clean off like dirt. Sanding, power wire brushing or gentle bead blasting with a followup of primer/paint is the way to go as AlbertaNorthStar said.

I like using primer gray. In this pic I don’t have the sides or top on the VR, but you can see the primer gray on the rotating cylinder at the bottom to get an idea of wgg hi at it looks like.

(One extra tip - be careful soaking aluminum in some chemicals. I let a set of those sit in simple green and I forgot about them. About 3 or 4 days later they were paper thin Swiss cheese - garbage).

Thanks for the tip! I haven't soaked them yet in simple green but was thinking about it.

I see what you mean on the grey. That looks sharp in there! I might go that route. Oddly enough the top cover has this corrosion but the base is surprisingly in excellent shape. Almost looks new!