Best way to remove stick-on clock from instrument cluster

The old lady that had my '72 Caprice wagon before me decided to stick an battery powered digital clock over the original clock. I have tried pulling it off, but it wont budge. Anyone have any recommendations on the best way to remove this without breaking the cover?

Thanks!

 

Try a little heat to soften the adhesive. Use a heat gun. If you don't have one a hair dryer might work.

 

A hair dryer should work to soften it enough to get the clock off. Then the fun begins. Varsol and a plastic razor blade, VERY carefully used, to clean the adhesive that will be left behind. Good luck!

 

Been there done that but it was a note pad thingy... Lets see if I can describe this........

I'm guessing the sticky part is foam apx 1/16-1/8 inch thick.

some good strong sewing thread cut long enouph to wrap around 1 finger on both of your hands with a few inches of thread between.

get the thread between dash and clock and start sawing back and forth while gently pulling the thread towards you and down. You made need a few pieces of thread.( I did)



Hope that made sense, worked for me and only took a few minutes.

Then you can work on the foam glue stuff.

 

I have always had slow but GOOD luck with 3M Adhesive Remover on car exteriors to remove dealer emblems etc. It never damaged any of the exteriors and would clean the area so you never knew anything was previously attached to the area. I don't know, however, how it would react on that clear plastic clock face. If it is possible to try a spot on some of the same material as the car's original clock face and the 3M Adhesive Remover doesn't cause any damage then that's what I would use. I wouldn't use a razor blade, though. I would keep gently prying and soaking the back of the clock until it is all unfastened. Without the use of a razor blade it will likely take a long, LONG time to dissolve all the glue. Maybe a day or two. Or...it may be a weak glue and it may come off easily. Be sure to test the remover on the material first. All I ever used it on was painted cars.

 

Good old safe mineral spirits should soften up the glue and not harm the plastic and you can get it at any drug store. But as mentioned be cautious of what you use so you don't haze the clear plastic.

 

Another product to remove adhesive residue is Desolve It or Goo Be Gone. They are the citrus smelling solvents. Very mild so they won't hurt anything.

 

Goo Gone has solvent naphta in it that can damage clear acrylic plastics so x2 on testing it first if you use it, where you test it I don't know? They say it's a Citrus product for marketing but it's really a solvent based dry cleaner type spot remover with citrus oils, don't drink it, the stuff burns my skin. It will cloud clear plastic and after that it will gets fine hazing cracks, I won't say how I know about that.
The plastic people say to use WD 40 or any dino oil-based similar product to remove the adhesive from acrylic, you can also use a vegetable based oil like Wesson.
Plexiglas and Lucite are acrylic, I don't know what type plastic they make dash lenses out of but I've never had any problem with oil hurting them.
That's usually 3M foam tape on accessories, X2 on hair dryer heat but be careful not to get the plastic too hot, I know what that can do too.

 

My first thought was WD-40 also. But maybe the "thread saw" thing might work safer.
I had some of those clocks. Often the little white sticky part came off the clock, even when I didn't want it off, leaving the quarter sized white part stuck to the old clock or dash. I THINK I used WD-40 on that.

 

try scrubbing bubbles bath cleaner we use it Lowes to clean the beams and foam glue off .