how to clean brushed aluminum faceplate?

No, diamonds are one of the few materials harder than an anodized finish. When you brush your hand or fingernail against a brushed anodized surface, the ridges in the surfaces will remove skin or fingernail cells and material, leaving something that looks like a scratch, which is why I paraphrased the word 'scratch' as I am doing here. Of course its really a streak. This can happen with metal tools too.

Of course, if you break through the finish, the aluminum beneath is rather soft. I hope this clears this up.

Dont you mean to say soft?
Anodized finishes are very hard, so your fingernails and skin can leave small 'scratches' in the surface.

Hydrochloric acid will take the gunk right off!

If you have an anodized brushed aluminum panel, here is how to clean it:

Goof Off will not harm the panel, but the brushed quality may prevent you from having success. Anodizing is very hard and sharp- many materials will cling to its grooves. You need a get a 3M Scotchbright dishscrubbing pad, the kind that is either green (often found on the backside of 3M sponges) or maroon.

You treat the panel with the cleaner- Goof Off, Windex, alchohol, WD-40. Then you wipe the cleaner off with the pad, being careful to **follow the grain** that is brushed into the panel. **DO NOT** sand back and forth (if you get too aggressive you will eventually take the anodizing off too)- go in one direction, towards the closest edge of the panel that the grain is headed towards.

Anodized finishes are very hard, so your fingernails and skin can leave small 'scratches' in the surface. The same is true of metal tools- often you can lift scratches out by simply using the Scotchbright pad without any chemical cleaner so long as the pad is clean.

If a scratch penetrated to the aluminum underneath you are screwed. Do not use the Scotchbright over any silkscreen, unless the screen is anodized on.

This all comes from one of the country's leading anodizing houses which does work for the military as well as several very well-known high end audio manufacturers.

Some good idea's here.Since you need to know if it has a clear coat applied from the man.you best contact them as R mentioned,good luck,B

WD40 works well.

I agree, best to contact the mfgr; however, I've always had great results with Pledge. Most recently I had some lemon oil on a rag so I tried it and that's seemed to work even better than Pledge. Its kept the dust away for a very long time.

lighter fluid gets off goo

What Raquel said. (works for most any post too...lololool)

GOJO is my FIRST choice for almost all types of goo removal. Don't use the variety with pumice. It will definitely be abrasive.

Good luck

I use Goo Gone. Probably the long lost brother of Goo Off. Got it at Loews.
Works like magic.

IME, Windex is great for finger print type stains, but totally ineffective for dark gooey stuff. It just smears it around. Goof Off is amazing for these kind of problems. If you follow it with Windex your stain should be history.

A well respected manufacturer told me they clean their gear w/Windex. I've been using Windex for 5+ yrs. & never had a problem & the gear always looks better.

Ignore any cleaning tips that appear in this thread and ask the manufacturer (of the brushed aluminum faceplate, not the black crap).