Two solvent questions....

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12L14
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Re: Two solvent questions....

Post by 12L14 »

Fresh and concentrated(at least10%) coolant, apply with a paintbrush, wait for few minutes and then wipe it.
Tool&die maker since yesterday ;)
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Bill Shields
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Re: Two solvent questions....

Post by Bill Shields »

Simple green?
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
earlgo
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Re: Two solvent questions....

Post by earlgo »

There is a product called Gibbs that I use to clean up and inhibit corrosion. It works for me on all things, including blued guns.
http://www.gibbstuff.com/ Go to the 'Using Gibbs Brand: Use cases" for more info,
--earlgo
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
jcfx
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Re: Two solvent questions....

Post by jcfx »

Greg,
In regards to the data plate you may want to try WD40, the stoddard solvent in
it may clean it up without removing any paint. There is also IPA ( 99% isopropyl alcohol )
which I use a lot and seems to cut thru greasy grime.
VM & P Naptha is another I use to remove wax, and it does a fair job at grease grime.

My other go to solvents for cleaning machinery parts is brake cleaner, both the chlorinated
and non chlorinated. I don't exactly recall what the chlorinated stuff is, some halogenated hydro carbon,
but the non chlorinated stuff has hexane which does a great job of degreasing.
They both will remove paint if they're left on too long, so it's best to wet a cloth or paper towel and wipe.
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Two solvent questions....

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Hi JCFX:
WD 40 was the first thing I tried. No action. I'll try alcohol. Also, I woke up in the middle of the night and Goo Gone came to mind. I'll try that today.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Two solvent questions....

Post by Bill Shields »

good grief...do not use WD40

once you get that stuff on things, it is IMPOSSIBLE to get off.....
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Two solvent questions....

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Well, my wife, whom the family calls "The Queen of Clean," keeps lots of 409 on hand so I thought I'd try that. The label claims, "REMOVES 100% OF GREASE AND GRIME." A little soaking and some work with my thumbnail and a toothbrush got the data plate clean. There does seem to be a little paint loss around the numbers in the middle of the plate, which is curious since I didn't clean there. Anyhow, before and after pix are below. (The grey blot by the letters QU is grey paint.) Now all I need to do is to get the solid crud out from the roots of the lead screw thread. I don't think I'll be using my thumbnail for that! Then I get to pull the change gear box off to see why the gears are jamming. :cry:
IMG_0545.JPG

IMG_0546.JPG
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
TimTheGrim
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Re: Two solvent questions....

Post by TimTheGrim »

I was cleaning the inside of my 70 Year old H-D crank cases using hot water and Simple Green (twice) and just wasn’t satisfied.
My wife had some “Totally Awesome” and one application had them bright and ready for Glyptal paint. Good stuff.

Old petroleum based solvent mixes had lots of aromatic compounds and Benzene. Very effective but potentially deadly long term. Naphtha straight from a crude column smells sour and works ok as a solvent cleaner. Run it through a catalytic Hydrotreater and it smells great and does better cleaning. Run that through a “Rheniformer” and smells absolutely wonderful and works like magic but whoa be to thee who breaths much of that. It’s anywhere from 7% to 12% Benzene.

I used to clean mills and lathes with WD-40. It needs a fair time to soak but works well.
Illigitimi non Carborundum
'96 Birmingham mill, Enco 13x40 GH and Craftsman 6x18 lathes, Reid 2C surface grinder. Duro Bandsaw and lots of tooling from 30+ years in the machining trades and 15+ years in refinery units. Now retired
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liveaboard
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Re: Two solvent questions....

Post by liveaboard »

It looks pretty good now, a whole lot better than the faded out plate on my battered lathe.
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Two solvent questions....

Post by Greg_Lewis »

liveaboard wrote: Sat Nov 26, 2022 3:27 am It looks pretty good now, a whole lot better than the faded out plate on my battered lathe.

Thanks. I bought this machine about 35 years ago from a local guy who had bought it new and made one small stationary steam engine with it. But he was selling it I suspect because it seemed to me that he just didn't have the temperament for machine work. And I admit that over the years I haven't been as diligent as I should have about cleaning it, although I do keep it well oiled. And there was a period of about two years that I didn't have it covered when not in use, which didn't help. I also learned that plastic tarps are the wrong thing to use and now have some canvas that I drape over the lathe and mill every time I close down for the day. Onward!
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
TomB
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Re: Two solvent questions....

Post by TomB »

My son was an avid bicycle rebuilder and also the local manager of a discount auto parts store. I had bought a bottle of Simple Green after it first appeared at a local store and he found it to be very good for cleaning bicycle grit off and it was something his store stocked. Shortly he came to me to say having something like Simple Green in our shop was just like me - use the most expensive stuff in his store. But it had an advantage his customers would come back and buy more and tell him it was the best cleaner ever. However, I'm not sure the original Simple Green was the same formula as what is now sold, as the new stuff does not burn my skin as much.
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Two solvent questions....

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Well folks, here's an update. The original problem was dirt packed into the roots of the threads of the lead screw on my Atlas lathe. Said dirt was a 35-year combination of dried way oil, atmospheric dust and whatever blows in from the back field, tiny bits of swarf, and who knows what else. That stuff was dried and packed in there such that none of the solvents I tried would cut it. So I took a bit of brass and shaped it to the Acme thread profile and used it as a scraper to get down into the roots of the thread and clean that gunk out. By using brass I was confident that I wasn't going to muck up the accuracy, such as it is, of the lead screw. It was a bit of work as that stuff was in there tight, and I had to re-shape the brass a couple of times, but in the end the screw is nice and clean. Oh, and I also took apart the half-nut works in the saddle and cleaned all that up. It wasn't dirty but some fresh lube did smooth out it's operation.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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