TSI301

Started by hafnor, April 13, 2016, 10:01:02 AM

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Tightlines667

Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

GClev

Quote from: oc1 on May 13, 2016, 09:27:12 PM
GClev, please excuse a string of questions....

Once the oil is stripped away, what is the best readily available drying agent?  Acetone?  Naphtha?  A mixture like brake cleaner? 

Do these things leave a residue?  Would a lab grade acetone leave less residue?  Would flushing and dilution with distilled water and air drying leave less residue?

Thank you.
-steve

White gas or naphtha would be first choices for solvent and degreasing jobs.  They are less toxic than other reagents.  Acetone is too soluble in skin and will transport other molecules with it.

TSI appears to be a synthetic neopentane based polyol ester.  Naphtha or white gas won't degrade the lubricant or poison the user, and will evaporate cleanly.

Why avoid IPA?  Among other reasons, IPA is an alcohol.  It is reactive.  It is polar and not a very good solvent for oils or greases.  Non-alcohol, non-polar solvents are a better choice.

Once the oil is stripped away, what is the best readily available drying agent?

TSI is an oily ester-based lube.  Dilute it with a volatile hydrocarbon like white gas.  Apply it.  Let the white gas evaporate.  The TSI lube remains.

Acetone?  Naphtha?  A mixture like brake cleaner? 

Naphtha is a better choice too.  Some of the newer products contain a small amount of ethyl acetate.  Those are OK.

Acetone comes with a few too many precautions for the casual workshop.  I'm always going to stress chemical safety in tandem step with utility.  Gloves, safety glasses, plenty of ventilation.  Go outside.  Pollute the air, not your brain or organs.  Acetone should be a last line of defense, the ultimate solvent, not the go-to first choice.  In your skin, out your lungs, and it carries whatever you're dissolving with it.

Brake cleaner is a non-starter with me.  The ingredients are rarely listed.  It may contain aromatics similar to benzene or halogenated solvents.  The spray cans fill the air with way too much stuff.  Whole careers are made trying to keep those compounds out of your drinking water.  I still use Brake Cleaner occasionally for auto mechanics or gun cleaning, but with lots of precautions.  Gloves, glasses, ventilation.

I will always send you to the less toxic alternative that still does the job.  White gas is flammable but less toxic than the alternatives above.

Do these things leave a residue?  Would a lab grade acetone leave less residue?  Would flushing and dilution with distilled water and air drying leave less residue?

To the first two, yes.  Technical grade solvents have impurities.  Think of it as a ladder of purity defined by the American Chemical Society.  They currently define 7 levels of purity and technical grade is the lowest.  Technical grade solvents, however, are sufficient for our purposes here and much less expensive than USP or reagent grade solvents.  White gas is a crude mix but any impurities are alkanes and are going to have lubricating properties.  That's very OK.

On the water question, I'm unclear on the question.  Generally stay away from diluting a lube with water. They don't mix.

For general metal protection I use a mix of Corrosion X and TSI as recommended by Jim N.

I wouldn't mix products for many reasons.  Corrosion X and TSI are apples and orange crates.  I surmise that one is a mineral oil with a magnesium dialkyl dithio phosphate additive.  The other is a neopentane based polyol ester.  If you want an anti corrosion oil for separating aluminum and steel or protecting screws, Corrosion X or a single marine grease are optimal.  I would use a PTFE-thickened grease.  TSI works on bearings, but so do good mineral oils with anti-wear additives like 3-in-1 PTFE (Teflon, blue bottle, Lowe's).  PTFE is inert, non-toxic, and 3-in-1 PTFE is inexpensive, easy to find, and works extremely well.

Briefly, Corrosion X has an "organophosphate" additive.  Google it.  Wiki it.  Then, never get it on your skin.  You will find similar chemical structures in many herbicides, pesticides, and nerve agents.

Damn, so I have been flooding my bearings in 321 and essentially wasting it?

Flooding bearings with TSI would be a waste.  Clean them thoroughly, yes.  I still prefer white gas for its many desirable properties for that job.  Then one drop of of one of the preferred low viscosity lubes should be sufficient for most small bearings.  Maybe two drops if you miss with the first. 

In other threads here it is said that TSI301 is not safe to use with plastics.

Internet based info is often bogus.  "Plastics" is a general term for a long list of polymers.  The specific structure of a compound determines its reactivity.  Most persons are not prepared to process that information.  Nylon is not the same as polyethylene for example.  TSI is a an ester and is not the same as a mineral oil.  I read this stuff, see the molecule immediately, and have a very good handle on the various reactivities quickly.  It comes from a lifelong chemical education.  I don't expect anyone to understand it in parallel and I struggle to make it accessible.  But I try.




Tightlines667

#17

Quote from: oc1 on May 13, 2016, 09:27:12 PM

....

Briefly, Corrosion X has an "organophosphate" additive.

.....


Wow!

Really!?

Thank you for the chemistry lesson (I have a BS in Chem, so most of that makes some sense to me).

Can you provide a word, or two, on using mineral oil, or MEK as cleaning solvents.

I typically use a mineral oil soak, and a 15mins stink in my sonic cleaner, followed by  brake cleaner to clean my bearings.  I am considering moving to MEK with no brake cleaner.  

I lube bearings with either straight Penn Blue, Corrosion x, followed by Penn blue, or only TSI 301.

John
Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

exp2000

Contamination should be your primary concern when treating bearings small spool bearings.

I will continue to use isopropyl Alcohol for one reason - it evaporates cleanly which is why it is widely used for electronic repairs.

Naptha does not and I would not recommend it over IPA for this application regardless of other considerations.

If you can show me a better solvent that evaporates cleanly, I will be happy to give it a go.

I researched the solvent in TSI301 a long time ago and it sounded like pretty nasty stuff.
~

oc1

Thank you very much GClev, especially for the safety precautions. 

I am interested in running ceramic bearings dry without lubrication and struggle to keep oils and grease from contaminating the bearing.  I struggle conceptually with residues left behind after oils and grease are cleaned away.  Since hardware store acetone seems to leave a white film behind when it evaporates but is miscible in water I thought maybe water could be used to flush it away as a final step in the cleaning.
-steve

mike1010

Wow, indeed.  Thanks so much.  Do you dislike carb cleaner about as much as brake cleaner?

Mike

GClev

Thank you for the chemistry lesson (I have a BS in Chem, so most of that makes some sense to me). Can you provide a word, or two, on using mineral oil, or MEK as cleaning solvents.
Congratulations of one of the toughest college degrees from any university.  I taught several undergraduate courses at various times and know how difficult the topic is for both majors and non-majors.

If I could answer a difficult question with a word or two, I would.  But if I were to gloss over a difficult topic with a two-word reply regurgitated from another web page, I would be as guilty of the "internet fraud" that I am so prone to rant and rail against.  So if the following helps just one other person to achieve their recreational goal while avoiding excess toxic exposure to high concentrations of organic chemicals by them, their family, or the environment, I've done something today.

Chemistry is a difficult concept.  Structure.  Nomenclature.  Reactivity.  Synthesis.  And on and on.  Everything is related.  I call it playing chess with 10,000 different pieces.  Each piece moves to a different space on a 5 dimensional board and you can't start to play the game until you memorize all the moves.  We can't do that on a fishing forum.

"Mineral Oil" is another general term.  In most cases, the writer is referring to an oil pulled from "mineral" sources, petroleum, coal, peat, tar, pulled from the ground and then refined by a couple of different processes.  These hydrocarbon sources are a complex mix of structures.  Refining involves complex separation schemes and then some chemistry to turn the less desirable heavy materials into marketable materials.

Non chemists can skip the next paragraph:
Mineral oils are divided for use in machinery by viscosity.  They are divided in the refinery by boiling point.  Not always equal divisions, but the boiling point of parts of a complex mixture of compounds made of only carbon and hydrogen ("hydrocarbons"), and no oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, or other elements, parallels closely with the component molecules' size, molecular weight, and to some extent, structure.  Molecules fill space much like screws, magnets, marshmallows, or kid's hotwheels in plastic bucket.  Some stack better than others.  Some are sticky.  Some repel the other.  Molecules, especially those that contain oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, or phosphorus, like magnets, have a dipole moment, and even neutral molecules have positive or negative parts.  Think about water, the simplest of oxygen containing heteroatom compounds, as it freezes and ice swells to a larger size as molecules slow down and orient themselves in a matrix.  Molecules made from just carbon and hydrogen are easier to discuss than those that contain other elements.  No hydrocarbon is as simple as water.

Oils are fractionated by boiling point, and since they have little dipole moment (electrical charge), by the length of the hydrocarbon chain.  Shorter chains are lower in viscosity.

"Mineral Oil" as you see is a complex topic and we haven't even touched on molecular mechanics, synthesis, reactivity, or other physical properties.  If you are going to remember some key facts about mineral oil, these are they.  It is pulled from the earth and broken down and separated into usable components.

How is mineral oil is differentiated from "Synthetic Oil?"  Synthetic oil (and just about all other organic molecules built from carbon) are made from methane, formula CH4, also called natural gas.  Chemists make almost everything under the sun from a single carbon starting material, a fact that continues to astound me even 50 years after my first chemistry class.  Tangentially, I cringe at the thought of cars, trucks, and power plants burning, freaking burning, all that chemical feedstock.  Let's figure this energy thing out once and for all and get on to making stuff with all those hydrocarbons.

Is "Synthetic Oil" really synthetic?  Maybe.  Most of appears to be a blend.  Some is made from methane.  Some is refined crude oil and they're mixed together to save on cost.  I don't work cheap except when I'm typing on a fishing forum.  "Synthetic oil" is another topic that would take several complex paragraphs just to scratch the surface.  It's a chapter in a book, it's own book, or a 20 volume set, depending on the depth of the discussion.

MEK -  Methyl ethyl ketone's formula is CH3CH2C=OCH3.  Acetone or methyl methyl ketone's formula is CH3C=OCH3.  Ketones are a distinct chemical class with unique reactivities and solvolytic properties.  Acetone is the simplest three-carbon ketone.  MEK is the simplest 4-carbon ketone.  MEK is slightly "fatter" than acetone.  It has a slightly higher boiling point.  Ketones are great solvents.  They attack many plastics.  It's a terrible pollutant, water soluble, fat soluble, and hard to remove from otherwise potable water.  It's like acetone also that it will go right into your skin, carry other molecules with it, cross cell membranes, and dissolve into fatty tissue. 

I use MEK to remove mixed 2-part epoxy containing BPA (BADGE) and di- or tri-amine components.  Gloves, glasses, ventilation.

Why discuss safety or biology?  I spent several years as an analytical organic project manager for the EPA and CA Health Services. Another chapter.  Managing chemists and technicians in a laboratory setting with toxic compounds, viruses, and bacteria, is another chapter.  Gloves, glasses, ventilation, lab coats, safety shoes, face shields, law suits.  For home use, I'm old and I've had my children.  But at home, keep the kids (especially those contemplating children of their own) and the grandkids away from the chemicals.  Another chapter.

I like your mineral oil soak.  NON-VOLATILE.  Much less flammable than white gas.  NON-Toxic to a greater degree than any of the alternatives.  I would probably try to switch you off of brake or carb cleaner.  Too often brake and carb cleaners sell themselves as "magic" in a can (I assume they contain chlorinated/fluorinated hydrocarbons (greenhouse, ozone killers)).  They dry too quickly, which is scary.  Ideal gas law - One mole equals 22.4 liters of gas - so a small amount of these low molecular weight compounds can fill a lot of space.  Propane or butane would work equally well, but are often odorized with sulfur compounds.  They are highly flammable, low toxic, greenhouse gas.

I would also like to convince a few others here to try the 3-in-1 PTFE oil.  It's cheap, easily available, low viscosity, non-toxic, all the things a fishing product should be.

I will continue to use isopropyl Alcohol for one reason - it evaporates cleanly which is why it is widely used for electronic repairs.

IPA is a decent balance of volatility, utility, flammability, and toxicity.  Everything is a trade-off.  It's a lousy degreaser.  If I were going to buy a gallon of something from Sigma to degrease and leave no residue, it would be hexane or cyclohexane, which is what I try to mimic when I recommend white gas.  Any residue from white gas, a mix of straight or branched chain pentane, hexane, cyclohexane, heptane, octane and nonane, is going to be a longer hydrocarbon, like decane, and still evaporate cleanly.  Better chemicals include a long list.  Chloroform, methylene chloride, carbon tetrachloride, and benzene would also serve your purpose, great solvents, various flammabilities, low reactivity, but are far too toxic short or long term for casual use.  They are primary environmental pollutants.  They are unavailable outside the laboratory setting.  The best solvent for this purpose would be a mid-boiling Pet Ether, a highly refined straight-, branched-, and cyclic hydrocarbon mix, a highly refined version of white gas.  Again, it is only available from a chemical supply shipping to a qualified lab.

Again, TSI appears to be a synthetic ester lube.  It's a small scale research project to accurately reverse engineer its components, reactivity, utility, and physical constants.  I've often thought of keeping a gas chromatograph and an atomic absorption spectrophotometer at home for fun.  How sick is that?  Fishermen, masters of repurposing, can like TSI, even if it's hard on their hands.

I struggle conceptually with residues left behind after oils and grease are cleaned away.  Since hardware store acetone seems to leave a white film behind when it evaporates but is miscible in water I thought maybe water could be used to flush it away as a final step in the cleaning.
Technical acetone, that found at HD and Lowe's is very pure.  It's likely contaminant is only some some entrained atmospheric water and if it has a plastic cap, it will contain trace amounts of phthalate plasticizers.  Phthalates are another topic, ubiquitous in the modern environment.  They are in everything but at such low concentration in your use that they should not interfere with a bearing's function. Tap water probably contains many more contaminants than acetone.  Distilled water is pretty good.  Deionized water is better.  The water in most sport boat drinking fountains is primo stuff when the membranes in the desalinator are new.

Wow, indeed.  Thanks so much.  Do you dislike carb cleaner about as much as brake cleaner?

I can only assume that if they listed the ingredients, they would be banned by someone, if not some agency, then by a knowledgeable public.  If you smell them, stop breathing.  Hold your breath and move to a better ventilated location.  Keep them away from children and adults of child-bearing age.

Everything is a trade-off.  Make your own choices.  Hopefully you have a bit more information.

At some point I'm going to attempt to detangle some of the oil and grease issue.  Grease is an extremely interesting topic.





Robert Janssen

#22
I wonder if that is the most well-composed, authoratatively informative internet post I've ever seen. I think so. Definitely among them. Wow, GClev. Well done.

Quote...over a difficult topic with a two-word reply regurgitated from another web page, I would be as guilty of the "internet fraud" that I am so prone to rant and rail against...

That makes two of us.

.

GClev

Thanks for that.  I tend to come off as a lecturer or a know-it-all, especially on a forum, and it often bothers me.  I have too much information.

Revisiting carb or brake cleaners which are often too quick and easy to ignore, I want to add something.  I'm as guilty as others of occasionally ignoring my own warnings - screw the ozone - screw my own liver, kidneys, and pancreas.  Instead, how about spraying that stuff into a glass jar.  Put your pieces/parts on a wire.  Dunk them briefly and remove.  Wipe them clean.  Hit them with compressed air.  Keep your container sealed and use the chemicals several times.  Continue to use gloves, glasses, and seek the best possible ventilation.  It's not perfect.  There is no proper disposal available to the casual user.  Evaporation is probably better than pouring them into the earth.  None of it is good.

In a lab setting I would trap them in a low temp apparatus and seal them in glass.  Then the glass containers are packed in large drums filled with vermiculite and transported to a WM facility near Kettleman.  Some are incinerated and gases trapped on charcoal and lye to neutralize acids.  Others are buried for future generations.  And all this is at great expense. It used to be $600 per drum.  It's probably triple that now.

In the oil field laboratory, we had a special sink with a faucet that ran solvent.  The solvent was recovered, refined, and reused.


Tightlines667

#24
Thanks for the informative response, and jaring my memory on some of this Chem stuff.  

I like to use brake cleaner for cleaning the carbonfiber drag discs since I am fairly certain it penetrates the fibers, disolves grease, and grime, and evaporates quickly.  It didn't occur to me, though it should have, that these cleaners contain florchoronated or chlorinated hydrocarbons.  

Also, I am well aware of the toxicity of MEK, and also the more commonly used 'lab solvents'..  Chloroform, methylene chloride, carbon tetrachloride, benzen, and hexane.  Many rod wrappers use gallons of IPA to deal with dust, grease, oils, and excess epoxy.  It is readily available, cheap, and of low toxicity, but it sounds like Acetone, or MEK would make a much better solvent (especially for removing epoxy).

Interesting that white gas is simply a less refined mix of the hexane grouping, and as such would make a good solvent.  I admit to using gasoline, and diesel as parts cleaners as well.  The gasoline is obviously more flammable, and toxic.  Diesel does seem like it would make a good cleaner, but maybe not quite as good as your white gas.  

I would certainly be interested in a dissemination of the chemical properties, if some of the more commonly used greases, and oils, and maybe a word or two on some common engine degreasers/cleaners (i.e. simple green, purple power, and the like).

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

John
Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

Tiddlerbasher

Thank you Gclev - an eye opener on many levels.

GClev

#26
I would certainly be interested in a dissemination of the chemical properties, if some of the more commonly used greases, and oils, and maybe a word or two on some common engine degreasers/cleaners (i.e. simple green, purple power, and the like).

Greases and oils are a long complex topic.  It's impossible to cover thoroughly without looking at the various oils, their source and synthesis, the stiffeners that make a good grease, and the anti-corrosion and anti-wear additives in them.  I am going to leave those topics for another time and another thread since we've already taken the TSI topic a bit far afield.  But seriously, I will in time leave this site with a few choice pages on greases and oils for both the chemist and non-chemist.  It won't debunk the internet, but it will give some clarity to the recreational fisherman who cares.

Degreasers are also known as surfactants, compounds that allow fatty molecules to mix with water.  There are two general types, ionic and non-ionic.  In both cases the surfactant is a molecule with a dual purpose.  Part of the molecule mixes with water and the other part mixes with an oil.  

Like dissolves like.  That's important.  A surfactant molecule has a "fatty" portion that will dissolve other fats.  And it has a "salt" end that dissolves in water.  At the molecular level, the surfactant dissolves a few molecules of oil in its fatty end and carries them into water with its salty end.

Ionic surfactants contain a charged polar group like carboxylate, sulfonate, or phosphate and the charge is counter-balanced by a metal ion like sodium or potassium.  Non-ionic surfactants often contain an hydroxyl group also called an alcohol.  Both of these salty ends are highly soluble in water.  When incinerated, carboxylates or alcohols make carbon dioxide, but the other two ionic ends, phosphates and sulfonates, make acid rain.  Just keeping with the environmental theme, since the fishing crowd usually is concerned with maintaining a renewable resource and a healthy aquatic environment.  Additionally, phosphates cause algal blooms and red tides.  Phosphates in laundry detergents were replaced by sulfonates in the western hemisphere about 40 years ago.  Not true in China.

Ionic surfactants also contain a covalently bound fatty end of the molecule that will dissolve oil.  There is an almost infinite number of possible structures for the fatty end of a surfactant molecule.  A discusssion of the alkyl portions of ionic and non-ionic surfactants has filled volumes, almost all of which I find fascinating, but would without exception bore the average fisherman to tears.  We can discuss it sometime while soaking bait.

Non-ionic surfactants are neutral molecules that also contain a water-soluble piece and a fat-soluble piece.  One of the most common widely used is a group of compounds called alcohol ethoxylates (AE).  They are a long chain glycol which is fat soluble bound to an alcohol which dissolves in water.  "AEs have many desirable characteristics such as rapid biodegradation, low to moderate foaming ability, superior cleaning of man-made fibres and tolerance of water hardness."

Simple Green is a mix of both ionic and non-ionic surfactants.  The ionic portions are citric acid, citrate, and glutamate.  These are non-toxic natural products and ubiquitous in metabolic processes.  The non-ionic portion is ethoxylated ethanol, an AE. The alcohol end is like IPA which mixes with water, or gin, which mixes better with tonic.  Citrate and glutamate are easily degraded in the environment.  The glycol isn't bad either.  I downloaded a very good 250-page paper that discussed both toxicity and biodegradability of ethoxylated ethanol, which is an easy read for anyone with a background in health risk assessment, environmental, and organic chemistry, but not so much for the average reader.  Lemme sumup.  It's a very good choice.

Purple Stuff is another general term that has been transmogrified to fit several completely different products.  I found some odd products that fell far from the "Purple Stuff" tree.  Read the ingredients on your bottle.  Typically it contains an alcohol ethoxylate (like the one found in Simple Green) and lye.  Lye is another general term that includes both sodium and potassium hydroxides.  pH 14.  Gnarly stuff that dissolves flesh.  If your purple degreaser contains potassium or sodium hydroxide (Drano), I'd say pour it on if you can and avoid spraying whenever possible.  If you must spray, wear goggles, not just glasses.  This stuff, even in micro droplets, will cloud your corneas.  If it's windy, defer its use. Cornea replacement is not the same as cataract surgery.  Never breathe micro droplets from the spray.  It will dissolve lung tissue.  Is that a strong enough warning?   If you have another brand of "Purple Stuff" type degreaser that contains other surfactants, I can probably do a brief analysis of those too.

In the lab, most guys wear polyester which doesn't react or stain with much except strong acid.  The problem was that since they didn't react with the cloth, they could soak through and react with skin.  I always liked cotton clothes in the lab, blue jeans and t-shirts.  Cotton materials would react pretty quickly with chemical reagents and either melt right now or dissolve in the wash machine.  With cotton, the reagents reacted more with the cloth and less with skin.

Just remain aware that every storm drain and many sewers lead to the ocean or a river.  The degreaser may be biodegradable but often the grease is not.  In a previous life I sampled and analyzed the micro layer of the ocean, that thin layer at the surface a few molecules deep, the area where many of the oils and greases deposited by man reside.  We searched for a clean sample as a reference as far away as Antartica, in the remotest corner of the earth.  There is no clean place left.  Let me finish this post writing that I'm no green freak.  I was just a guy with an inquisitive mind and the IQ required to absorb a chemical education.  I enjoyed the paycheck but strongly disliked my own toxic exposure, especially in the lab where everything is pure and unadulterated, and none of it good for you.   A knowledge of chemistry and the ability to think at the molecular level has changed the way I live, from gardening to child-rearing.  Anyone up for some quantum mechanics?  I've got a wrench.



theswimmer

#27
Fascinating discussion with many great ideas and a lot of info that had me reaching for a couple of my hard copy textbooks.
My education is  bio chem based and as a paramedic/EMT3 since 19yso and with all due respect to all who have commented here I want to caution that Coleman gas/white gas/any gasoline product is not a suitable nor safe solvent .
Under any circumstances.
Period.
The risks involved can not possibly outweigh the benefits.
I volunteer in a trauma burn ward and I can arrange for a visit for anyone who doubts me.
There are too many other , much safer alternatives.
I do not want this to seem like a rant so I apologize if I offend anyone.

I will second the use of cotton clothing when working with flammable solvents,
and keep a good ABC fire extinguisher handy. 8)

Best,
Jonathan
There is nothing like lying flat on your back on the deck, alone except for the helmsman aft at the wheel, silence except for the lapping of the sea against the side of the ship. At that time you can be equal to Ulysses and brother to him.

Errol Flynn

bmf3000

@glev Thanks for the great info. Can you comment on the use of starting fluid as a cleaner and how clean of a surface remains? I use to clean my bearings and works really well especially since the fluid blasts out of the nozzle. Of course I am using outside and I am not in the vicinity of anything that could cause ignition

GClev

The risks involved can not possibly outweigh the benefits.
It doesn't surprise me that a fireman would put fire as his first and only concern.  A fireman sees the most unfortunate, the unluckiest, and the stupidest of people right after a moment of disaster on a daily basis.  At the extreme, you are dealing with tweakers using starting fluid and match heads to make methamphetamine in their sister's single wide.  Those people are fools. However, at Alan's forum, you are dealing with a group of mechanically minded individuals of above average intelligence who are using small amounts of solvent to degrease small parts.  You should give these guys more credit.

In total risk assessment, one must take a much larger view consider all the risks, both short and long term, with a sense of proportion and orders of magnitude.  So take a minute and consider all facets of risk.  I'd like to see them achieve the task at hand, minimize their toxic exposure short or long term, avoid fires, stay on budget, and retain a comfortable work space.  I'd also like them to understand the various effects that chemicals have on our earth, air, and water.  I'm also extremely tired of the government nanny state telling me what I can or can't buy, do, or think.  I prefer to take responsibility for my own informed choices and I will assume the full responsibility for my actions.

Did you know that the US consumer manages to use 385 million gallons of gasoline every day.  There are annually about 5,000 fires at public gasoline stations, less than 50 injuries, and two deaths, and $20 million in property damages.  So I will ask with some sense of sarcasm, "How many fishermen are injured annually in reel degreasing accidents?"

In terms of total risk assessment, it is far more dangerous driving to the gas station than handling gasoline.

comment on the use of starting fluid as a cleaner and how clean of a surface remains

This is probably a good choice too.  The alkanes, hydrocarbons without heteroatoms, are still good solvents, and any residue is likely to be a higher boiling fraction, an oily residue with lubricating properties.  The heaviest residues from the oils under heat and high speed friction can form varnish or oil sludge.  That should not be a problem with lighter fluid.  Flammability notwithstanding, they are also greenhouse gases, and can be hepatotoxic.  They are almost totally insoluble in water, but some components may form azeotropes in the water table.

It is not possible to discuss any technical grade product from a can purchased in a retail store with 100% accuracy.  I would be a fool to think that or represent information that way.  Presenting an informed opinion on a complex topic or topics can take years of work by many people in a laboratory both by analysis and health risk assessment, more by statisticians and database managers, and finally by a bias-free analysis of results by the project's manager and report writers.   As an example, I'd love to shoot a few microliters of various brands of lighter fluid into a gas chromatograph and post back the exact proportions of pentane, iso-pentane, neo-pentane, the hexanes, cyclohexanes, heptanes, and octanes just for sport.  A couple of days of analysis and database entry, a few statistics, some quality control, would only cost a few thousand dollars.  At the State College, it would actually make an interesting Master's thesis.  Suffice it to say, I will have to forego the fun, and just be satisfied with my current writing sans actual chemisty for Alan's forum.