Hi...If this was addressed please let me know where....I am fairly new to this reel hobby and wondering why I havent read anywhere about soaking the greasey reel parts in gasoline? See mineral spirits, simple green and few others. Have used Gas for wheel bearings for trailers campers etc and always worked well. always done outside etc... Other that flammable what is the consensus? thanks as always for help
Jim from Wisconsin
Non-toxic Simple Green works for me.
I was a heavy equipment / farm equipment mechanic for over 50 years, and, I too washed a lot of parts in gasoline....and saw (or heard about) too many "accidents" using it. I do use fuel oil (diesel fuel) or kerosene for parts washing.....but only "outside"....for reel parts (or other small items that I want to do "inside") I use either simple green...or one of the 'Zep" products, as they "don't stink up the place", do a very good job, are more "enviourment friendly", are easier to dispose of, and, actually last quite a while....a gallon will clean a LOT of parts .
This has been addressed somewhere here, I believe I asked the same question a few years ago.
Mineral spirits works just fine, is relatively non-toxic and non-explosive, although it is highly flammable. I have a bottle of Naphtha on the bench but don't use it often. Naphtha is basically gasoline without the additives. There are too many toxins in gasoline, and it's too flammable to keep around when a good soak in mineral spirits for a few hours will work just fine. I have been known to start with mineral spirits and switch over to Naphtha when I decided I was in a hurry... but then I have to dispose of the Naphtha or the mineral spirits, and I never do that correctly and feel guilty when I don't. It should go in with the used oil from an oil change, but I'm not that well-organized.
Sid
Is Simple Green more effective than distilled vinegar? A gallon of Simple Green is about $12, a gallon of vinegar about $3.
Vinegar isn't very good for grease; it's good for corrosion if used carefully. For just grease, I like Simple Green.
A little trick I use occasionally....when there is a really a "dried on" grease accumulation, is to spray it down with WD-40 (which, for all practical purposes, is mineral spirits)....I may do that several times, over several hours, and THEN throw it in the Simple Green. The WD sort of "softens" the crusty grease.
Sounds like Simple Green is widely used....is this an overnight soak mostly or couple hours or ??
I've left things in overnight....mostly because I forgot them !.....with no damage to anything, but, generally after an hour, or so, I pull stuff out, look it over, and use an old toothbrush on the "bad spots", then toss it back in..if needed...usually 2-3 hours does a good job, for me.
Do you soak the ball bearings in simple green also??
We all need to be careful with mineral spirits -- but I use them because they are quick, effective, and fairly economical.
For small metal, steel, brass, bronze, SS, steel parts -- they get dropped in a glass jar containing Lacquer Thinner. After about 10 minutes -- they get rinsed with fresh water -- then sometimes SG for the finished cleaning.
I also use a lot of Simple green -- cut 50/50 with water.
Also use a lot of the purple Zep degreaser. Do not use this with your bare skin. Make sure if it gets on your hand -- you rinse right away.. Never use on painted or bare aluminum parts.
Ultrasonic cleaner speeds along the processes on all of these degreasers.
This is all I ever use -- nothing else is needed.
Vinegar, like Bill sez -- just stops the salt corrosion from the green Verdigris effect. Doesn't remove grease.
Painted parts, anodized, plastic, nylon, etc. -- just gets SG very carefully.
Best,
Fred
Bearings - I would go for a solvent - IPA, acetone, naptha, regular gas - anything that will flush old oil/grease and crud out of them. I tend to use IPA, not because it's the best solvent for grease because it aint! But it is one of the safer solvents and doesn't tend to damage plastics (some bearings have plastic cages/retainers).
Probably the most important reason my wife quite likes the smell ;D
I use Penn Reel cleaner.
THANK YOU TO ALL....TONS OF GOOD INFORMATION.....I DEFINITELY KNOW WHAT FORUM TO GO ON FOR EXPERT INFO..
Please dont use gasoline. My brother was badly burned using it for cleaning when he was young. If it hadn't been raining that day he would be in a lot worse shape.
Mineral Spirits is the #1 cleaner for grease. It can be used over and over and still work faster and safer than anything else.
another no vote on the gasoline..... :-\
Never considered gas. It stinks too bad and very dangerous to use.
I have used simple green and it works very well.
I have an Ultrasonic Cleaner, but still haven't used it.
My limited time usually ends up with a can of brake cleaner and a tooth brush in the driveway.
Quick, effective and evaporates quickly.
I would never use gasoline for anything other than running a combustion engine!
I bypass most of the of the advertised cleaners and mainly use lacquer thinner in an enclosed glass jar to clean unpainted metal parts. I'll occasionally use acetone or xylene, too, though, and I do all of them in the house (finished basement). I use them carefully and have no concerns whatsoever. I figure if I want my parts completely clean I might as well use the best degreaser out there, and that's what all three are, degreasers. I go with Original White Goop to degrease painted and plastic surfaces because there is absolutely zero chance it will harm either finish, and with a little tooth brushing it cleans great! After the Gooped parts are clean I wash them in a warm water & Dawn and then thoroughly dry them.
Mineral spirits and Purple Zep are my go to's for degreasers.....Bill
WD-40 for greasy Parts. Most parts are then soaked in Dawn Ultimate dish washing liquid and hot water (1:5) mixture and places in the ultrasonic cleaner.
Thanks Bryan and all who replied....Appreciate all the help....and advise...
Jim from WI
Jim, you have good advise here; lighter fluid also works for bearings. My main add is be VERY vigilant if you drop aluminum parts in Simple Green...depending on the finish it may discolor it....I ended up with a purplish Daiwa Sealine that went in gray. Taking the advice of the forum, I now use 50/50 Simple Green overnight for grease, white vinegar is great on corrosion as noted above. final wipedown with Penn Cleaner when assembled, but WD or whatever is good at that point.
John
My experiences with an aerosol automotive carb cleaner has been good/excellent. The little straw and pressure sorta blasts out crud and dried stuff after softening a while with a quick hose down. Dries very fast and seem to be leaving the parts squeeky clean.
As always protect your eyes and fingers as these chemicals can hurt you. There are many ways to clean parts, use what you got and dont replace what does ent work for you. As mentioned wd-40 is a pretty good spray solvent and not hard to find. Acetone is preferred by me over Lacquer thinner...... Gasoline might be all you got. Use with caution outdoors, then evaporate it on news paper and towels till gone.
Years ago I had a supervisor that claimed (with no proof ever) that gasoline would cause bearing failure to trucks and automobiles!
Never ever heard that down on the farm? Or ever since.? ???
I used to use AvGas (blue 100LL) for degreasing bearings when working on aircraft. But Id never use regular gasoline for any cleaning.
I use WD40 for things that can be wiped, and for things that get soaked, I use a mixture of kerosene and Gunk SC degreaser.
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/gunkproducts.php
Its the most effective thing I have found at cutting grease. Stinks like hell, and lot even legal in over a dozen states. Dont even think about it without wearing gloves, and a respirator isnt a bad idea either.
A general warning on lacquer thinner and acetone. Most rubber seals will be susceptible to damage from at least one of these two. Even exotic grades like Viton are not compatible with either acetone or lacquer thinner. EPDM is compatible with both, but it is not common unless specified for a particular chemical or UV resistance.
As a teenager just getting into old cars I used to use gasoline to clean bearings. Most everyone I know used gasoline to degrease bearing and other auto parts. They even had brushes that were impervious to gasoline to use to brush the parts. It should have been the first hint to not put your hands in a bucket of gasoline if they made a brush that was impervious to gasoline. Needless to say we would use gasoline to clean off our hands and arms of dirt and grease after using it for cleaning parts. One of the gasoline stations (I think Mobil) used to sell white gas which is what we used. I am still alive and do not believe that what I did had any effect of my health although I would not do it again and I would caution anyone I saw doing that. Oh! and I also rode a bike and motorcycle without a helmet. ::) Dominick
I used the Gunk too for a few years. Diluted with mineral spirits. That mix scares the grease off parts. I use a SS colander inside a parts cleaner. Just swirl the parts around with that mix and they are clean.
The only reason im not using right now is because I'm out of it.
Dominick - reading your mini epitome just so reminded me of my youth - didn't know my memory was that good ;D :D
Dominick...bet you drank water from a hose also......lol...
Dominick
I did everything you did & still do some. HF still has the brushes to clean parts with gas - I have 2 new ones. Sunoco sold the White Gas - we used it in the Coleman Lanterns.
NO Motor Cycles only Pedal Bikes
Mike
And we didn't have motorcycle licenses either! I do now, but I didn't then.
Amoco hi-test was white gas.