Reel Repair by Alan Tani

I have always tossed into the trash any really greased up toothbrushes after using — that the grease will not come off easily.

Is there a way to clean these up easily without ruining them?  Degreaser, bleach, or?

Wayne has given me a bunch of these, along with my dentist, and Dollar Tree.

Any thoughts?  Or just keep tossing?

Thanks!

Best,

Fred

I keep tossing them because the oil will tend to degrade the bristles too.

brake cleaner

And Fred, I'll do it again,

One call to my Dentist and I have have a bag of 200 new brushes,

Would you like some new brushes???

I get my teeth cleaned on Monday, I will ask her,

Wayne

I swish mine around in lacquer thinner if they get really bad. It does a good job but you have to be quick otherwise the bristles will deform and the handle will melt. When I clean the parts with original White GOOP hand cleaner the GOOP cleans the bristles while cleaning the parts so not much else is needed. I've been using the same brush for about 5 years now.  

Fred,

How about running them thru your ultrasonic cleaner????

.................Lou

keep tossing...  aside from getting dirty,
the bristles loose stiffness & alignment
'til an ex-brush is no more effective than a rag on a stick

I drop mine in a bowl with straight Simple Green. After a few hours or over night, I rinse them in warm water and they're good to go.

also, for detailed work, I use little brushes for electric clippers/shavers -- I think those are made from different materials that are actually meant to come in contact w/ lubes & solvents w/out loss of structural integrity

I just lay mine on a dirty shop rag when I'm done and give them a soak with WD40. Give them a minute, wipe the excess and blow it with compressed air into the rag. Works perfect thank you.

Same as Larry only I soak mine in the WD, then scrape on terry cloth. Works on metal brushes also.

If you look at Alan's tutorials from 10+ years ago, he uses 2 tooth brushes; one for cleaning/greasing and one for drag grease. I used both of them last month. Smashed flat and filthy, but still working great. I wouldn't want to guess how many reels they've serviced.

The Man

Quote from: akfish on November 09, 2018, 09:51:46 PM
I drop mine in a bowl with straight Simple Green. After a few hours or over night, I rinse them in warm water and they're good to go.

I do the same. I use Simple Green in my ultrasonic parts cleaner too. I'm very happy with the results and no fumes.

I use a cheap 1 inch paint brush with the bristles cut shorter to clean parts , plates, etc. For greasing I use flux brushes with the bristles shortened. Cheap & last almost forever.       Rudy

I put them in the sonic cleaner with dish soap. Then when I visit my son I swap it out with a new one on the sink in the X's bathroom...   8)

After I use the toothbrush to clean and degrease the gears...it is black with grime. I later use that same brush to scrub parts with baking soda/dish soap...and the brush ends up clean as new...ready to start the process all over again. Usually after about 3 or 4 reels the bristles are shot though. 8)

 X says  that the black tooth brushes taste funny. 

Dollar store...6 brushes for a dollar.  You can throw them away when they too cruddy. Dominick

Or give then to the X.

Wold Oxie clean work?.............I'm lazy with cleaning tooth brushes, just throw them into the round file, and get another. ;) ;D...............Joe

I never had a lot of luck with Oxie clean, Joe. It might just be me.

I too generally just discard and recycle toothbrushes.  And as mentioned above, flux brushes that are trimmed down are my go to for applying grease.  But here is something that I threw in my toolbox that works pretty good for really small, tight areas, especially those oil galley passages like Penn uses to oil the main gear.  I know, pipecleaners are a good goto as well.  You'll find these in the dental section of your local grocery/pharmacy.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/18717_10_11_18_1_41_03.jpeg)

They're cheap enough to toss them when no longer useful.  Bill

These days, since every entity recommends soft or medium, it seems like hard bristle tooth brushes, which work best on reel parts, are getting more difficult to find. Medium or soft bristles don't work near as well, won't last near as long and find their way to the waste basket a lot quicker. I also like some of the denture brushes, especially those that have tapered bristles on the end. They're not expensive and do a great job of getting into corners. I still use rejected tooth brushes but always have a denture brush in the pile.    

I clean my brushes with undiluted Dawn dish detergent, then rinse after I clean a reel.  My lube brushes I don't clean because they have clean fresh grease on them.