Lets get a round of applause for vinegar!

tincanary · July 15, 2019, 07:27:07 PM

I never thought to use the stuff when fixing or restoring reels until this past weekend. I had a 4500C come in that's 42 years old, fished in the salt most of its life and didn't appear to see a workbench. The frame and brake plate were especially nasty, but they came out pretty good. I filled my ultrasonic with distilled vinegar and let it do its thing.

Here's a before shot of the frame right after break down:

and after. I took some wheel polishing paste to the frame to get whatever rust I could off and it came out great. The brown you see on the crank side is a reflection of the trim on my workbench.

Side plates and handle came out great too, and the vinegar didn't remove the factory installed decals, but all the rest of the crud came right off.

Here's a little mock-up, just waiting on the rest of the parts to arrive before I can reassemble.

foakes · July 15, 2019, 07:32:28 PM

Pleasure to see what an experienced guy can do with a quality metal reel.

Excellent work!

Best,

Fred

Crow · July 15, 2019, 08:00:04 PM

That cleaned up great !

tincanary · July 15, 2019, 08:09:46 PM

Here's the brake plate.

Before:

After:

Sadly, some salt appears to have eaten through the anodized finish of the brake plate, but the customer is fine with it since it won't be seen once assembled. The vinegar in my ultrasonic cleaner was so cloudy you couldn't see the parts inside when finished.

happyhooker · July 15, 2019, 08:18:07 PM

Have not used vinegar before, but I believe I've been converted.

Frank

Donnyboat · July 15, 2019, 11:41:43 PM

Yes its good, you can degrease a part & think you have it quite clean, then after it comes out of the vinegar, you can alway get that extra thin layer of crud of, cheers Don.

broadway · July 16, 2019, 12:57:05 AM

Beauty of a job with that Abu!
Can you tell me about the wheel polishing paste? Are you rubbing it on like compounding a car or using with the buffing wheel? Which color bar do you use for rust removal on a reel?
I use vinegar 100% (not diluted) vinegar in some cases and it doesn't budge the grease at all. I do a vinegar bath then 409. I find if you use simple green and let the parts sit too long the parts begin to blacken.
Thanks for showing your work,
Dom

tincanary · July 16, 2019, 01:14:34 AM

Quote from: broadway on July 16, 2019, 12:57:05 AM
Beauty of a job with that Abu!
Can you tell me about the wheel polishing paste? Are you rubbing it on like compounding a car or using with the buffing wheel? Which color bar do you use for rust removal on a reel?
I use vinegar 100% (not diluted) vinegar in some cases and it doesn't budge the grease at all. I do a vinegar bath then 409. I find if you use simple green and let the parts sit too long the parts begin to blacken.
Thanks for showing your work,
Dom

I used a combo of a microfiber and qtips and rubbed the frame until it was hazy then wiped it clean with a clean microfiber. I can't remember the brand, I'll have to go out to the workbench and look. I got it from O'Reilly's, smells like it has a high ammonia content.

Edit: it's Blue Magic metal polishing cream

broadway · July 16, 2019, 03:53:47 PM

Great, Thanks for the knowledge. I'll give it a go.
Dom

Gobi King · July 17, 2019, 01:14:22 PM

Some newbie questions:
1. How long ?
2. Just enough vinegar to cover the parts?

thorhammer · July 17, 2019, 01:25:54 PM

Dom, I use the same Blue Magic, from Auto Zone. I degrease first, then 100% vinegar bath, on the premise that what grease is there is doing it's intended job- protecting the surface from anything else including vinegar.

John

broadway · July 17, 2019, 01:51:31 PM

Blue magic cream it is...Thanks for the confirmation, John.
I wipe most the grease off the parts before putting them in the vinegar. I can go either way with the baths. It hasn't seemed to matter which is first but I see your point.
Dom

tincanary · July 17, 2019, 01:55:09 PM

Quote from: Gobi King on July 17, 2019, 01:14:22 PM
Some newbie questions:
1. How long ?
2. Just enough vinegar to cover the parts?

Just enough to cover the parts is all that's needed. I ran the frame for 5 minutes in the ultrasonic and it removed all salt crust no problem. Afterward I rinsed it off in clean water, towel dry, then hit it with Blue Magic.

thorhammer · July 17, 2019, 02:06:24 PM

Quote from: broadway on July 17, 2019, 01:51:31 PM
Blue magic cream it is...Thanks for the confirmation, John.
I wipe most the grease off the parts before putting them in the vinegar. I can go either way with the baths. It hasn't seemed to matter which is first but I see your point.
Dom

I got a US cleaner a few months ago for $50 on amazon...wow. shoudve done it years ago. I waved at you landing in Newark yesterday.

tincanary · July 17, 2019, 02:14:50 PM

I use this for cleaning frames and side plates as it leaves no residue behind. Spray it on a microfiber and wipe the crud away. It's a glass cleaner but it works wonderfully on light grease coatings as well. I even use it to clean the spatter off of my black stove top.

It's expensive if you get it from Amazon, but Costco and Sam's Club sell a 4 pack for less than $10.