Just curious what type of solvent you folks like to use to clean tools and parts. I am having issues with the fumes from carb/brake cleaner and california sells mineral spirits which looks like skim milk, it has something so it isn't so volatile.
Well I tried acetone, brake cleaner, carb cleaner, mineral spirts and denatured alcohol. So fare my favorite cleaning solvent is the denatured alcohol, it works pretty good and doesn't stink to high heaven. Acetone/carb/brake cleaner is good but you have to use neoprene gloves and I really don't like getting exposed to fumes. I am trained as a chemist, hell if I had the money I'd put in a fume hood and use methylene chloride, but that ain't happening.
What does the clan say?
Stick an old dishwasher in the garage, turn the water heater waaaay up...
Not the safest but gasoline is an excellent cleaner,
Old time reoair shops often had an open bucket.
Streetwiseguy wrote:
Stick an old dishwasher in the garage, turn the water heater waaaay up...
My shop isn't plumbed, but I'm hoping to do this and just keep a tank of diluted simple green or something on top of it, and just have it purge back into the tank through a filter. Change when sufficiently manky.
Pine-Sol. Takes a bit, but it's not going to give you the cancer.
44Dwarf
SuperDork
9/14/12 6:40 p.m.
work switched the parts washer over to simple green 10% mix.
I was supriced at how well it works.
Harbor freight sells a water based degreaser that works pretty well.
Something a bit safer then gasoline is Naptha. You find in labeled as charcoal lighter.
I use the orange cleaner from the dollar store. It works really well actually.
I was skeptical, but the parts washer we have at work is filled with 2 gallons of Zep "Formula 50" and about 8 gallons of water. It works frighteningly well. I don't worry about my skin, it works VERY well, and it degreases ME in the process.
I'm sold.
I also firmly stand behind the dishwasher idea. My only problem is that it doesn't recycle anything. Parts washers use the same fluid over and over. Dishwashers dump large quantities of water every time.
curtis73 wrote:
I also firmly stand behind the dishwasher idea. My only problem is that it doesn't recycle anything. Parts washers use the same fluid over and over. Dishwashers dump large quantities of water every time.
That's why I had the idea I mentioned above (well, that and not having access to plumbing): Have a tank on top of the dishwasher, and have it draw from that and dump back into it (through a filter to slow down the crudifying of the cleaner).
ransom wrote:
curtis73 wrote:
I also firmly stand behind the dishwasher idea. My only problem is that it doesn't recycle anything. Parts washers use the same fluid over and over. Dishwashers dump large quantities of water every time.
That's why I had the idea I mentioned above (well, that and not having access to plumbing): Have a tank on top of the dishwasher, and have it draw from that and dump back into it (through a filter to slow down the crudifying of the cleaner).
I like that idea. We used powdered laundry detergent in ours - good degreaser and no foam.
ncjay
Reader
9/15/12 12:50 a.m.
Best thing I've ever seen that isn't brake cleaner is Greased Lighning. Not sure if it's available everywhere, but the stuff will clean anything. I've also used orange Zep many moons ago with no complaints.
mineral spirits is the bomb. nothing better for general greasy stuff cleaning.
ransom wrote:
Streetwiseguy wrote:
Stick an old dishwasher in the garage, turn the water heater waaaay up...
My shop isn't plumbed, but I'm hoping to do this and just keep a tank of diluted simple green or something on top of it, and just have it purge back into the tank through a filter. Change when sufficiently manky.
That's all our machine shop's parts washer is, really.
Although it has a 250 gallon tank of water/detergent mix. And it pulls 60 amps of 240v three-phase to heat that tank up to around 200 degrees. But it works great.
(worked even better when we used lye and had the temp higher. Nothin' better than wading into boiling lye-mist when opening the door)
I have an old ($40, craigslist) genuine Safety-kleen brand parts washer sink sitting on a maximum cool 20 gallon VP race fuel barrel. Right after I got it I was gifted a new, unused barrel of genuine Safety-Kleen solvent from a friend who'd gotten it from a shop that was closing. It's great stuff, but you do have to wear gloves.
For little stuff I'll use a shot of Brakleen, Berkbile 2+2, CRC electrical cleaner, lacquer thinner, acetone, toluene or MEK - depending on the application, but for dirty car parts I hose 'em down and brush in the Safety-kleen sink and let them dry.
If I ever need to replace the solvent I'll look into water-based solvents for sure.
I've used Zep degreaser + Purple Power for greasy garage floors and pressure washing engine bays and filthy machinery and they do work well.
I put Simple Green in one of those small, cheap HF parts washers once. Over time it peeled off the paint and made a gunky mess and I had to throw the whole thing away. I use odorless mineral spirits now.
