Solvent test

While some of them are solvents, most are not. That doesn't mean they won't clean after a fashion, but that's not their intended purpose. I'd lose the idea of using kerosene and biodiesel unless you have a specific reason for trying them.

The test of hydrocarbon solvents may not prove satisfactory for bolts that have come from a machine tool that very well could have had water based compounds used through the years. Some of them won't dissolve in solvents, yet come right off with water based cleaners.

Heating to clean is obviously to advantage, but you'd be inviting fires with hydrocarbon solvents. They're usually used cold, which minimizes not only the risk of fire, but evaporation.

Have you given any consideration to Stoddard solvent? The name "solvent" makes me think it's the right choice. It's available from oil distributors------and is used-----as solvent. :-)

Harold

Lye solution

Zep industrial (purple) cleaner from Home Depot.

Dawn Power Disolver

Richard, you can't seriously think people should put lye in a parts washer! One drop of that in an eye can blind you!

Watch it ...

GWE

Your podunk town surely has an auto parts store - go ask them if they have solvent, and try a quart of that stuff.

I would skip the Electrosol and Tide and try Cascade dishwashing detergent, that's the stuff that works killer for me.

When you make your test, keep records of how much each solvent costs. If it's real expensive I don't care how well it works!

GWE

I thought the OP said "quart jar", not parts washer.

It doesn't have to be strong to be effective. The difference between Zep household and industrial is ... lye.

Your half way there to formula mix called Ed's Red.

Equal parts of the following:

Kerosene Mineral Spirits Acetone Automatic Transmission fluid

Leave it at room temp. Higher temps just vapor off the acetone quicker. Used this on an Old South Bend 11" and soaked the whole head stock without dis-assembly. After the soak, found the original wicks had flushed out and would hold headstock oil just like new. Even loosened the old paint to make repainting easier.

This has been used in the gun circles for years to flush out fouled barrels.

Jim Vrzal Holiday,Fl.

"bill" wrote in news:5PmdnYy7C-urtE3ZnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@amaonline.com:

Local auto parts store - Carb cleaner.

Well, the final outcome is to come up with a parts cleaner that is hopefully cost effective , or at least give an idea of the effectiveness of solutions that people are using in parts cleaners. I have a need of 30 gallons of whatever I come up with.

I have also decided to put some shiny aluminum into each test jar just to give an idea of what 1 hour in solution does to it.

Hah! A couple of years back I was using some Lye / Caustic Soda to etch some small 1.6mm thick aluminium brackets so I could paint them. I forgot about them and when I went to fish them out then next day they were gone........... I learnt something that day!

Over the last few years I've been designing by own parts wacher out of a larg laundry tub what I've discovered is that it it works really really well on metal and grease it's hard on the cleaning machine and even harder on me. The better the cleaner the more dangerious and in some cases the more smell. The best degreaser I've found is M.E.K. paint thinner. Methyl ethyl ketone, also known as 2-butanone. It's amazing but not good to work around. DO NOT HEAT, EXPLOSIVE etc. etc.

Not to mention it might render one unconscious without warning if moment some threshold intake is reached.

We had a couple of guys drop out while cleaning overhead crane gearboxes with MEK. Works like a charm -- on the grease and on the I-can-take-anything macho types.

Try to warn some guys and they'll just poo-poo it until they wake up on the way to the hospital. We kept a very close check on workers using it after the first one or two cases.:)

And it'll give you one monster of a headache.

Is there any difference at all between low odor mineral spirits, cheap paint thinner, and Stoddard solvent?

GWE

IMHO, MEK is just too dangerous to use in quantities greater than a teaspoon.

Watch yourself.

Flash point and viscosity. The stuff I bought as Stoddard was very light, lighter than kerosene, low odor and had a high flash point, important when using with electric pumps. Paint thinner is also a petroleum fraction but probably doesn't have as much attention paid to properties as Stoddard does. The cheap stuff will leave residue, too, after it dries off. That's important if you use the stuff for final wiping prior to painting. VM&P naptha is pretty close to Stoddard, probably doesn't have the same high flash point, though. It leaves no residue and is what I use for a lot of wiping down, degreasing before painting and general stickum removing. Most paint and hardware stores carry it, unlike Stoddard.

Stan

You've obviously never worked as a industrial painter. We use to use it 5 gallons at a time. But yes it can be dangerous.

Every field has a certain comfort level that doesn't exist outside. I'm reminded of what a PG&E gas repairman said. He told me that if the gas workers and electrical workers try to trade jobs, they almost always consider the new job too dangerous and go back to what they were doing...

Ok.... replace cleaning solution everywhere I said solvent.

I do have a specific reason for trying kerosene and biodiesel. People have been suggesting that they be used as a parts cleaner.

I will be keeping my temperatures below any flash points. (biodiesel flash point is pretty high.) If I have any questions about stuff, I will just have my wife put it in the flash point tester in the lab where she works testing fuels and solvents.

I think that the bolts and nuts that I have will be just fine for my testing.