Parts Cleaner Solvent... what to use??

[GSequoia]

Yak urine, you can get it from Ramsey.

 

[5-90]

I'm a Chemist at an environmental lab, you guys using TCE, carbon tetrachloride, diesel or gasoline are just making my job more stable, thank you. :thumbup:


(gasoline works really well.)

I've no trouble using an "environmentally friendly" (EF) solvent to clean things - if the damned solvent works somewhere near as well as what it's replacing!

TCE isn't in brake parts cleaner anymore - it's mostly MeOH, from what I've seen. I have to use 3-4 times as much MeOH as I did trich - where's the benefit?

Starting fluid was diethyl ether - now it's mostly heptane. Problem is, I used to use it as a cleaner as well - and I didn't need much of it at all. Heptane doesn't work as well.

One of the few EF cleaners I like is LPS PrecisionClean - it works well, I don't need a lot of it to do a job, and it works on nearly anything. But, I can't find it anywhere anymore (JFTR, most LPS solvents are quite good. They get it - it's not about profiting from protecting the environment. If I have to spend a little more to get an EF solvent, that's fine - but I'm not going to spend a little more per unit when I have to use anywhere between three and ten times as many units as I did of the stuff I used before. May be environmentally friendly, but I'm not rich enough to play that game.)

I used to clean competition rifle brass in carbon tet. Had a quart can that lasted me something like 10-12 years, and my cousin is probably still using the same can. You drop the brass in, leave it overnight, pull it out, and let it dry. Throw it in the tumbler to get rid of any remaining deposits - they're loose, they just didn't fall out.

That would get be better-looking brass than if I'd left it in the tumbler running for a straight fortnight.

 

[alex22]

You could also get a bucket of the real deal Carburetor Cleaner, for anybody who has been around it, you know how well it works and how bad it stinks & burns. But damn does it do a good job. I'll only go near the stuff with a respirator or in the summer and stand up wind.

 

[Gerr]

At work we are using simple green's industrial degreaser at a 5:1 ratio and it is working well with the heated pump and it is not that expensive as a lot of the ready to go solvents you can get now days for the parts houses

 

[planefixer]

Mineral Spirits, available at most any Hardware Store.

x2 :thumbup:.Thats what I've always used in my parts washers - works really good.Theres a petroleum supply place here in town that has a gas pump that dispenses it.

 

[RichP]

I've no trouble using an "environmentally friendly" (EF) solvent to clean things - if the damned solvent works somewhere near as well as what it's replacing!

TCE isn't in brake parts cleaner anymore - it's mostly MeOH, from what I've seen. I have to use 3-4 times as much MeOH as I did trich - where's the benefit?

Starting fluid was diethyl ether - now it's mostly heptane. Problem is, I used to use it as a cleaner as well - and I didn't need much of it at all. Heptane doesn't work as well.

One of the few EF cleaners I like is LPS PrecisionClean - it works well, I don't need a lot of it to do a job, and it works on nearly anything. But, I can't find it anywhere anymore (JFTR, most LPS solvents are quite good. They get it - it's not about profiting from protecting the environment. If I have to spend a little more to get an EF solvent, that's fine - but I'm not going to spend a little more per unit when I have to use anywhere between three and ten times as many units as I did of the stuff I used before. May be environmentally friendly, but I'm not rich enough to play that game.)

I used to clean competition rifle brass in carbon tet. Had a quart can that lasted me something like 10-12 years, and my cousin is probably still using the same can. You drop the brass in, leave it overnight, pull it out, and let it dry. Throw it in the tumbler to get rid of any remaining deposits - they're loose, they just didn't fall out.

That would get be better-looking brass than if I'd left it in the tumbler running for a straight fortnight.

We used carbon tet to clean the 16's, 60's and M2's, remove all the plastic and drop the receiver and barrels in then let them soak, cleaned that carbon RIGHT OFF. They only let us use it when the IG was coming, the brigade maintenance shop had a couple of 50 gallon drums they kept at someones house....