Mechanic's
Tip: When it comes time to wash greasy parts one of
the best strategies I know of is to locate a
discarded gallon-sized plastic mayonnaise jar
[usually available from a local restaurant for the
asking]. Fill the jar about half full with Stoddard's
solvent or kerosene. Put any small parts you need to
clean in the solution and close the lid tightly. It
is best to remove heavy grease and greasy buildup
first. Then shake the contents vigorously [more
vigorously for steel parts, but less for
"soft" parts such as carburetter bits,
brass or plastic items, etc.]. It is best not to mix
delicate parts such as carbutetter floats with
heavier items as they will be damaged. It should also
be stressed that the hands must be placed at the top
and bottom of the jug at all times while agitating
the contents because the solvent [and parts] could
fly out should the lid come off inadvertently! Safety
glasses should be worn at all times as well. Next,
pour off the liquid solvent immediately after shaking
the jar, so as to empty both the solvent and the
dirty particulate component held in suspension in the
cleaning fluid. At this point it is best to leave the
dirty solvent mixture in a second container to settle
out for 24 hours, whereupon the debris will mostly be
found at the bottom of the container. Once the
material has had enough time to settle out pour the
better, cleaner part of the solution off the top,
being careful to leave the debris and the last 5
percent of the dirtiest portion of the mixture at the
bottom. It is often best at this point to remove the
parts by hand and then clean out the gunk at the
bottom of the jar with a rag or newspaper.
If
speed is the order of the day, then fresh solvent
could be reintroduced to the jug while waiting for
the first charge of cleaning fluid to gravity-clean.
The remaining debris can then be mixed with sawdust
and sent to the landfill, but never placed
haphazardly where it could contaminate groundwater or
runoff. It should be stressed that while other
solvents such as petrol or lacquer thinner would
clean parts more aggressively and thoroughly, the
flammability and very low flash-point of such
materials make them far too dangerous to be
considered safe to use.
It may
also prove advantageous to remove the parts being
cleaned from the jar periodically to wash them off
with water, and to reintroduce them to the jug with a
fresh change of solvent. For really clean parts it
may prove beneficial to introduce an
industrial-strength cleaner such as "Mr.
Clean" to the jug in a fairly high concentration
once the solvent cleaning is completed. This strategy
renders the parts virtually clean enough for
painting, when rinsed in fresh water. In the interest
of economy and ecology, these cleaning materials
should be saved and reused over and over, perhaps
strengthened with a fresh charge of virgin product.
It
should be noted that is not a good idea to clean both
"hard" and "soft" materials at
the same time, for example steel and white metal or
brass parts, or heavy and delicate parts, as the
heavy parts could easily damage the smaller bits.
Also remember that many British seals and gaiters are
made of natural rubber and that when exposed to
solvent for more than a very brief period of time
will cause them to swell up. Solvent may be used on
these parts to remove heavy grease but the rubber
parts must be rinsed off thoroughly within minutes or
they will be damaged. Rather obviously hydraulic
brake seals and common shaft seals should never be
reused. Such practices inevitably yield dire results.
