What Is Your Favorite Soaking And Cleaning Agent?

DonC said:
5 Gallons of Gunk Carburetor Cleaner with basket also. Takes grease and paint off in one shot. Can't keep it in my shop though, it stinks too much but is the most effective stuff I have ever used. No scraping or brushing, just hit it with a high pressure stream of water and all the funk is gone. I then soak the parts in Rust Dissolve, they come out like new. Doing it this way has saved me a bunch of time cleaning old greasy parts and allowed me to get other things done while the parts soak.
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I like that, I'm thinking of doing that in my plastic bucket with a sealable lid and a 2 gal bucket with holes used as a screen. Good tip simple, easy and thorough great post DonC
 
For years everyone used dry cleaning solvent in there parts washers it worked great keeps your cloths clean too.. Ray
 
iron man said:
For years everyone used dry cleaning solvent in there parts washers it worked great keeps your cloths clean too.. Ray
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Was that acetone or does anyone know exactly what it was. I can remember the smell when I walked by the dry cleaners.
 
They used to use Carbontretacloride, then went to 111-TriCloroEthelene until that was outlawed, I don't know what they use now.
 
According to Wiki:

Tetrachloroethylene, also known under the systematic name tetrachloroethene, or perchloroethylene ("perc" or "PERC"), and many other names, is a chlorocarbon with the formula Cl2C=CCl2. It is a colorless liquid widely used for dry cleaning of fabrics, hence it is sometimes called "dry-cleaning fluid." It has a sweet odor detectable by most people at a concentration of 1 part per million (1 ppm). Worldwide production was about one million metric tons in 1985.[1]


I doubt this would be readily available on the consumer market, but if it were, it sounds promising as a degreaser. I believe it is usually the chlorine content that ends up making this family of solvents fall into disfavor. Most likely an ozone killer.
 
Tony Wells said:
According to Wiki:

Tetrachloroethylene, also known under the systematic name tetrachloroethene, or perchloroethylene ("perc" or "PERC"), and many other names, is a chlorocarbon with the formula Cl2C=CCl2. It is a colorless liquid widely used for dry cleaning of fabrics, hence it is sometimes called "dry-cleaning fluid." It has a sweet odor detectable by most people at a concentration of 1 part per million (1 ppm). Worldwide production was about one million metric tons in 1985.[1]


I doubt this would be readily available on the consumer market, but if it were, it sounds promising as a degreaser. I believe it is usually the chlorine content that ends up making this family of solvents fall into disfavor. Most likely an ozone killer.
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If I'm not mistaken the main ingredient in brake cleaner is PERC, the non clorinated will not have PERC. I don't like messing with it myself. Used to use it all the time to clean my grimy parts. I got lazy one time and didn't put on my rubber gloves. One of those times when you say to yourself you'll be exposed to the cleaner for only a minute. Anyway a day or two later my hands and fingers started to itch badly, couldn't even sleep at night. Ended up with dermatitis, steroid shot took care of it. So be careful if you use this.
 
DonC said:
If I'm not mistaken the main ingredient in brake cleaner is PERC, the non clorinated will not have PERC. I don't like messing with it myself. Used to use it all the time to clean my grimy parts. I got lazy one time and didn't put on my rubber gloves. One of those times when you say to yourself you'll be exposed to the cleaner for only a minute. Anyway a day or two later my hands and fingers started to itch badly, couldn't even sleep at night. Ended up with dermatitis, steroid shot took care of it. So be careful if you use this.
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Good info, many of these cleaners need to be handled carefully.
 
I used some California Air Resources Board paint thinner to degrease some bicycle parts recently, and it both worked well and was nicer to work with than the "good" white spirits/paint thinner. It's a milky looking product made by reacting the raw petroleum distillates with hydrogen through some top secret catalytic process- secret on the part of the oil companies, not CARB. Did a fine job on cleaning up the parts and did not dry out my un-gloved hands. I like it. One way to kick any degreaser up a notch is to add some straight butoxyethanol or butyl ether (same thing, and the active principle in Castrol Super Clean and Formula 409). I have some in ampoules left over from a work chemistry project, and it's available on eBay. Use discretion- if you add too much it will soften or remove paint.
 
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