Cleaning a new PM mill upon arrival

kb58

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I've seen some suggestions but want to see what people are using. I think I've seen ones like Simple Green, some orange-based degreaser, all the way up to acetone (which seems like a bad idea all around). What have you used and are happy how it turned out? I have no idea what to expect for what's been slathered on the machine and how hard it will be to remove.
 
I don't remember what I did with mine. Might have used lacquer thinner, which I would not recommend. In fact, I am really getting away from that type of product (lacquer thinner, paint thinner, acetone, etc.) to clean stuff. I have since switched to products like Super Clean to accomplish these tasks now. Wear gloves though because it takes every last spec of oil out of your skin and your hands will be like Brillo pads, at least that is what my wife said.
 
1st pass: low-odor mineral spirits, red cotton shop rags
2nd pass: low-odor mineral spirits, terry cloth towel.
3rd pass: WD40 and paper towels.
 
Same here, I've always just used WD-40 & works fine for me. No worry of damaging painted surfaces either. WD-40 is just about the only thing I use it for... cleaning.
 
I just finished cleaning the PM30. I used nitrile gloves, odorless mineral spirits, an old tooth brush, paper towels and Starrett M1.
I poured small amounts of mineral spirits on the table and thinly spread it on the yellow anti-rust material. Let set for a few minutes. I gently scrubbed the table with the tooth brush and wiped the anti-rust away with paper towels. Repeated two more times to get the anti-rust removed from the table. The last step was spraying the table with M1. I had the luxury of performing this in a large heated open area with plenty of ventilation. If you are doing this in an enclosed area (basement or garage), you need ventilation and/or a VOC rated respirator. Even though the odorless mineral spirits is supposed to have a reduction in VOC's, I would not take a chance in a small enclosed area without a respirator and of course the nitrile gloves.
I do not know what the anti-rust material is composed of, but it does stain the white paint where is it was applied heavily at the factory. I did not have any issues with damage to the painted surfaces using the odorless mineral spirits. I just made sure not to leave it on the paint for more than 5 minutes.

Before:
IMG_0560.JPG


After (95% clean):
IMG_0565.JPG
 
@Jeff.64 I also experienced it staining the white paint as well as the scales.

I used WD-40. Sprayed it on, waited 5 minutes, wiped it off; again and again and again. On my PM-30 I found there was a lot of the yellow preservative under the chip excluder on the right of the table, so I had to pop the excluder and clean under it and inside the coolant outlet. I have also found that the way oil still comes off the ways suspiciously yellower than it went in the oiler ports, so I think the oil ways probably were also at least partially filled.

I also had paint overspray on the column. Using steel wool on a wooden stick, plus 20 minutes of elbow grease, cleaned that up nicely.
 
If I recall right, my PM-30MV came with anti-rust paper over a light coat of oil on the bare metal parts. Really wasn't hard to clean at all, just wiped off with a paper towel and a little mineral spirits. It came with the DRO installed, so maybe PM cleaned it up when they did the install.

Steve
 
@WyoGreen Interesting, I think I was in the next batch after you (arrived last September), and mine also had DRO installed at PM, but mine definitely had the metal liberally coated with the thick yellow anti-corrosion sauce.
 
I also used WD40 to clean my mill. Works great, and you don't have to worry about it messing up paint and what not.
PZ
 
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