Cleaning off old vegetable oil lube.

[gundoc]

I purchased a South Bend 9 inch from a fabricating business. They haven't used it for years. Before they quit using it, they were using a vegetable oil based cutting fluid which leaves a lovely residue. Years later, it's hard as a rock and covers pretty much of the lathe, any non machined or painted parts. Does anyone have any experience in removing this gunk?

 

[British Steel]

OK, not lathe experience here, kitchen experience... Caustic Soda (Lye) is about the only thing I've found that shifts it, or heat enough to soften it

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[Bob Korves]

The lye may well soften or remove the paint as well. But, I don't have a better idea...

 

[dulltool17]

Not that I can say I've used it on Veggy oil, but I find that denatured ethanol is a wonderful solvent.

 

[Bill Gruby]

Bosch #1942 Heat Gun. Be advised this gun will take the paint off also. This gun IMHO is the best there is.

"Billy G"

 

[intjonmiller]

Lye is my knee-jerk response. And yes, it most likely will eat the paint. But it won't harm metal (well, not ferrous metals in the reasonably short amount of time you'll be using it, up to maybe a day of time to work if particularly difficult). The easiest form for this may be caustic oven cleaner spray. If it says oven cleaner, it has lots of safety warnings, and says not to use it in self-cleaning ovens, then that's the stuff.

Lye reacts with most anything oily, fatty, or organic. (And it etches non-anodized aluminum!) **That includes your skin and lungs!!** When it reacts it creates a soapy film that makes it difficult to get rid of in an emergency, which is why it is one of the worst common household items to ingest. Most anything you try to use to counteract it just washes over that film while the lye continues to work underneath, converting your tissues to soap. It is a very effective cleaner for this kind of thing (assuming you're certain of the nature of the residue), but its hazards must be taken seriously. Lye is a base so an acid, like household vinegar, is an appropriate thing to have on hand to neutralize it if anything unpleasant happens despite your best efforts.

You probably already know all of this, but it's better to be overly cautious and instructive here than to leave anything to chance or assumptions.

 

[francist]

You might give one of the "green" paint solvents a try. I use one called "Renew" as a degreaser and it works very nicely. We used it once to clean a rental unit range hood ( that had probably never been done) and it cut the stuff right off. I've left painted machine parts soaking over night and the paint remained unharmed.

I buy it at the local harware store. The milky-looking stuff that nobody likes.

-frank

 

[Wreck™Wreck]

Leave it, it lends character to the machine.

 

[CluelessNewB]

No direct experience but things I might try would be "Zep Purple Degreaser", "Dawn Power Dissolver" and "Carbona Oven Cleaner".

 

[rrjohnso2000]

I alternate between kerosene, Zep orange degreaser, and bar keepers friend for all of my nasty cleaning needs. Nylon and brass brushes.
It works well provided you let things soak for 20-30 minutes before a rinse in between. Good luck

Forgot to mention that these usually leave paint just fine, the worst being dull paint.