Filthy Beast.

[Eddyde]

Many Thanks for all the responses. I thought of pressure washing, but the day it was delivered the weather was freezing rain and I just had to get it into the shop. Now that's in the basement, I think that option is off the table. I do like the oven cleaner approach, I will definitely give it a try.

Hi Eddyde,

I'm new to metalworking , I came to it as a result of woodworking as a hobby and needed some better
jigs made out of metal vs wood. Anyway the oven cleaner works great, spray it on let it seat for 15-20 min. and wash or
schrub it off with a wire brush(brass). One note keep the room your using the oven cleaner in WELL VENTILATED !

Good luck...Kerry

Hi Kerry,

Thanks for the tips, I am familiar with oven cleaner fumes, just never thought of using it for degreasing machinery. I had a custom woodworking shop for almost 20 years we used oven cleaner to take the pitch off of the saw blades and router bits,
works great for that. Citrus degreaser (Orange soap) also takes pitch off if used full strength.

Eddy

 

[benmychree]

As to cleaning, I would use a pressure washer to knock off the heavy stuff, then soak it with engine degreaser and pressure wash again. Blow it off with compressed air immediately and then use a moisture dispursent like WD-40 or similar. Mike

I fear that a pressure washer would likely remove a bunch of the casting filler and make a real mess of things.

 

[benmychree]

Another product that works well as a machine cleaner is "Oil Eater" it is available from Costco in gallon jugs with a spray bottle included; mist it on at full strength, multiple times for heavy crud, then wipe off or scrub with water or a diluted solution. It is similar to 409, but much stronger; it will soften paint, but it rehardens quickly. It is fairly easy on the hands, but gloves are probably a good idea for prolonged contact. I used this routinely in my shop before retirement, and can attest to it's superior attributes. It even (quite quickly) removes the yellow/brown oil scum from nice paint jobs without ruining the finish.

 

[razinman]

Hi Kerry,

Thanks for the tips, I am familiar with oven cleaner fumes, just never thought of using it for degreasing machinery. I had a custom woodworking shop for almost 20 years we used oven cleaner to take the pitch off of the saw blades and router bits,
works great for that. Citrus degreaser (Orange soap) also takes pitch off if used full strength

That's EXACTLY what I used to use it for too!

Regards................Kerry

 

[Ed T]

WRT cleaning the machine. You have to decide whether you want to clean the paint that's there or strip it off. On my machine that is about the same vintage as yours, I elected to strip it clean or nearly so. I found that the paint on the majority of the parts was soluble in lacquer thinner and was, in some areas on top of a layer of pyroxyline putty which was the Bondo of the '40's. I speculate that the machine was painted with lacquer-like paint to speed up the production process in wartime, but that's pure speculation on my part. The "so what" of all that is that if you try to clean it up with any aggressive material, you're going to strip some of the paint whether that's your intent or not. So oven cleaner, strong cleaners like Purple Power, lacquer thinner, acetone, brake cleaner etc. are going to remove paint. In addition, some of those products are caustic and, if you can't get it all off, will make a corrosion problem in the future. If it was me (and it isn't) I'd stick to mineral spirits or WD-40 and elbow grease if all you want to do is clean it up. It's pretty likely you'll end up taking it apart at some point to fix all the petrified lubrication wicks, but right now may not be the time. In any case, good luck with it.

 

[lugnard]

You could try a steam cleaner. I use one at work for cleaning just about anything and it works amazingly well. Here is a link to what I'm talking about but you wouldn't want to buy one..maybe rent one somewhere.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/US-Steam-Vapor-Boss-Vapor-Steam-Cleaner-ES600/202720890?N=5yc1vZbuaw

I'm a custodian for a school district. It will remove just about anything the kids can slap on a surface! Never tried on grease but it did a bang up job on caked on stripper goo on the scrub machine. Never hurt the paint!

Harry

 

[zman]

Wow, 1942. I have a Norton 6 x 18 surface grinder the same age. It served out country in the Navy, has plaques on the motors. Gotta love the classics.

 

[j. vibert]

Nice find Eddy,

I spent the better part of two years waiting to find a heavy ten in my neck of the woods. I had seen only one during that time which had a cabinet base (I prefer the cast version) and it was held up at a machinery dealer with a fresh coat of "hide all the flaws green". I passed of course but a merely 18mths later I found this guy...

Not in the best of shape but hey beggers can't be choosers. At any rate I believe my serial number puts my production year in 1942 as well. Maybe our machines sat across one another in class...lol.

I won't be attempting anything with this machine till spring hits so I'll be watching your thread with great interest.

Congrats

 

[mfrick]

I have had great luck with Castoral Super Clean and Men Green. Both work great:victory:

 

[Eddyde]

So another 8 hrs of scrubbing and she's finally clean.

I tried the oven cleaner with mixed results: At first, I applied it to a small area, it seemed to work so I sprayed the rest of the machine (below the ways)... it did remove the dried on grime, not so much directly, but by dissolving the paint beneath it... It turns out the beast had been repainted at some point with a slightly lighter shade of grey, the oven cleaner literally liquified it creating quite a mess... So I used lugnard's suggestion and used a steam cleaner, which I happened to have (impulse buy from Costco, about 10 years ago), to blast off the oven cleaner sludge, this worked quite well. I then went back to the WD-40 Mineral Spirits mix to get off the remaining residue and displace any moisture from the steam cleaner. All got soaked up by Zep Spill Absorber that I had waiting on the floor. To clean the inside of the motor compartment, I first sprayed with the WD-40 mix, scrubbed with long handled brushes then the spill absorber to soak it all up and used vacuum and compressed air to get out the absorber.
This is by far the dirtiest machine I ever cleaned, beating out the Globe #150 Deli Meat Slicer, by a mile.