Carb cleaner safe for Atlas MFC paint?

I use only plain old kerosene as a cleaning solvent on my lathe and other similar machinery. Acetone works well on tough crud, but I use that only when I plan to re-paint. I found acetone dulls the gloss on most coatings.

Carb cleaner, brake cleaner and the like are to be used only for their intended purpose consistent with their labeling. Nasty stuff.

Spiral_Chips
 
I happened to recall a fellow talking about working on a 46 piper cub he is using some type soy based cleaner on it. though I did not hear him say what that was he just said it works great.
 
WD-40? Purple Power? Simple Green?

Brake and parts cleaner will definitely remove paint. I've used it for that purpose before.
 
Purple power has sodium hydroxide (lye) in it, same as engine degreaser, which will soften paint and eat aluminium. I wouldn't use it on painted parts unless I was sure it wouldn't soften the paint.

WD40 is a pretty good oil like solvent. Works great for cleaning hands and I like the smell :)
 
Got it. No carb or brake cleaner. I will use mineral spirits, kerosene, simple green or WD40. I have used all of these to clean bicycle chains and they worked well, so I expect they will work well on the mill too.

Thanks
 
By far the best paint-safe cleaner for nasty machine tools is automotive wheel cleaner. Get the "all wheels" flavor that is safe on paint or plastic - nearly all modern wheels have plastic on them. Buy whatever is cheapest in the 16-oz trigger bottle. Spritz it on per the instructions, let it soak (but not dry, then rinse off with water, then chase most of the water out with compressed air, then follow with WD40 and more compressed air.
 
Another product that works very well for cutting through the grease is Dawn dishwashing detergent! Safe enough for cleaning up wildfowl caught in oil spills but tough enough to clean up any gearbox!

I use it in my parts washer too!
 
I ended up using Simple Green. I am impressed with how well it worked. It's inexpensive, it doesn't stink like mineral spirits or kerosene, and it does not create a waste disposal problem. I cut it 50/50 with distilled water, not necessarily the best thing to do but what I did. I just let the parts soak half an hour and then worked on them with an old tooth brush.
 
Any water-based solvent is a risk to use on machined parts. If you soak parts in one, get interrupted, and come back in the country a month later, you are likely to dislike what has happened to your parts. After roughly half a century of experience, I don't use anything water soluble in my shop.
 
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