some cleaning questions for SB

[SE18]

Hi all, newbee here. I just finished adding supports to my bench atop which my 9A SB sits. The garage floor had a surprisingly steep slope to it so added a railroad tieplate and some steel shims to the legs. I'm using a regular level, not an expensive professional one. So I'm pretty beat today from working.

My next step is to take off as much old oil stains and possibly grease stains and rust as possible. I purchase naptha and brakeclean and plan to use those on the way, gears, apron, outside of motor, etc and then use the A, B, C oils for spindle, ways, etc.

Not sure if I can use a steel wire brush on the ways as maybe this might damage the ways? Maybe brass wire brush? or just a rag?

anyway, I'm sure there's a question or 2 in here.

I'm guessing I don't need to purchase grease for anything as everything uses special oils.

I don't want to run the lathe until I do all the maintenance first (I did run it for about a minute to ensure setup)

 

[Redirish]

Cleaning SB.

The Brakleen and naptha work very well. I am in the middle of cleaning and painting my Model A 9", and am using Brakleen and denatured alcohol. For cleaning the ways I would suggest 0000 grade steel wool and Kroil if you can find it, it will really loosen the rust and caked on oil. It is the best penetrating oil I have ever used, and I'm 73. Hope this helps.

 

[Tony Wells]

In some people's opinion, instead of Kroil, which is not available everywhere, a 50/50 mix of ATF and Acetone works well. Also hear that Brake fluid and Acetone work well, but I do know that BF will remove paint. Not too good everywhere. Bare metal, sure.

 

[Rbeckett]

Tony,
Once you get it fairly clean a can of E-Z Off oven cleaner will clean it to bare metal. We used to use it on our lifts in the shop so we could repaint them. The active ingredient is calcium Hydroxide I think, it is caustic as heck, but breaks down paint and lifts oils stains and residue too. If you use it give it a good rinse and dry, then paint and you will not have rust or crummy paint.
Bob

 

[Tony Wells]

It's Sodium Hydroxide, NaOH, or common lye, or caustic soda. Yes it's caustic. Used to be common boiling out engine parts (NOT Aluminum), and old style brass radiators. I use a hot vat of it prior to phosphating. You don't want to get it on you. It is absorbed through the skin so you can't rinse it all off if you don't get to it immediately. There it reacts with fat cells and saponifies them, similar to making lye soap. Result in a bad chemical burn. I have a story or two, but now's not the time.
If you choose to use it, please wear proper PPE.

 

[8ntsane]

For painless oil stain remover , Ive been using a product called TB-509 .
Its a foam cleaner that takes allmost no effort for cleaning oil stains. Im not
sure whats is all in it, but its not nice to breath in.

As for the brake fluid? The OP had mentioned Brake cleaner. Brake fluid, I would not use. Brake clean, is available in a few flavors. Some will, some wont remove paint. Oil thats still wet on the surface, brake clean will remove and leave the surface bone dry, but doesnt work well on dried on crusty oil. Plus its not cheap.

Old oil stains can be a challenge to get off. Check to see if the TB-509 is available in your area. The product just sprays on, and no scrubbing ness. The oil stains will wipe off with a paper towel. This product doesnt remove or harm paint either.

Paul

 

[ScrapMetal]

If all you want to do is clean, Simple Green works well. It will not restore faded paint however.

You've got to be careful though as it will remove paint, especially the silk-screened stuff of the the threading chart.

-Ron

 

[SE18]

thanks! opinions run the gamut;

So don't use wire brush on ways?

regarding aluminum, it would be interesting to see just how many pieces there are and to avoid them with caustic stuff; guess I could find the aluminum using a magnet???????

 

[Tony Wells]

Generally speaking, if a magnet sticks to it, it has enough ferrous component to be safe in a caustic bath. Most stainless alloys are practically non-magnetic, and also safe, but a little harder to tell from non-safe alloys. Unless you have a part small enough to heft by hand, painted stainless (a rarity, IMO), will look like painted anything else. Hard to tell. Aluminum, Zinc, and many lightweight alloys are not suitable for immersion cleaning in a caustic solution. Other methods should be employed.

 

[Tony Wells]

Well, we're getting off topic into Metallurgy, but it's not the nickel content that makes stainless alloys magnetic. 17-4 contains roughly 4 percent nickel, and is fairly strongly magnetic, whereas typical 300 series, like 304, contains around 8 percent nickel, but is only slightly magnetic. There are other forces in play.

I too have seen people scrap 17-4 as steel, and the scrap man didn't say a word. One of the higher value stainless commonly scrapped is T316. It has only 2-3 percent Nickel, and is less magnetic than even the 304. I have dealt a good bit with what are considered true Nonmagnetic alloys, used in instrumentation in the directional drilling industries. Most (and there are only a few, really) are proprietary, and patented alloys that display very, very little magnetic properties, which is required for the instruments used to guide and measure directional drilling, since they use, in part, the magnetic field of the earth to determine position.

Forgive the digression. And DBN, I did say "generally", and "Most stainless". I know the difference.