Rover8FFR Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I know this has been mentioned in many threads in passing but wanted to start a thread to capture the knowledge. I have heard tales of Parafin.....Parafin and diesel.......Neat petrol.......Using the family dishwasher.... Question is what has given the best results to remove Years of Crud and Grime? What has been best to soak the SH?T out of that assembly of parts that have not been lubricated or greased for years and now appear to be fused together (a NATO hitch that can't be broken down to it's smaller parts). Do they soak in a bucket. should the bucket be in a ventilated space????? Does a warm mixture work better....???? A fixed up cabinet cleaner with a fish tank pump and some tubing...??? I think you can all guess where and what I mean so answers and learnings much appreciated. If you have had great results with a method then please share it....... Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airportable Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Over the last 30 years or so have used just about everything. To be honest I now stick to 'Gunk'. All though not the cheapest I find it goes a long way, does shift old grease oil etc. and dry's to a none greasy finish. Just my thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxy Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I digress slightly , a few weeks ago - I was perusing as USA vehicle restoration web site. Somebody had made up a wooden trough and lined it with pond-liner (Visqueen DPC - should be OK) and then used the rust electrolysis cleaning method (with washing soda) on rusted but serviceable leaf springs. Hosed down - they came up as if they had been shot blasted and it cleaned out inter-leaf rust (negating dismantling of springs to blast) , this is something I intend to look into for springs - quick , cheap & effective. I understand this method also removes crud along with rust (obviously you remove the heavy crud first) . If anybody has had good result - I would like to hear of the finer details and also the transformer they used.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 In such cases I tend to soack old rags in Disel burnt oil mix, or whatever penetrant takes you fancy, then wrap and seal the piece in a couple of plastic carrier bags for a few days. If you can warm everything it would help. Stick the hook in an old steel bucket cover with old engine oil and warm on outside bonfire is also very effective for freeing things. Though have a bucket of water to douse the fire handy. Can get exciting if you don't pay carful attention to the oil temprature. Goes rainbowy on top at the right temp. Mollases seems to work as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nudge Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Old engine oil mixed 50/50 with parrafin makes and alt pen oil. Diesel can soak into most things,so can be used to free off some rusted together components. And I can say SU carbs come up a treat in the dishwasher ( this of course does run the risk of the 'what are these doing in here' type 'conversations' with the wife .........) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rnixartillery Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I remove old oil,grease etc with petrol used as a wash,rusted parts are all blast cleaned useing the many types of aggregates available.Bead blasting does a cracking job on aluminium parts. Rob..................rnixartillery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferret1958uk Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Different methods work for different materials, as you can appreciate. On a NATO hitch you can probably use an impact driver to undo the screws for the plates that hold the swivel. Plus gas works well as a releasing agent as does soaking in diesel. Off the top of my head I cannot think of anything in the hitch that would be adversely affected by soaking for 2 days in hydrochloric acid either. That would certainly release it. Have you tried heat? With the hinge pins they can be tricky to remove. If you hit them with a drift they tend to just burr outwards rather than come out as they seem to be mild steel. I had to use heat on those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rover8FFR Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Different methods work for different materials, as you can appreciate. On a NATO hitch you can probably use an impact driver to undo the screws for the plates that hold the swivel. Plus gas works well as a releasing agent as does soaking in diesel. Off the top of my head I cannot think of anything in the hitch that would be adversely affected by soaking for 2 days in hydrochloric acid either. That would certainly release it. Have you tried heat? With the hinge pins they can be tricky to remove. If you hit them with a drift they tend to just burr outwards rather than come out as they seem to be mild steel. I had to use heat on those. You have lived my dream...The swivel dog came out easy after drifting/ drilling. However the main pins for the jaw and lock clam have drifted/ spread rather than drive so a good soak is required.........I have heated and used GT85 / penetrating spray so I guess held fast..................heat and a whack does help, but not on this old hitch that spent time on the front bumber of a Cdo bather FFR.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcspool Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 In such cases I tend to soack old rags in Disel burnt oil mix, or whatever penetrant takes you fancy, then wrap and seal the piece in a couple of plastic carrier bags for a few days. If you can warm everything it would help. Stick the hook in an old steel bucket cover with old engine oil and warm on outside bonfire is also very effective for freeing things. Though have a bucket of water to douse the fire handy. Can get exciting if you don't pay carful attention to the oil temprature. Goes rainbowy on top at the right temp.Mollases seems to work as well. Heating up engine oil over an open fire and extinguish it with water when it goes wrong? Oh please..... Just stick the part in a can of diesel and let it sit for a few days / weeks depending on the amount of rust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 The trick is not to let it get it to hot! The water douses the fire. It does take a lot to get old engine oil to burn. Very useful technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rover8FFR Posted February 23, 2012 Author Share Posted February 23, 2012 Keep them coming guys........ What is used in a parts cleaner cabinet set up then?????????? Warm oil.... Diesel...... Diesel and Parafin....... Caustic Soda solution........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 The trick is not to let it get it to hot! The water douses the fire. It does take a lot to get old engine oil to burn. Very useful technique. :n00b: come on, you know you should never use water on an oil fire. .... not a very useful technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 (edited) :n00b: come on, you know you should never use water on an oil fire. .... not a very useful technique. No, Richard, I'm stupid, not ***stupid! The water is to put the fire out if the oil overheats.:rolleyes: The bucket rests on a couple of bricks, then a scrap wood fire lit undeneath. One useful bit of kit I keep in the workshop is a fire blanket. Keeps welding spatter and grinding sparks at bay as well. For small parts a Lapidary tumbler, used to polish stones for jewellery is a nice tool. You can get various grades of polishing material. Edited February 23, 2012 by Tony B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrettkitt Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Caustic soda in a plastic tub with a scoop of washing powder and a squirt of washing up liquid will remove oil based paints from steel parts. Care has to be taken with alluminuim parts as the caustic soda will erode the alloy to nothing. Caustic soda does not work on two pack paints but as most military paints will be oil based you should be o.k. for awhile. Not to be used near children or where animals may access the liquid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01ec28 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I digress slightly , a few weeks ago - I was perusing as USA vehicle restoration web site. Somebody had made up a wooden trough and lined it with pond-liner (Visqueen DPC - should be OK) and then used the rust electrolysis cleaning method (with washing soda) on rusted but serviceable leaf springs. Hosed down - they came up as if they had been shot blasted and it cleaned out inter-leaf rust (negating dismantling of springs to blast) , this is something I intend to look into for springs - quick , cheap & effective. I understand this method also removes crud along with rust (obviously you remove the heavy crud first) . If anybody has had good result - I would like to hear of the finer details and also the transformer they used.. I've used this method before. I took a car battery and a battery charger for the power source. Worked great and didn't overheat anything. In my case I used a large angle iron for the other plate, just don't let the plates touch, a fuse may also be a good idea. I was cleaning smaller fist sized parts. Drew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rover8FFR Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 Caustic soda in a plastic tub with a scoop of washing powder and a squirt of washing up liquid will remove oil based paints from steel parts. Care has to be taken with alluminuim parts as the caustic soda will erode the alloy to nothing. Caustic soda does not work on two pack paints but as most military paints will be oil based you should be o.k. for awhile. Not to be used near children or where animals may access the liquid. I have used it as an acid bath paint stripper and cleaner on a few items and they came up quite well and the paint just fell off. Does anyone know what effect caustic soda solution has on rusty / siezed parts and rubber seals out of interest........?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rover8FFR Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 I digress slightly , a few weeks ago - I was perusing as USA vehicle restoration web site. Somebody had made up a wooden trough and lined it with pond-liner (Visqueen DPC - should be OK) and then used the rust electrolysis cleaning method (with washing soda) on rusted but serviceable leaf springs. Hosed down - they came up as if they had been shot blasted and it cleaned out inter-leaf rust (negating dismantling of springs to blast) , this is something I intend to look into for springs - quick , cheap & effective. I understand this method also removes crud along with rust (obviously you remove the heavy crud first) . If anybody has had good result - I would like to hear of the finer details and also the transformer they used.. Is a simple diagram available for this and are the plates rigged with seperate power supplies????? What does the charge do to the caustic soda and will it create harmful gasses etc?????? Idiots questions maybe???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pc1959 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 (edited) Is a simple diagram available for this and are the plates rigged with seperate power supplies????? What does the charge do to the caustic soda and will it create harmful gasses etc?????? Idiots questions maybe???? I have had a lot of success with electrolytic rust removal, unsiezes stuff really well. I got my info from here: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/rust.htm Just use an old battery charger, make sure to get the polarity right, stick a small 12v bulb in the circuit to limit current and bob will be your uncle! No harmfull gasses (but do it in the shed as it does give off Hydrogen and Oxygen) I have used Caustic Soda (NaOH, Sodium Hydroxide) but washing soda (Sodium carbonate, Na2CO3) from Tesco is as good and less nasty. The solution just needs more water adding if it gets low, only needs replacing if the tank gets full of cr*p. Caustic Soda will strip off the paint as well, not sure if washing soda does this. Edited February 24, 2012 by pc1959 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrettkitt Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I have used it as an acid bath paint stripper and cleaner on a few items and they came up quite well and the paint just fell off. Does anyone know what effect caustic soda solution has on rusty / siezed parts and rubber seals out of interest........?? Caustic soda removes paint from rubber without causing any damage. As far as I know it doesn't have any affect on siezed or rusty parts, it might reduce the build up of rust on the parts initially. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rover8FFR Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 That is a very useful link indeed and thank you very much.......... I will see about constructing such a bath and see what happens to the corroded parts........ Watch this space as they say............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels v Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 it is mentioned on the web page, just wanted to say it agian, electrolytic processes produce hydrogen gass or oxygen gass, so ventilate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rover8FFR Posted February 25, 2012 Author Share Posted February 25, 2012 it is mentioned on the web page, just wanted to say it agian, electrolytic processes produce hydrogen gass or oxygen gass, so ventilate Yes very important and thank you for reiterating should anyone have a go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vulture Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Old engine oil mixed 50/50 with parrafin makes and alt pen oil. Diesel can soak into most things,so can be used to free off some rusted together components. And I can say SU carbs come up a treat in the dishwasher ( this of course does run the risk of the 'what are these doing in here' type 'conversations' with the wife .........) Okay, that last sentence made me LOL, and is the sort of conversation held at this end :rotfl: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fv1609 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Okay, that last sentence made me LOL, and is the sort of conversation held at this end :rotfl: Well its the other way around here. I find bits from bridles & other horsey accoutrements in our dishwasher. :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nudge Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I won't even go into the 'conversation' that took place when she discovered me and my mate were using the oven to heat up some seized brake calipers off my old landy. :mad: And then there was the time the gas hob was used as a blowtorch .......... :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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