My dad's got the 5 gallon HF unit on his farm - I filled it with diesel 5 years ago and it's never been changed to my knowledge. Still works fine.
parts cleaner: what fluid to use? (1 Viewer)
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Well, a parts washer beats the h*ll out of the bucket. I've done it both ways and the parts washer wins, if not just for the fact you can stand in front of it.
You think cleaning the cleaner is a pain and not worth the effort?! Wait 'till you do a birf/knuckle job with a bucket. Please report back how many times the bucket tipped over or your floor was soaked with grease laden cleaner and you slipped and either busted your ass or threw whatever you were carrying in an effort to catch your balance.
I use Varsal in mine and drain it every so often (twice in 3.5 years) back into the 5 gallon pails it came in, clean the sludge from the cleaner and circulator filter while letting the solvent set for a couple days then pour it into the parts cleaner until i start to get to the sludge in that pail, then grab the other one and do the same thing. I can recycle 80-90% of the solvent (more if I wanted to go through the trouble of cheese cloth, which really isn't too much trouble.) So for about $70 I get 4 years of solvent. I'd say that's pretty good.
While you decide which way to go, why not heat up a bunch of water, mix it with purple stuff (so much worse on your skin than Varsal in my opinion, and it eats aluminum or simple green) then pour it into your cleaner for your birf job?
IMHO, no home mechanic/shop is complete without a parts cleaner.
Good luck.
You think cleaning the cleaner is a pain and not worth the effort?! Wait 'till you do a birf/knuckle job with a bucket. Please report back how many times the bucket tipped over or your floor was soaked with grease laden cleaner and you slipped and either busted your ass or threw whatever you were carrying in an effort to catch your balance.
I use Varsal in mine and drain it every so often (twice in 3.5 years) back into the 5 gallon pails it came in, clean the sludge from the cleaner and circulator filter while letting the solvent set for a couple days then pour it into the parts cleaner until i start to get to the sludge in that pail, then grab the other one and do the same thing. I can recycle 80-90% of the solvent (more if I wanted to go through the trouble of cheese cloth, which really isn't too much trouble.) So for about $70 I get 4 years of solvent. I'd say that's pretty good.
While you decide which way to go, why not heat up a bunch of water, mix it with purple stuff (so much worse on your skin than Varsal in my opinion, and it eats aluminum or simple green) then pour it into your cleaner for your birf job?
IMHO, no home mechanic/shop is complete without a parts cleaner.
Good luck.
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definitely got to agree there. my cleaner was a pain to clean the two times it did it. if i hadn't gotten a new one, iwould have to clean it again, but it has been sooooooo helpful with multiple birf jobs (done the 40 twice, did the 60 twice, did the 80, did a friends 60, did magoo, did the 45, did the pickle, did the 76, did the 65, did a front end that i sold, did a front end that i stripped and have the parts in the basement.....and that's just the crappy birf jobs in the last six years, i don't know how many trannys, transfer cases, misc other parts i've done).
I also have the HF unit. It is filled with mineral spirits and works fine. That sticker about water based cleaners seems to be a CYA tag for them.
If you have a local bulk fuel distributor in your town or nearby, check with them for the mineral spirits. I take a 5 gal can to local bulk dealer and buy it for about $4 a gal. Atwoods and Tractor supply have 5 gal cans for about $35.
If you have a local bulk fuel distributor in your town or nearby, check with them for the mineral spirits. I take a 5 gal can to local bulk dealer and buy it for about $4 a gal. Atwoods and Tractor supply have 5 gal cans for about $35.
Good tip! I've been trying to find cheap mineral spirits for awhile. Cheapest I could find was something like $50/5 gal bucket from paint suppliers. The junk in my Northern Tool unit has been in there for 7 years and needs changing.
$ is precisely why i just put 10 gallons of diesel in my tank last weekend
I didn't have to top off much until this year, I filled my tank for the first time in '03.
Granted, my washer only gets occasional use.
ntsqd
technerd
Thread caught my eye.
I've also got an HF unit. Pump is fubar'd, has been for a couple years. Too cheep to replace it. Am thinking my exclusive use of Super Clean might have kilt it's seals or something.
I tried an immersion heater in it. OH MY!! That really woke up the solvent and made it go to work. Problem was that the solvent also attacked the raw aluminum that the heater was made from.
:whoops:
One of those magnetic oil pan heaters stuck on the bottom would just the ticket!
Unit sits outside here on the Left Coast. Occasionally I have to add water due to evaporation. Only once have I added more Super Clean/Purple Cleaner stuff. It started out at 50/50, 5 gallons of each.
A trick that a former employer put me onto is to pour in a quart or so of ATF when using mineral spirits. It keeps your hands from drying out due to the mineral spirits.
I've also got an HF unit. Pump is fubar'd, has been for a couple years. Too cheep to replace it. Am thinking my exclusive use of Super Clean might have kilt it's seals or something.
I tried an immersion heater in it. OH MY!! That really woke up the solvent and made it go to work. Problem was that the solvent also attacked the raw aluminum that the heater was made from.
:whoops:One of those magnetic oil pan heaters stuck on the bottom would just the ticket!
Unit sits outside here on the Left Coast. Occasionally I have to add water due to evaporation. Only once have I added more Super Clean/Purple Cleaner stuff. It started out at 50/50, 5 gallons of each.
A trick that a former employer put me onto is to pour in a quart or so of ATF when using mineral spirits. It keeps your hands from drying out due to the mineral spirits.
Super Clean, AKA ZEP Heavy Duty Purple Swill (or something like that) is the shiznit. However, it cannot be in contact with pretty much anything but steel and some plastics for long. ZEP even had a recall because the stuff was eating the 5 gallon buckets it was packaged in. It eats the aluminum right off parts brushes, brass and plastic out of ball valves (tried to put one on the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket- lasted about 9 months), destroys rubber, eats paint, and absolutely annihilates grease and dirt. It rinses off parts very easily. I used to think it was difficult to rinse off my hands, but that wasn't the case. It actually melts the top layer of skin, making it feel slimy.
It's friggin' awesome. Mineral spirits makes for a nice rinse after using purple swill, to keep rust from forming instantly.
-Spike
It's friggin' awesome. Mineral spirits makes for a nice rinse after using purple swill, to keep rust from forming instantly.
-Spike
Never tried hydrocarbon, but I have been using water based degrease for my vintage bike restoration projects for years. I usually get the heavy duty one from the local Sam's club (about ~$6 IIRC). The trouble is that it doesn't work with alloy (seems to react with aluminum)...With alloy, I can only brush it and wash it off right away, even though there were a plenty of cases I accidentally leave black mark on the component. Of course, I don't need a lot for bike components, it might not be cost effective for larger car parts...
can't say how mineral spirits clean but diesel works great.
Dont have 1 but if i did I would try this mix. FJ40Template2
Used it as a dip and it is fantastic. Unsure how it would react/evaporate in a tank. Just a thought
Used it as a dip and it is fantastic. Unsure how it would react/evaporate in a tank. Just a thought
ntsqd
technerd
Sounds like it would work great, but the acetone would evaporate over short time period in an unsealed container.
OTOH, thanks for the gun cleaning solvent recipe!!!
OTOH, thanks for the gun cleaning solvent recipe!!!
Just found this thread, I use mineral spirits. Nuclearlemon passed her old HF parts washer on to me. I cleaned it up (yes it was dirty, dirty, dirty) but nothing a little elbow grease could not address. After cleaning I fixed the lid, slapped in a cheap HF pump, filled it with mineral spirits and it is still going strong
. Used it for my disc brake conversion and it is real nice to be able to stand up while washing the parts.
. Used it for my disc brake conversion and it is real nice to be able to stand up while washing the parts.
Diesel, kerosene and mineral spirits (paint thinner) are pretty similar. They are not particularly flamable and none of them will ignite with a match or direct flame because they don't have the vapor pressure necessary. They need a wick to heat the liquid to a volatile state and propagate a flame. If price is the issue, go with diesel; otherwise go with mineral spirits as it stinks less.
What about ignition from welding/grinding/plasma cutting sparks or splatter? If I infer correctly, the temperature of the ignition source does not matter, as mineral spirits/diesel/kerosene are not volatile enough on their own to sustain a flame?
I'm asking because my garage is small, and I often catch myself throwing sparks in the general direction of my mineral-spirits filled parts washer.
You would have to heat up the mineral spirits to a point where it had a significant vapor pressure to sustain a flame. I looked up the flash point on line and it is 105 F, which is higher than it is likely to encounter with a few sparks.
