A little while ago I invested in an ultrasonic cleaner for my shop. This thing has been nothing short of a miracle worker for a lot of the smaller, more intricate stuff I've wanted to clean. Today I got the best example of how well it cleans. while I'm going to be ordering a whole new set of lock tumblers once I get my tax return, my current ones are in bad shape, and have me fearing that they'll break the key when I try to turn them (save for my ignition tumbler, which has always operated fine, though is very loose with age and heavy use). These last few days I've had to use a heat gun to thaw them enough and soften up the built up oil and grease (don't ask. I don't know how they got grease in them. Probably from when my father owned my 62. He's an idiot) to get them to turn. Made me late for work a couple times. This weekend I decided to do an experiment with the critical one; my driver's door tumbler. There was so much nasty gunk built up around it, plus being cold and with numb fingers, that it took a good amount of finagling to get it off the door. Under normal circumstances, it should be very easy. I got it off, got the gasket off without damaging it, and filled my cleaner with about a 10:1 ratio of distilled water and Simple Green concentrate. Don't have to be exact. I eyeballed it. Set the temp to 70* C, and a 30 minute cleaning cycle. The buildup was so thick that I ran two 30-minute cycles. After the second cycle (wish I had gotten a pic) the solution was very dark and murky from cleaning the tumbler. I dumped the solution, wiped the cleaner out and filled it with straight distilled water. I then ran a 15-minute cycle still at 70* C to rinse all the Simple Green residue out of the tumbler. Let it dry in the oven at 250* F for a while to make sure everything was good and dry, then worked some powdered graphite lubricant into it while holding it in some channel locks and turning the key back and forth in it. Reinstalled it and it works smoother than I ever remember it working. The key still fits very loose, but now I know it'll last and work well until my new set is ordered and delivered. I'll be doing the same with my other tumblers as well. If you don't already have an ultrasonic cleaner, invest in one! These thing are amazing.
