Cheap Solvent?

[Instigator]

Just got a replacement sovent tank today to replace the one I sold to move down here.
Now I need cheap solvent for it.
Was just going to go to the loac gas station and buy Keroscene like I always did up North.
One problem.

Ain't got K-1 in Fla :eek: Evidentily not much need for garge/shop heaters down here :rolleyes:

Anyone use diesel fuel?

Went to Home Depot to check mineral spirts.

$9. per gallon!

[Mr.Rude]

Diesel is a waste of time, too oily. I have mixed it with mineral spirits to dilute it, works OK. I prefer mineral spirits but I get it from local oil distributors at around $22/5 gal. You may not need that much, but the larger amount beats Home Depots price. I live in south Ga, and there are stations that sell Kerosene but are harder to find. You may need to try alot of places to find it, but if we have it here I'm sure you do there also. Just my 2 cents.

[Instigator]

Diesel is a waste of time, too oily. I have mixed it with mineral spirits to dilute it, works OK. I prefer mineral spirits but I get it from local oil distributors at around $22/5 gal. You may not need that much, but the larger amount beats Home Depots price. I live in south Ga, and there are stations that sell Kerosene but are harder to find. You may need to try alot of places to find it, but if we have it here I'm sure you do there also. Just my 2 cents.
Thanks!

Heard/thought that about diesel.

Agreed too. If you've got K-1 we probably due too.

Which do you like better K-1 or mineral spirits??

[Mr.Rude]

Mineral spirits leaves less residue, I guess its really a cost/availability issue. If you don't like the residue, after you have completely cleaned everything, wipe parts off with denatured alchohol on a rag.

[stealthperf]

They should have two types of mineral spirits. The one that is oderless is about $9.00 per gallon. The regular mineral spirits (paint thinner) is about half. It used to say 100 percent mineral spirits on the paint thinner bottle, but now it just says "paint thinner". That's what I use, hope this helps. Dave.

[Jay Smith]

I have 2 cleaners the first for hard to get off oily grime ( Paint Thinner ) and the second is a heated cleaner ( 110 degrees ) and I use an aluminum aircraft cleaner that came with the tank will make a motor shine like a diamond in a goats a$$. Before I ship a motor after I run it I use a syphon of acitone blown on with 150 PSI to remove ALL fingerprints and marks,then shrinkwrap the next human hands that touch it will then be the customer ....

Works for me....

FYI: The Paint Thinner I have been using must be changed often or it will get a turpintine ransid smell and it is HIGHLY flamable...

[BUZZIN' DOZEN]

Check phone book for local petroleum distributors and see it they have bulk parts washing solvent, (I think another name is stanasol)I don't remember how much I pay, but it's not bad. If you find some,(in bulk)make sure you ask about containers, I hauled down two 5gal. gas cans and they said gas cans for gas only! but they would be glad to sell a couple of empty 5gal. plastic pails to haul it home.
Jeff

[Jeff_G]

I have always used varsol, some call it coal oil, a great cleaner and not expensive. You can get it from many bulk oil suppliers (distributors) Look under petroleum dist. in the phone book.
There is nothing to say you can't put something other than gas in a gas can, but only can put gas in an approved container. See what they want you to put diesel fuel or Kero in!:D

[MattGreen]

You guys are all talking about basically the same thing.

Varsol (actually an EXXON brand name) = mineral spirits = paint thinner = aliphatic naphtha = "parts washer solvent" = Stoddard solvent = Indusol (the actual Shell brand name) = the list goes on.....

"Odourless" paint thinner is essentially the same solvent family as above, but with the majority of the aromatic ingredients (a structural family of compounds that are very "smelly") removed. Aromatics are powerful solvents but generally considerably more toxic than the other constituents. So odourless is safer to use.

And although all of these are flammable, they're not nearly as bad as gasoline. Acetone that Jay mentioned is waaayyy more flammable than Varsol etc.

And the suggestions to buy it from a bulk fuel/lubricants supplier is bang on. All of these are avaialble in 5 gal or 55 gal drums. Try your local commercial fuel distributor - Shell/ARCO/Conoco-Phillips/Chevron-Texaco/EXXON-Mobil, .....whatever.

Matt
industrial hygienist

[BUZZIN' DOZEN]

I still would call first, or just take some sort of neutral, plastic cont. because my local dist. said nooo way, on the gas cans.They even printed labels and gave me MSDS sheets.
Jeff

[H2OPERF]

I think thats my parts washer u picked up.:D Varsol is all we use at the hangar.

[Instigator]

Great info.
Dave, I took the old small one.
The big ones are huge and too big for my garage.

Was funny too there was a guy there at your brothers that was a fisherman.
He was bitching about a "club" of screw ball go fast guys that screwed up their fishing trip last weekend at River Ranch :D

[riverrunner114]

anyone used any of the water based degreasers? I bought a gallon of degreaser from harbor freight and that sh*t works great.. have not tried it in my parts washer yet but am gonna...I used it straght out of the bottle and it washes grease off like nothing I have ever used... put an old greasey bearing carrier in a little bucket of it and it came out like a new one in about 2 minutes... spotless...says to mix it with water up to 250:1 for household type cleaner... am gonna try it about 10:1 in my parts washer and see.. its only 9 bucks a gallon and is non flamable, which is the concern I have for the place I am using my tools now.. I have a limited amount of space and sometimes have to run my torch or grinder nearby

the only concern I have is the water rusting my drum out, but rust is better than fire, I guess..:)

[Riverratt]

anyone used any of the water based degreasers? I bought a gallon of degreaser from harbor freight and that sh*t works great.. have not tried it in my parts washer yet but am gonna...I used it straght out of the bottle and it washes grease off like nothing I have ever used... put an old greasey bearing carrier in a little bucket of it and it came out like a new one in about 2 minutes... spotless...says to mix it with water up to 250:1 for household type cleaner... am gonna try it about 10:1 in my parts washer and see.. its only 9 bucks a gallon and is non flamable, which is the concern I have for the place I am using my tools now.. I have a limited amount of space and sometimes have to run my torch or grinder nearby

the only concern I have is the water rusting my drum out, but rust is better than fire, I guess..:)
I bought a gallon of that for my parts washer and mixed it with about 6 gallons of water and it wasn't worth a damn diluted. I am thinking about using purple power next time.

[riverrunner114]

dam that sucks... was hopin.. but you usually get what you pay for..(or less:) )... I know that straight that stuff is great though... maybe try not diluteing it so much... hell even straight at 9 bucks a gallon is cheaper than alot of parts wash solvents... I had a guy stop by a couple of months ago, when gas was over 3 bucks a gallon.. and he left me a list and the cheapest stuff he even offered was over 20 bucks a gallon... and all flamable...and I am sure he had a severe mark up on it as opposed to buying it from the manufacter in bulk...but dam that would have cost me around 300 bucks.... screw that...but like I say that was his 'retail' pricing.. when I worked for Georgia Gulf at the Phenol plant we sold our acetone in bulk at 22 cents a pound, which is little over a buck a gallon and it was some of the purest acetone in the world..less than 200 ppm impurities.. the krap that you buy at the auto parts for 10 bucks a gallon is about 85% acetone

I am gonna take the gal of harbor friegt stuff I have and play with some dilutions and see what I can get out of it.. at least it won't explode on me when my grinder hits a screw and throws sparks at it... :eek:

[Forkin' Crazy]

FYI: Mineral spirts must be changed often or it will get a turpintine ransid smell and it is HIGHLY flamable...

That is a bunch of BS there. I have two parts cleaners, both with mineral sprits that are at least a year old. No rancid smell. :rolleyes: Acetone is more flammable than mineral sprits, plus it won't clean nearly as well.

I get a 30 gal plastic drum and take it to my local bulk fuel/oil store. 5 gal is a minimum here, so I usually get 15 gallons at a time. I do use elbow length black rubber gloves b/c it is pretty hard on your skin.

[riverrunner114]

That is a bunch of BS there. I have two parts cleaners, both with mineral sprits that are at least a year old. No rancid smell. :rolleyes: Acetone is more flammable than mineral sprits, plus it won't clean nearly as well.

I get a 30 gal plastic drum and take it to my local bulk fuel/oil store. 5 gal is a minimum here, so I usually get 15 gallons at a time. I do use elbow length black rubber gloves b/c it is pretty hard on your skin.

what ya payin a gallon FC?

[Jay Smith]

MY BAD I checked and have been using paint thinner , and it DOES go ransit with a funky smell no matter what anyone says VERY QUICKLY and THAT ain't BS.... My fluid is used SOOO much and gets dirty SOOO fast I use the most ecomical thing for the first run to cut the grimy grease as its dumped at least once a month and a clean load is added. I then use the heated aircraft fluid after the initial grime is cut....

[euro scott]

a lot of the larger speedway gas stations in florida have the k 1, its usally on the side and you have to look for it. of the 10 speedways near me about 3 of them have it

[BUZZIN' DOZEN]

:)
Just got a replacement sovent tank today to replace the one I sold to move down here.
Now I need cheap solvent for it.
Was just going to go to the loac gas station and buy Keroscene like I always did up North.
One problem.

Ain't got K-1 in Fla :eek: Evidentily not much need for garge/shop heaters down here :rolleyes:

Anyone use diesel fuel?

Went to Home Depot to check mineral spirts.

$9. per gallon!
You would think you asked what was the best outboard with all this feed back!:) :)
Jeff

[riverrunner114]

:)
You would think you asked what was the best outboard with all this feed back!:) :)
Jeff

Everyone here allready knows that Mercs are #1!:D

[Riverratt]

Everyone here allready knows that Mercs are #1!:D
are not

[BUZZIN' DOZEN]

I went black several years ago, but I still have a soft spot for my ole' Rudes!:)
Jeff

[Forkin' Crazy]

what ya payin a gallon FC?

Around $5/gallon. Right now it's $4.83. :) 5 gallon minimum. ;)

Jay, if you used paint thinner, no wonder it didn't hold up well. If your cleaner gets dirty quickly, then you might check with Zep. They make a vat with a filter in it. I use to put a few gallons of water in mine..... after a day it would settle and all the heavy stuff would sink to the bottom. Just make sure the pick up is above the water level. :rolleyes:

I use to have some kind of clay or rock filter that was about the same dimensions as a beer mug. You put the outlet in the top of the filter, and just let it run for a few hours... you could make it last a bit longer doing that. I have no idea where you can get that type of filter though... or where mine went. ;)

[GTO GEORGE]

Here in SW Houston, I go to the Safety-Klean office, in Stafford, and they GIVE me 20-25 gallons in my 33 gal drum that is the reservoir for my parts cleaner. They re-cycle it, so I guess that's why i don't get charged. Their charges are for the delivery to shops, etc and servicing the washers; they don't have a "way" for billing walk-up customers like me and they don't have to involve epa, etc. for the trouble I put them thru. Since it's for my own use and I only need to do it every couple o'years, it's real easy and the solvent is great. I just go to their dock in the back and they empty my drum and re-fill it.

[riverrunner114]

Here in SW Houston, I go to the Safety-Klean office, in Stafford, and they GIVE me 20-25 gallons in my 33 gal drum that is the reservoir for my parts cleaner. They re-cycle it, so I guess that's why i don't get charged. Their charges are for the delivery to shops, etc and servicing the washers; they don't have a "way" for billing walk-up customers like me and they don't have to involve epa, etc. for the trouble I put them thru. Since it's for my own use and I only need to do it every couple o'years, it's real easy and the solvent is great. I just go to their dock in the back and they empty my drum and re-fill it.

Now thats the kinda price I was lookin for... where abouts in stafford is the place at? You gotta talk to a particular individual...? Thanks George, John

[Instigator]

are not
Was told to use a large truck air (maybe he said oil?) filter and lay it in bottom of can so your drains runs through it.
He had a larger one there that had a still in the bottom of it that cooked the solvent which seperated out the sludge which out in a tray in the bottom.
Said you never change solvent. Just top off whats' there.
Start the heater at night and next morning solvent is crystal clear!
Too big and heavy for me though.

I have also tried the water based solvent and it was wortless!

[j_martin]

The cleaners that distill the solvent are called vapor degreasers. They use a heavy solvent, like perchlorethylene, or trichlorethylene, and put up a cloud of vapor that is held in the container by a chilled water line just under the rim, which condenses the vapor back into a liquid. Excess vapor is drawn into a tank on the side and chilled into clean liquid solvent for wash down. Most of the cleaning occurs when you put the cold metal parts into the vapor cloud, and the vapor goes under the dirt and condenses into liquid on the parts and lifts off the grease. You then rinse off the dirt with the clean solvent in the side tank.

The solvent is messy and dangerous, as in able to make you permanently asleep. If it gets in contact with red hot metal, it'll form phosgene, which can seriously kill you. If you get a little water in the condensate, and spray it on a part, it'll have enough hydrochloric acid in it to instantly rust out and destroy anything precise.

Other than that, it's great. If you have a gazillion pounds of greasy parts to clean in a rebuilding plant, it's sometimes even worth the risk
.

[MattGreen]

J martin - I totally agree with you. Those damn things should have been adandoned in the 60's. They're even better when somebody puts 2 or 3 of them in one poorly ventilated room...
Enclosed automated vapour degreasers work pretty good though.

Matt

[LakeRacer99]

Well, I have been running the HF water based cleaner in my washer for about a year now. I use it in my basement garage (same room as the furnace and HWH) so I needed a non flammable solvent. I priced some stuff from Zep and it was big $$$$$$$$$$ for this po guy.
I bought some cleaner from tractor supply, but was curious about it, so I called the co and asked for an MSDS sheet and it was 100% Naptha, so I got my money back. I bought the waterbased stuff from HF, I didn't dillute it very much, I think I just splashed some water in it and called it good. It has been working just fine for me. however, I have noticed some things and don't know if it is the parts washer quality or my water based cleaner (or both). The metal springloaded hinge thing on the lid is now rusting and the paint on the washer is very faded and I expect it to peel/rust soon.
Any of you water based cleaner guys experience this? I guess it makes since.

[Jay Smith]

As I said I use a water based product that is heated to 110 degrees and came with my parts cleaner thats sold to clean aircraft aluminum parts and its in my assembly room thats carpeted, heppa filtered, and air conditioned so it has to be user friendly and have very little to no odor or chemical smells, on the other hand in the open shop areas and North bays ( at least 50 ft from where welding, machining and grinding is done and is VERY open and well ventilated, over 2500 sq. ft.) I use the more aggressive solvents ( paint thinners and Acetone ) that has worked for me , might try the mineral spirts the next change out and see how well it cleans, the cleaning ability is my primary purpose of choice of a first run cleaner its gotta work and work quickly and completely me being a one man band and the work load I'm confronted with I ain't got time to rub on things for hours to get em clean...Just be cautious of the effects of some of these things on skin now and down the road and the danger of being VERY flamable...

Use what works for you !

Happy Holidays,

[stealthperf]

I do the same kind of set up in my shop. Paint thinner in the solvent tank in the machining room and in the assembly room I have a Cuda Cleaning System. It heats the water to 160 to 180 degrees and has a rotating basket to put parts in. When you turn it on an arm rotates the basket and it has 8 high pressure injectors that spray the parts. The soap that is made for this unit has a rust inhibiter, so the parts wont rust after there washed. This is a big time saver, but it's pretty expesive for a home shop or a do it yourselfer. I got one because I used to spend way too much time at the solvent tank scrubbing and washing parts. Now I "get the big chunks off" in the solvent tank and then just throw the parts in the Cuda and in about 15 min. blow them off with air and they're pretty much ready to assemble. You must where gloves until the parts cool!! This way I can spend more of my day assembling or porting instead of cleaning = more $!

[Instigator]

no doubt the seceret to using water based is to heat it.

I used to sell chemicals so got some at cost as an experiment.
Non heated it is worthless!

Have used the heated/rotating cabinets and they are the berries!

[Forkin' Crazy]

If I am working on something with a build up of kaka, I use a high pressure washer, 3600psi, to literally blow it off. If that is not enough, I go to my friends shop and use his hot water pressure washer. Heat is definitely an asset. You do have to tie down small parts. ;)

[Jay Smith]

Yep Forkin,
I use a 3900 lbs Honda pressure washer and hook it up to the shop hot water system works great cleaning blocks, front halves and things to big to go in the vats...

[Instigator]

thanks for the tip on the Speedways EuroScott but none within 100 mls of me according to their website!!

Guess I go find a distributor.

[Instigator]

If I am working on something with a build up of kaka, I use a high pressure washer, 3600psi, to literally blow it off. If that is not enough, I go to my friends shop and use his hot water pressure washer. Heat is definitely an asset. You do have to tie down small parts. ;)
local car wash is for ;)

[Rodney Nance]

If you have a drain and a water supply in your shop go and get a old commercial dish washer. You load all that greasy stuff in it add the soap and it comes out squeaky clean. The heat cycle dries parts so they don't rust.

[Jay Smith]

GREAT IDEA HEAD ! All that bong resin over the years in those smokey motel rooms at the races with the Brickner Bros didn't effected you like I thought !

Happy Holidays Rodney and get busy coating my pistons.....

[Rodney Nance]

It's not a idea it's how I do it. I used to swim in acetone until I figured out a better way. When I was racing against/with the Brickners they both worked for the goverment. They never had to pee in the cup but me with my CDL license had to all the time. It was a good thing that beer didn't show up! Merry Christmas and the pistons are on the way.

[Forkin' Crazy]

local car wash is for ;)

I guess it depends on how bad it is. Hot water.... 200 degrees and 2500psi will cut through some thick nasty shxt. My 911 motor w/ 100K on it had some nasty build up. Looks like new now except I have to do a bit of repainting where it blew it off. The mid I've been working on just needs a sand and paint now. :cool:

[Instigator]

If you have a drain and a water supply in your shop go and get a old commercial dish washer. You load all that greasy stuff in it add the soap and it comes out squeaky clean. The heat cycle dries parts so they don't rust.

almost as good as an old oven to bake sleeves out of blocks :)

[BUZZIN' DOZEN]

I'm sure you have this handled by now, but I bought 5 gals.of stanasol today, pre packaged, $32.11 from local petro dist.
Jeff

[tinker060]

Rodney, If you bought a dish washer to use in the shop, why did we find pistons in Essie's dishwasher, upstairs in the kitchen ???????????????? Probably for the same reason that biscuits coming out of my oven taste like gun powder.....

One day my neighbor from up the street stopped by for a beer and he likes a glass, I thought the beer mugs were in the dishwasher and opened it up and low and behold it was full of pistons and a couple of heads. John has never asked for a glass again. Ah, the smell of two stoke oil in the morning.

A good home made cleaner is to take an old SS water filled fire bottle, put in a good dose of your favorite dishwasher liquid, boiling water and pump the thing up to about 150 PSI and let her rip. It is great for getting all that crud out from behind the port runners. It's also portable, like for use in the shower or out back of the shop. I keep one pumped up in the shop for it's original purpose as it lays down a whole lot of foam.

Jon Wright

[Instigator]

Buzzin, yep but good info just the same. Spent days trying to find K-1 down here in Fla. Couldn't find it in any gas stations within 100 miles of my house.
Ended up at an Industrial Supply Shop and paying $3.50 a gallon for it!!

Jon, you guys R funny :D
Your stories remind me of one of my apartmets I had while racing kneel downs. Had plywood on floor of dining area (protecting carpet) which was my shop :cool: Was right at front door too.
So first sight when coming to my pad was a room full of 20H's, KG4's, Yamatos, a hydraulic press (freagin pressed in cranks!), toll boxs etc.

Didn't start using ovens (in rentals) for sleeves until just recently :eek:

Gary

[service860]

Yea I bet a tombstone pizza after an oven sleeve job on a V6 is tasty!

[Bruster]

I have been using Super Clean, get it at Wal Mart for ~$7/gallon. Spray it on let it sit a few minutes and spray it off with water. I have a .25 spray car wash a few blocks away and usually I'll take what ever I want to clean that is a little bigger like a lower unit, spray it down good let it sit for a few minutes and spray it off. Ready to eat off.

[powerabout]

anyone using an ultrasonic one?

[Ronny Jetmore]

This is an interesting thread. I do minimal cleaning of parts compared to those of you that are professionals, so forgive what might be a silly question but, if you use water based or water borne cleaners, don't you then have to immediately lubricate the items to keep surface rust from appearing? And using a dishwasher, even though it dries the items, doesn't the humidity cause the same problem? Again, might be a silly question. thanks ronny jetmore