Degreaser/cleaner?

Dan Daniel

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Well, I knew it was only a matter of time. My favorite cleaner/degreaser, naphtha, is now banned for sale in my area. I'm buying up what I can but some day I will use it up.

So it's time to start exploring new cleaner and degreaser materials. Meaning for shutter, camera mechanisms, helicals, etc.

Any suggestions for materials, any advise on limits, etc. appreciated.

And any idea of what I bought today? : Klean Strip Painter's Solvent- replaces MEK, toluene, xylene, turpentine and VM&P naphtha. Yowza, quite a mess of solvents to claim replacement of. the label says that it contains acetone, methyl acetate, and mineral spirits. that last one, mineral spirits, bothers me as I have not had good luck with it for anything other than house paints. And acetone strips paint and melts plastics (put some in a 2 ounce polycarbontate bottle for testing and it melted out the bottom).

Here's the SDS if anyone is good at sussing out interesting ways to fry a liver or such-

 
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reddesert

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It probably depends on the use. I use electronic contact cleaner to clean shutters. It's usually made of very light hydrocarbons (pentanes, hexanes, etc) that evaporate quickly. For something like cleaning up grease in a helical, you might want something more liquidy, or maybe not.

There's the lighter fluid that people recommend (Ronsonol). I suspect that it is made of light petroleum distillates similar to naphtha, but I don't know either product well enough to compare. My guess is that it will remain available, because the reasons for banning the use of naphtha and other VOCs have to do with the large volumes of the stuff used in its industrial / construction uses, like paint stripping; the amount that goes into Zippo lighters must be tiny by comparison.

As you find with the acetone example, just because the substitute is good for paint stripping doesn't mean it will be suitable for working on cameras.
 

4season

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To think that in my middle school chemistry class, we routinely handled benzine and carbon tetrachloride (surely those would have made swell camera cleaners!). And for a time, the Estes model rocket people offered liquid-fueled rockets powered by R12 refrigerant.

For stuff that can be immersed in water (focus helicoids in particular), I've been thinking maybe I should take a cue from the automotive guys and switch to citrus + water degreasers.
 

Craig

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Brake cleaner is basically naptha if you get the non-chlorinated version. The CRC brand is very good, you should be able to get it at any autoparts store or industrial supplier. There are a number of different varieties and you have to look at the SDS to see the contents. Some are a majority naptha, and some are methanol and another is acetone.

Interestingly, the Canadian market and US market products are different.

CRC Brakleen Brake Parts Cleaner - Non-Chlorinated

[1003704-config]. Now Even Stronger - As the market leader in brake parts cleaning technology, CRC Industries is continuously innovating to provide products with a competitive edge that work better and faster to make our end-users’ jobs easier. To that end, we are excited to introduce the latest...
www.crcindustries.com
 
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250swb

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White Spirit (brush cleaner, enamel paint thinner) is a good substitute for naphtha for dissolving dried grease and other gunk, and it dries off quickly using compressed air. Another option for a component safe solvent is denatured alcohol aka Methylated Spirit, again it dries off very fast. And finally WD-40, it isn't a lubricant (like GT85) so is safe for cleaning. But I don't think there is any one thing that works best, anybody doing repairs and servicing will need a few options in their armoury.
 

Kino

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Visit your local nail salon and chat with them. They are one of the most extensive repositories of dangerous solvents and chemcials known to humanity...
 
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Dan Daniel

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Kino said:
Visit your local nail salon and chat with them. They are one of the most extensive repositories of dangerous solvents and chemcials known to humanity...
Click to expand...
Ack. Can barely stand to walk past a nail salon, the smells can be so bad! Hard to imagine using some of those in my home.
 

Sirius Glass

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All of these chemicals mentioned evaporate quickly into the air and in concentrations cause breathing problems, therefore use with good ventilation.
 

4season

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I got a recommendation for using CRC Lectra Clean for dealing with Agfa's infamous green grease, and after letting parts soak in the stuff for a number of days, it worked, though barely. The old lubricant didn't seem to dissolve so much as break up into flakes and granules. Painted surfaces didn't seem to suffer from the exposure. But I think I ought to reserve it for special situations where nothing else seems to work.
 

Patrick Robert James

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I use Simple Green usually. Works great. Dilute it for the ultrasonic cleaner. Then rinse with 91% Isopropyl Alcohol. Or just use the Simple Green or alcohol on a Qtip if it is something small. Sometimes Simple Green or Purple Power can discolor aluminum. Can't remember which, but in that case I'll use alcohol or naptha. If aluminum is going in the ultrasonic cleaner, I'll use Dawn. That works pretty good too.

If you don't have an ultrasonic cleaner and you are cleaning helicals you don't know what you are missing...
 

4season

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Patrick Robert James said:
If you don't have an ultrasonic cleaner and you are cleaning helicals you don't know what you are missing...
Click to expand...
I regret giving away my Heathkit ultrasonic cleaner a number of years ago, but who knew I'd be fixing old cameras in the future.
 
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Dan Daniel

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Thanks for all the suggestions. Picked up another can of naphtha today so I have time to do some experimenting and find techniques that work. I think that it is going to be a mix, sometimes based on the metals.
 

ic-racer

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Currently I have Naptha, Denatured Alcohol, Mineral Spirits, Lacquer Thinner, Acetone, 409, Windex, Aircraft Paint Remover and the above mentioned CRC spray.

If I had to break it down to the essentials it would be Denatured Alcohol, 409 and soap and water.
 
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