Gunk Removal

[Ernie Kuhn]

My G3 chuck from E-Bay just showed up in the mail yesterday. Great price, no sales tax and no shipping charges! Now, its coated with heavy oil, not quite cosmoline. What do I use to get it off? Thought of gasoline (out doors of course) but that doesn't really appeal to me. Suggestions?
Thanks in advance
Ernie

[alex carey]

IPA or acetone? Not really sure though.

[Brian Brown]

Without knowing what is on it it is hard to say, but you might try mineral spirits, or denatured alcohol. Don't soak it, or you might wash out the lubricants that are suposed to be there.

[mickey cassiba]

I assemble and test shop tools that my company offers for sale in our showrooms, and they arrive with the machined surfaces coated with brown greasy rust preventative as well, might be the same stuff. I use naphtha based cigarette lighter fluid, followed immediately with a coat of paste wax and a quick buff with a ROS with a rag bonnet. Gets the goo off and makes them nice and shiny. Easy for the sales staff to keep clean too. Our customers seem to have the need to touch everything. I also have had some luck with the citrus based cleaners but they tended to discolor the cast iron parts.
Mickey

[curtis rosche]

my grizzly chuck came the same way. simply put it on your lathe, step out of the firing line, and turn it on. it will all come off.

[ROY DICK]

Mineral sprits.

Roy

[Steve Schlumpf]

Another vote for mineral spirits!

[Jeff Nicol]

Ernie, On some things like this with lots of nooks and cranny's I will use some spray brake cleaner. It degreases and drys fast. Also any of the solvents for thinning paint,varnish, lacquer etc work well. Dunk it or cover it then take it outside and take the air hose and blow all the gunk off. Eye and hand protection is a must, but we all know that, right?

Have fun and stay safe,

Jeff

[Alan Trout]

Mineral spirits or naptha will work just fine. However when ran it will still sling you a bunch of crud.

Good Luck

Alan

[Mike Minto]

wd-40 in a well vented area should work fine, and it's a lubricant, too. mike

[Michael Mills]

I would suggest "purple stuff" but per Mickey it may discolor some metal as I think it is citrus based. Also, if you get oil or grease on your clothes, just a good squirt on wash day when it goes in and when it come out it is gone.
If you use the suggestion from Curtis, tape a paper towel around it before you turn the lathe on.
Mike

[Ernie Kuhn]

Guys,
Thank you all so much. Being basically lazy, think I'll try Curtis' suggestion and Mike's to wrap in paper towel. If that doesn't work, outside WD-40 and blast with air hose.
Again, really appreciate all of the suggestions, knew I was in the right place.
Ernie

[Scott Conners]

Sometimes I've had the stuff bake onto the peice a bit, and be tough to get off. In that case, Goo-Gone (a naptha based solvent) on 0000 steel wool works really well. I've also used white (non-abrasive) scotch pads this way, on nicer surfaces.

[Denny Rice]

Grizzly also sells a really good heavy oil and grease remover and it smells like oranges! It comes in a spray can and works great. When I bought my planner I bought a can, it worked so well that when I bought my new jointer I bought two more cans just to keep on hand.

[Ryan Baker]

Is this a new G3 in Teknatool's packaging, or is the oil the result of a previous owner?

Teknatool always ships their stuff in a stupid amount of heavy oil. It's annoying, but it's not like cosmoline. You can wipe it off quite well just with a rag. A little mineral spirtis, degreaser, or orange hand cleaner will deal with it too. I wouldn't soak it, since getting all the grease out of the guts isn't going to do it any good. Mineral spirits or kerosene work well on cosmoline too.

Which reminds me that I have a SN2 waiting for me to unwrap and remove the oil ...