I'm always looking for new cleaning tips, and I found this page to have some helpful ideas.
http://www.logwell.com/tech/servtips/cleaning.html

Does anyone have any particularly efficient cleaning strategies, other than 'use lots of paper towels and windex/simplegreen'?


Hmmm.... Does someone know where I could get a fair price on some 1,1,1 Trichloroethane?

Far as I know it hasn't been produced in decades. at least for civilian use.

I think the stuff is banned for other than commercial use.

Have not heard that word (Trichloroethane) used in a long time . I remember my Dad using that word. He believed it was one of the greatest cleaning products ever made and it probably was at the time. What was so bad about it?
Stan Ski

I have heard that it caused people to grow large metal ears and made their eyes dark, but I could be wrong.

Well i was conceived in 1946 so that could be it and i know for sure my Dad was still using that stuff. Thinking about it he called it Carbon Teck
Stan Ski

This won't answer where to get trichlor but you might find it interesting. We used this stuff for decades in our asphalt lab. Two different procedures for removing ALL the asphaltic cement from a sample taken from a road bed. First there was the centrifuge method. You put the sample along with about a quart of trichlor in a metal centrifuge and after soaking spun the liquid out - It might take a couple of tries, but you're left with clean aggregate. The second method was even better - You have this ring stand that you put the sample in a conical filter paper holder. At the bottom of the stand is a pan on a hot plate filled with trichlor. A Glass tube goes over the whole assembly with a 'condenser' lid on top. The condenser was basically a closed pot with and inlet and outlet to run cold water through. The trichlor would evaporate out of the pan, condense on the bottom of the upper lid, and drip down throught the sample and filter paper. After about an hour or so - clean sand and gravel. Probably a boring tale, but just shows the cleaning power of this stuff. And yes the EPA made us collect and dispose of the used trichlor! - Don

From "Environmental Forensics" Vol. 1, issue 2, 2000

Carbon tetrachloride (CTC), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE) and 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA) were four of the most widely used cleaning and degreasing solvents in the United States. Part 2 of this article describes the history of TCE and TCA. TCE production in the United States began in the early 1920s. TCE was used as a replacement for petroleum distillates in the dry-cleaning industry, and became the solvent of choice for vapor degreasing in the 1930s. TCE's use as a degreaser decreased in the 1960s due to toxicity concerns and the increasing popularity of TCA. Significant TCA use began in the 1950s with the development of suitable stabilizer formulations. In the 1990s, TCA was phased out under the Montreal Protocol due to its role in stratospheric ozone depletion.

When I worked for General Dynamics (now Lockheed) in the mid 60's we used to use MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) to clean parts with. We would soak cheesecloth in it to wipe the parts down with. All daylong. No gloves. No protection. MEK has been proven to be a serious carcinogen. We were never told of the danger. Late in the 60's they changed over to Tricloroethane. It didn't work as well as MEK. Some improvement, huh?
Randy James

At least the 1-1-1 trichloroethane wasn't as toxic. We used to have a large vapor degreaser for cleaning printed-circuit boards and other things. To the previous poster who wondered how they worked: somewhat like a freezer display cabinet in the grocery store. Refrigerated coils around the edge so the vapor would condense and run back down into the tank. The tank itself was heated. You did NOT put your hand into the tank or the hot vapor just above the surface where the cleaning took place.

When we got rid of that thing, I took the remaining 1-1-1 home and I still have a jug or two. I figure if it's all going back into the atmosphere anyway, I may as well have the use of it along the way.

Strangely, you can still buy MEK. They sell it at the lumber yard, round our way.

Edited to add: I've always thought that the best use for Everclear was as a degreaser!

Wasn't Whissh carbon tet? I remember using that stuff to clean controls. Had a unique smell.

I remember in the late 1950s as a Cub Scout, reading about bug collecting. You put a live specimen into a quart canning jar and added a cotton ball soaked with carbon tet.

There was another cleaner called Stoddard Solvent. Don't know a thing about it other than Mom used to buy it at the local Standard Drug store when she ran out.

I remember that 1,1,1-trichlor was my main cleaner when in the Navy in the first half of the 1970s. GC Spra-Kleen was the tuner cleaner of choice for our R-390s. Had a memorable (good) odor like WD-40 has today. Memorable, not the same odor.

Carbon tetrachloride was the berries in our shop for welding. Not only did we have several of the old glass bulb fire extinguishers full of the stuff hanging around (about a cup of carbon tet will snuff a raging inferno the size of a small bedroom in seconds, of course the byproduct is phosgene gas), but we also kept a gallon jug for the express purpose of gas tank drenching.

In the 60's and 70's, we used to weld up a lot of rusted out gas tanks from cars and trucks for those who were reluctant to spring for new ones (tanks were steel in those days, and the road salt ate them up with much gusto). Since it is a death wish to apply a torch or arc welder to an empty steel tank that EVER contained gasoline, no one else would touch the things. Our secret sauce for allowing us to weld the tanks with impunity was carbon tet. All one had to do, was pour some of the chemical into the tank, slosh it all around, and then pour it back into the jug for future use. At that point, you could take a blowtorch to the tank and it wouldn't even burp, much less explode.

Stoddard Solvent is a petroleum distillate slightly heavier than kerosene, and harder to ignite. The fuel they use in "Tiki Torches" is about the same, and you can use it the same way. It's a good grease solvent that won't attack most paints and finishes.

--arne

NEVER use Windex
It will take off lettering that you can't put back.

409 is safe and works well. You can cut it 50/50 with water to make cleaning easier and more economical.

We use to clean R390 VFOs with Trich, miss that stuff.

I've had good results using this degreaser. I wouldn't use it on plastic nor painted surfaces, but it is excellent for bare metal and penetrates mechanisms well.

http://www.zep.com/ZepSearch/default1.a ... &country=U

I believe Home Depot carries Zep products.

I think WD-40 has Stoddard solvent in it.

I seem to recall plastic model kits in the fifties that had a small tube of carbon tet used to weld the plastic together?

Just for the record, polychlorinated hydrocarbons like TCE and carbon tet are actually a lot more toxic than MEK, which is not known to be a carcinogen.

http://fscimage.fishersci.com/msds/95495.htm

So you can buy MEK, even here in chemically-sensitive California because it probably won't kill your liver cells the way TCE and carbon tet do. Methylene chloride, found in JASCO stripper, is somewhat nasty and hurts when you get it on your skin, but it's not nearly as toxic as carbon tet. And I wouldn't suggest imbibing Citristrip either even if it doesn't "feel" like JASCO.

BTW, someone here is suggesting something called "SuperClean" as a great chassis cleaner. I bought some and found that it contains sodium hydroxide (=lye) so I'm a little afraid to try it. Worried about the chassis, not me...