The most harsh, brutal, and effective degreaser?
Just thinking... a thread on the ask the experts forum made me think. If you were to name the one most powerful degreaser, to just melt off even the thickest grease, what would it be? I've tried Kerosene, gasoline, chlorinated brake cleaner, Hoppes, Purple Power, lighter fluid, boiling water, and acetone. Of those, the acetone seemed to be the most powerful, but I mean stuff that not only softens the grease but instantly dissolves it. Carbon tet? Not that I have anything to degrease, just curious.
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MEK?
(Methyl Ethyl Ketone)0 -
Trichlorethelene 0 -
quote:Originally posted by surbat6
MEK?
(Methyl Ethyl Ketone)
Good stuff. I was a forman for a Painting contractor, we had 50 gallons of that stuff. Awww man the buzz you could get off of that was crazy, turned your hands all kinds a white too.0 -
Look for a caustic soap that contains Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) as it's active ingreadent. Heat the liquid to about 150-175^F and dip the parts in. This is your basic "hot tank" engine degreaser.
Don't dip aluminum in this solution, it wil disolve it, also not recogmended for wood parts as it may proove impossible to get all the NaOH out of the wood.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Tailgunner1954
Look for a caustic soap that contains Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) as it's active ingreadent. Heat the liquid to about 150-175^F and dip the parts in. This is your basic "hot tank" engine degreaser.
Don't dip aluminum in this solution, it wil disolve it, also not recogmended for wood parts as it may proove impossible to get all the NaOH out of the wood.
Also known to us old(er) fellers as LYE [;)]
Allen0 -
Liquid freon would instantly disolve road tar when you sprayed it on you car.
I wonder what ever happened to that stuff?
Oh, I remember now. Some do-gooder made the USA stop using it. Costing the American household billions of dollars over the past several years.0 -
quote:Originally posted by bpost1958
Liquid freon would instantly disolve road tar when you sprayed it on you car.
I wonder what ever happened to that stuff?
Oh, I remember now. Some do-gooder made the USA stop using it. Costing the American household billions of dollars over the past several years.
But saved the ozone-layer in the process...
As well as saved the rest of the world... yes.0 -
Happy, we don't care what happens to the rest of the world as long as America is safe for big truck, catfish and super bowl. We only closed the hole in the ozone so the Mexicans couldn't get in. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by cubslover
quote:Originally posted by surbat6
MEK?
(Methyl Ethyl Ketone)
Good stuff. I was a forman for a Painting contractor, we had 50 gallons of that stuff. Awww man the buzz you could get off of that was crazy, turned your hands all kinds a white too.
Can't find the link right now, but these's a site that tells of the
harmful effects many of these can have, even if absorbed through the
skin. Acetylene is one of them.0 -
What do you mean by thick grease?
Gun grease, car & truck grease, crude oil grease etc..
We deal with the nastist grease there is!!!!
Old grease off fryers, grills, charbroilers etc, some of its 4-5inches thick and has turned into a carmel state.
There is not a product on the market, including Triclor3 that will touch this crap!!
We use a pressure steamer pumping out around 300psi with a natural gas booster heater that raises the water temprature to around 200f @ 180gpm. Yep its a biggie.
All is does is melt the old grease, in major sized clumps.
But it still wont get rid of all of it.
After pressure steaming, we go back with razor scarpers and acetone.
We dont do many, as we charge $72 a hour per person to clean them.
The last filthy single fryer cleaning, cost the customer 16 hrs of labor.
Thats what he wanted until he got the bill of $1,152.
He could have bought a new one for $1350.
For my personal use I like Castrol Super Clean, you gotta be careful with cause its caustic. IMHO its good stuff.
But it wont touch carmelized grease.
Sure like Triclor3, but I belive that the EPA have banned that as well as MEK for the public and cleaning use.
For cleaning off cosmoline I prefer a dishwasher, the going back with lacquer thinner for the final grease removal.
Then final cleaning with good old Hoppes #9.0 -
....Ether (starting fluid). Cheap and on every gas station shelf. Not as good as MEK or hot lye, but for small stuff, like bolt innerds, it's pretty good. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by spryor
quote:Originally posted by cubslover
quote:Originally posted by surbat6
MEK?
(Methyl Ethyl Ketone)
Good stuff. I was a forman for a Painting contractor, we had 50 gallons of that stuff. Awww man the buzz you could get off of that was crazy, turned your hands all kinds a white too.
Can't find the link right now, but these's a site that tells of the
harmful effects many of these can have, even if absorbed through the
skin. Acetylene is one of them.
I don't care....hell, something has to kill you. Cancer, heart diease, hit by a truck, or blown all to hell by Islamic-whackballs. Absorbing stuff through the skin may help ward off some other bad stuff.0 -
You can't get the GOOD stuff any more- went the same direction as freon. Ether works well- flammable as hell. Oakite Rust Stripper M is used to degrease engine blocks- dissolves in HOT water, and basically you boil the block. Mainly sodium hydroxide (lye or casutic soda) and some surfactants (soap) I have a small amount of trichlor that I hoard, and use for final degrease before bluing. When its gone, its gone. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by surbat6
MEK?
(Methyl Ethyl Ketone)
Isn't that the active ingredient in brake cleaner?0 -
quote:Originally posted by surbat6
MEK?
(Methyl Ethyl Ketone)
That was my first guess. Methethelbadstuff would be my second choice.0 -
quote:Originally posted by tapwater
....Ether (starting fluid). Cheap and on every gas station shelf. Not as good as MEK or hot lye, but for small stuff, like bolt innerds, it's pretty good.
This was my second guess. MEK melts ink.0 -
quote:Originally posted by select-fire
Trichlorethelene
+1
I used and use all the major cleaning solvents and Trich is the best by far.
Been heavily regulated if not outright banned though.
MEK and also MPK are great degreasers.
Good old gasoline still works great also.0 -
Flesh from bone? Liquid drano.
Just trust me on this one.0 -
Phosphorus Oxychloride. MEAN, Mean stuff. If it hits you for a second, it'll look like someone took a scoop of meat out of you. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by select-fire
Trichlorethelene
Yep, Used to run that stuff in our vapor degreaser. Also, if it hasn't been said, that stuff will shut down your kidneys and liver real quick if not handled correctly.0 -
Don't kill yourself to clean a few guns quicker. I've used dish detergent and hot water successfully on many guns after manually removing as much grease as possible. 0 -
Spray carburator cleaner is what I use on cruddy guns.I have heard but not seen of a system that blast dry ice and is susposed to clean most anything without damage. 0 -
Stinky old diesel fuel works pretty well cutting grease. 0 -
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Anything that you tried....and add HEAT!
At the machine shop I used to work at while attending college, the mid sized hot tank would remove anything - but heat was the key.
Hot tank was large enough to clean a semi truck sized 6 cylinder cat engine block.0 -
Diesel fuel, followed by simple green, and finished off with brake cleaner. 0 -
sulphuric acid
caustic soda
benzene
toluene (good octane booster....1 gal to 10 gal gas
acetone (one of my favorites) also known as carb cleaner and finger nail polish remover
Tetramer (got it in my parts washer)
BTX mix (good octane booster)0 -
I use brake kleen it's cheap and very effective. Not harmfull to you or the environment, plus it available almost anywhere including most/all auto stores.[:p] 0 -
quote:Originally posted by LaidbackDan
That was my thought. As a boy, we used to throw the cast iron into a fire to burn off the years of grease that had baked on. The iron came from the coals looking brand new and unseasoned. It never failed.0 -
Boiling lye solution will not only degrease but it will derust. 0
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