# parts cleaning made easy



## 37fleetwood (Mar 22, 2012)

HI,
I thought I would share my cleaning technique with everyone.
here is the list of supplies you will need. sizes and quantities will vary depending on what you are working on.

first you will need a container big enough to hold the part or parts to be cleaned. in this example I used two small butter bowls.

next the refill bottle of "LA's Totally Awesome Orange All Purpose Degreaser & Spot Remover" if you are doing small parts one bottle will last you a while, if bigger you may need several bottles. I got this bottle at my local "Dollar Tree" but I've seen it elsewhere. it's super cheap @ $1.00 a bottle.

next a bottle of Vinegar. I have seen others talk about using "White" vinegar but I imagine any would work. I also picked this up at the "Dollar Tree" but you can find it anywhere. again cheap, get as much as you need depending on your container size.

next a set or two of assorted wire brushes. make sure you get a brass brush in the bunch. again a dollar store item or I got mine at Harbor Freight.

Finally parts to clean! you might try on something not so important first to get the feel for how this stuff works.

the degreaser will remove any and all grease dirt and paint(yes I said paint!).
the vinegar will remove any rust the degreaser leaves behind.

now, on to the process!
first find a place to work that if you spill it won't hurt anything. your Oak dining table might not be a good idea. I was cleaning small parts so I used my glass stove top.

next put your parts into the container and pour in the degreaser. cover the parts with it. close the container and wait. I find anywhere from 10 to 24 hours works well without hurting anything. you can check to see how your parts are doing every so often.
!!DO NOT PUT ANY PAINTED PARTS WITH PAINT YOU NEED TO SAVE IN DEGREASER IT WILL BE REMOVED!!

after sitting for a while pull out your parts and do a light scrub with the brushes to see where you are. if completely clean move to the next stage, if not put them back in the degreaser and wait some more. sorry it depends on what you are cleaning and how bad it is.

after everything is clean rinse with water and dry with a towel.

once clean decide what if anything needs to go into the vinegar. the vinegar will mainly loosen rust. in the example I only had one piece that still had some rust on it so only it went into the vinegar.
!!DO NOT LEAVE ANYTHING CHROMED OR PLATED IN THE VINEGAR MORE THAN 20-30 MINUTES!!
it will damage the chrome and eat away zinc or cad plating if left too long!

after the vinegar bath use the wire brush to scrub off the loosened rust. I scrub then dip in vinegar and scrub again until clean. you can also use steel wool on non chromed or plated parts.
it you can't get all the rust off put parts back in the vinegar and let sit another 20-30 minutes and repeat the process. again be careful with plated or chromed parts.

after everything is cleaned rinse with water and dry. if the part is a bare metal part coat it with a light oil to keep it from rusting. something like WD-40 should work fine. painted parts should be primed asap.

and that's it. here are the photos I took as I went through the process.


first this is the degreaser I used





this is the vinegar




this is the bowl of degreaser, as you can see I've used it quite a bit. I just snap the lid back on and set it on the shelf for the next time.




these are the parts to be cleaned, a crusty prewar Schwinn headset




no kidding this is what the bearing cups looked after several hours in the degreaser. this is before any cleaning, just pulled them out




as you can see the bearing retainer still has some paint but it's all loose, and there is a bit of rust




here's the whole thing as it came out of the degreaser




after a few minutes of scrubbing with the brass brush and a rinse in the sink




the bearing cups really surprised me! the green is from the fluorescent light on the stove




after letting the one rusty piece set in the vinegar, I was all done. here it is, let me know what you think.


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## jd56 (Mar 22, 2012)

Thanks Scott, I'll try this stuff. But, not on the wifes stove....lol


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## Nickinator (Mar 22, 2012)

Thanks for the info fleetwood.

Nick


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## cyclingday (Mar 22, 2012)

Anything labeled, L.A.s Totally Awesome, has got to be good stuff.

I heard it's actually a by product from the Taco trucks that line Wilshire Blvd.

It'll strip anything clean to the bone. That's how they treat the fossils, they pull out of the La Brea Tar Pits.


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## 37fleetwood (Mar 22, 2012)

I'm tempted to get one of those Rubbermaid storage tubs at wal-Mart and a few gallons of the degreaser and try it on a frame or wheel set and see how it does.
so far the results are pretty reliable, all dirt grease and paint removed in 10 or so hours.


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## chitown (Mar 26, 2012)

37fleetwood said:


> I'm tempted to get one of those Rubbermaid storage tubs at wal-Mart and a few gallons of the degreaser and try it on a frame or wheel set and see how it does.




When doing rims, I started using this set up to save on de-rusting/de-greasing material:

View attachment 46839 View attachment 46840

White tub is a washing machine drip pan bought at local hardware store. Then I used a 26" rim and a scrap piece of wall panel I had, placed a plastic tarp over and created a little trough for my 24" rims to fit into. This saves on material used so you don't need gallons for the rims.  You could probably build a custom trough to fit a frame in the same way.


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## PhattCatBicycles (Mar 26, 2012)

chitown said:


> When doing rims, I started using this set up to save on de-rusting/de-greasing material:
> 
> 
> White tub is a washing machine drip pan bought at local hardware store. Then I used a 26" rim and a scrap piece of wall panel I had, placed a plastic tarp over and created a little trough for my 24" rims to fit into. This saves on material used so you don't need gallons for the rims.  You could probably build a custom trough to fit a frame in the same way.




Great idea on soaking the rims.  I'm going to have to make one of them.

Just enjoying the ride
Brooks


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## 37fleetwood (Mar 28, 2012)

Chris, definitely let us know how your trough works out and how practical it is. this stuff is so cheap it may turn out to be easier to buy a big tub and fill it. that way it could be used over and over for many different shaped items.
also I forgot to add a couple things in my original post:
1 don't do anything stupid and hurt yourself or anything, I'm not going to be responsible.
2 your results may vary. the headset I did came out super great but other things weren't as nice to start with and came out less impressively.


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## chitown (Mar 28, 2012)

37fleetwood said:


> Chris, definitely let us know how your trough works out and how practical it is.





I made this set up exclusively for about 8 24" rims I have that were pretty crusty. A couple sets had been painted so I used for paint removal using an orange based paint stripper. Then I used the same set up for the bath for rust removal. I tried the "Metal Rescue" product which is safe for skin contact and you don't have to worry about handling with gloves. But because the stuff is expensive I wanted to waste as little as possible. It worked great and 1 gallon was enough for all my rims. This works for oxalic acid bathing also. I've used oxalic acid for small parts but didn't want to use that much just for rims, and also I'm not crazy getting a product that asks for an ID to buy. So my motivation was mostly to save on materials used.

View attachment 47086


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## 37fleetwood (Jun 20, 2012)

*Update!*

I just realized that I hadn't posted the results of the larger scale test!

I went to Wal-Mart and bought a few things.
1, 58 quart Sterilite tub with lid
2.5 Gallons of Purple Power Cleaner Degreaser











Here's the test subject, painted yellow, and covered in grease and dirt.






as you can see, 2.5 gallons isn't quite enough. I ended up having to go back and turn it a few times.










here are the after photos, as you can see, this stuff will remove almost everything. it doesn't do anything to rust or plastics but everything else will be removed.


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## abe lugo (Jun 20, 2012)

Scott, what do you use to "preserve" the metal after the cleaning like some of the headset parts.


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## 37fleetwood (Jun 20, 2012)

I'll usually spray it with whatever lightweight spraycan lube I have handy. I've also used mineral oil on a paper towel. anything just to cover the bare metal. on paint pieces you don't want to use anything, just prep it and go to paint.


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## scrubbinrims (Jun 21, 2012)

I use a softwire 6" wheel connected to a motor to clean rims/hubs, chrome parts, chains, hardware, everything.
It is much easier to let the wheel do the work then my shoulder.
Excellent, fast results and messy solutions only to degrease my hands...

Chris


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## 37fleetwood (Jun 22, 2012)

The plastic test!
of course I didn't want to use anything too important so I found this reflector.I could have left it a bit longer and maybe it could be a bit better but I think we can see how it works with this. the dark areas between the bumps is because it's still wet.

before:







Clean bowl and new cleaner:






After:


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## 37fleetwood (Aug 6, 2013)

Bump!
I can't seem to see the photos, I'll try to get them working though...


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