Cleaning Machinery

[lupjohn]

Originally Posted by nycpunk

Ive been spending the majority of my time in the robotics shop recently cleaning off the 50 year old south bend lathe that Ive been the only one to use on a regular basis and for more than simple jobs in the past 30 years at the least and the thing was greased to all hell when i started to clean it last week (which explains why it is off by allot). using WD-40 and a whole lot of scrubbing i have been able to get some of it off but no where near the level i wanted where i could be able to eat off of it. getting to the point I was wondering if anyone has either some old school machine cleaning tricks they want to share or any success with commercial cleaners like all the dirty dish ones i see advertised on TV all the time working.
thanks, Simon

Simon;
I have used both simple green and WD40. An additional solvent I occasionally resort to is brake cleaner usually in pressurized spray cans. It is designed to dislodge particulate stuff including metallic particles and get them away from machined surfaces and it works well. It can be irritating to your skin though so use some of those vinyl gloves. Not a bad recommendation for any solvent cleaning operation in the shop. I think if I had a South Bend I would be spending enough time to at least eat around it as I would be spending lots of time there making chips. Go for it! Larry.

[Simon Strauss]

Some thing i learned today while cleaning, if you think flossing your teeth is bad try flossing all the groves on your lathe's screw drive, that takes love and dedication.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by nycpunk

try flossing all the groves on your lathe's screw drive, that takes love and dedication.

I use a brush