sci.electronics.repair seems dead so I'll ask here:
Is there a solvent that's OK to dunk the whole rotor and stator of an e.g. Lionel universal motor in to clean it up? Like say fill a bag with the solvent
and parts and then toss it in an ultrasonic bath. Would something like anhydrous isopropyl be appropriate?
The disintegration of a nearby carbon-zinc battery has made this assembly a sooty mess. 8-(
sci.electronics.repair seems dead so I'll ask here:
Is there a solvent that's OK to dunk the whole rotor and stator of an
e.g. Lionel universal motor in to clean it up? Like say fill a bag with
the solvent and parts and then toss it in an ultrasonic bath. Would
something like anhydrous isopropyl be appropriate?
The disintegration of a nearby carbon-zinc battery has made this
assembly a sooty mess. 8-(
sci.electronics.repair seems dead so I'll ask here:
Is there a solvent that's OK to dunk the whole rotor and stator of an
e.g. Lionel universal motor in to clean it up? Like say fill a bag with
the solvent and parts and then toss it in an ultrasonic bath. Would
something like anhydrous isopropyl be appropriate?
The disintegration of a nearby carbon-zinc battery has made this
assembly a sooty mess. 8-(
bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:
sci.electronics.repair seems dead so I'll ask here:
Is there a solvent that's OK to dunk the whole rotor and stator of an
e.g. Lionel universal motor in to clean it up? Like say fill a bag with
the solvent and parts and then toss it in an ultrasonic bath. Would
something like anhydrous isopropyl be appropriate?
The disintegration of a nearby carbon-zinc battery has made this
assembly a sooty mess. 8-(
Battery leakage implies at least some corrosion, so hydrocarbon solvent alone seems unlikely to help by itself. I've used heated Pine-Sol Original to clean carbs at full strength, but it's fairly aggressive toward brass, which comes out pink. Zinc plating is removed in a few hours, die cast carb bodies came out undamaged. Best find a sacrificial motor to experiment with first.
Stoddard solvent didn't hurt electric motors in typewriters and adding machines. The office equipment shop I worked in as a kid used a dishwaher- like contraption filled with Stoddard solvent and a cleaner called Lix
that didn't hurt the motors, softened the rubber rollers and readily
washed out the eraser rubber and WD-40 residue that gummed up typewriters.
Metals came out shiny, painted surfaces didn't seem to suffer much, if at all. We weren't dealing with corrosion.
The only reference to Lix I could find was this: https://www.xnumber.com/xnumber/cmisc_lix.htm
The thread dates from 1997, so I don't hold out a lot of hope.
The thread claims motors had to be taken out, but we never did
it and I never saw one damaged out of a hundred or so machines.
Good luck,
bob prohaska
On Sat, 5 Oct 2024 12:31:55 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:
sci.electronics.repair seems dead so I'll ask here:
Is there a solvent that's OK to dunk the whole rotor and stator of an
e.g. Lionel universal motor in to clean it up? Like say fill a bag with
the solvent and parts and then toss it in an ultrasonic bath. Would
something like anhydrous isopropyl be appropriate?
The disintegration of a nearby carbon-zinc battery has made this
assembly a sooty mess. 8-(
Ultrasonic cleaners work through cavitation, which uses the energy
from imploding bubbles to break up dirt and your sooty mess. What
want is soap and *HOT* water. I use Dawn Ultra or Dawn Platinum
dishwashing soap in my 3 liter ultrasonic bath tub. I sometimes use solvents, but only if I'm certain there are no plastic, rubber or
painted parts involved.
I've also seen a few too many underpowered ultrasonic cleaners. Do
the aluminum foil test before blundering forward:
"How to Test an Ultrasonic Cleaner" <https://blog.sra-solder.com/knowledge-base/how-to-test-an-ultrasonic-cleaner>
If the test foil looks like it was hit by a shotgun blast, it's
working. Another method uses frosted glass and a pencil. I haven't
tried this, but it does look interesting:
"Tips on Checking the Performance of your Ultrasonic Cleaner" <https://iultrasonic.com/blog/tips-on-checking-the-performance-of-your-ultrasonic-cleaner/>
Good luck.
sci.electronics.repair seems dead so I'll ask here:
Is there a solvent that's OK to dunk the whole rotor and stator of an
e.g. Lionel universal motor in to clean it up?
Like say fill a bag with
the solvent and parts and then toss it in an ultrasonic bath. Would
something like anhydrous isopropyl be appropriate?
The disintegration of a nearby carbon-zinc battery has made this
assembly a sooty mess. 8-(
On 10/5/2024 9:31 AM, bitrex wrote:
sci.electronics.repair seems dead so I'll ask here:
Is there a solvent that's OK to dunk the whole rotor and stator of an
e.g. Lionel universal motor in to clean it up? Like say fill a bag
with the solvent and parts and then toss it in an ultrasonic bath.
Would something like anhydrous isopropyl be appropriate?
The disintegration of a nearby carbon-zinc battery has made this
assembly a sooty mess. 8-(
/Purple Power/ is my go-to cleaner for carburetors, etc.
(which often have things like plastic floats, rubber O-rings,
etc.)Â Not sure of how it might react with the varnishes
used as insulation...
Alcohol is probably OK
Thanks for the suggestions, the good news is the small amount of serious corrosion seemed to miss the important bits and largely end up on the internal frame of the choo-choo where it's not so visible, and
evapo-rust has done a pretty good job of removing the worst of it.
The rest of the guts of the locomotive seem undamaged except for a thin coating of carbon soot on everything.
The battery is for the horn circuit and it even says on the bottom to
remove when not in use, sheesh!
On Sat, 5 Oct 2024 12:31:55 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:
sci.electronics.repair seems dead so I'll ask here:
Is there a solvent that's OK to dunk the whole rotor and stator of an
e.g. Lionel universal motor in to clean it up? Like say fill a bag with
the solvent and parts and then toss it in an ultrasonic bath. Would
something like anhydrous isopropyl be appropriate?
The disintegration of a nearby carbon-zinc battery has made this
assembly a sooty mess. 8-(
Ultrasonic cleaners work through cavitation, which uses the energy
from imploding bubbles to break up dirt and your sooty mess. What
want is soap and *HOT* water. I use Dawn Ultra or Dawn Platinum
dishwashing soap in my 3 liter ultrasonic bath tub. I sometimes use solvents, but only if I'm certain there are no plastic, rubber or
painted parts involved.
I've also seen a few too many underpowered ultrasonic cleaners. Do
the aluminum foil test before blundering forward:
"How to Test an Ultrasonic Cleaner" <https://blog.sra-solder.com/knowledge-base/how-to-test-an-ultrasonic-cleaner>
If the test foil looks like it was hit by a shotgun blast, it's
working. Another method uses frosted glass and a pencil. I haven't
tried this, but it does look interesting:
"Tips on Checking the Performance of your Ultrasonic Cleaner" <https://iultrasonic.com/blog/tips-on-checking-the-performance-of-your-ultrasonic-cleaner/>
Good luck.
On Sat, 05 Oct 2024 16:29:34 -0700, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
wrote:
(...)
One more thought. If the motor uses ball or roller bearing, and
you've given the bearings a solvent bath, you will probably need to
repack them with grease. If they're sealed bearing, you'll soon need
to replace them. Please don't ask me how I know about this.
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