Author Topic: Motive-power maintenance  (Read 3820 times)

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havingfuntoo

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Re: Motive-power maintenance
« Reply #30 on: December 14, 2012, 03:03:09 AM »
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David are you indicating that what you are doing is safe? If so why? Are you doing it in a controlled environment? 

DKS

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Re: Motive-power maintenance
« Reply #31 on: December 14, 2012, 04:17:03 AM »
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David are you indicating that what you are doing is safe? If so why? Are you doing it in a controlled environment?

I will say that what I do is safe from the standpoint that the mechanism will not be harmed. Exceptions: it will destroy rubber traction tires, so remove them first; it can also degrade some paints, so do not use it on locomotive shells. Heptane will only dissolve rubber-based residues, waxes and greases; it will not harm plastics.

I would not advocate that everyone use it in this manner, however. For myself, I have no qualms; I've been using solvents of all kinds for as long as I can remember. My father was a research chemist, and regularly brought home gallons of various solvents such as toluene, acetone, etc. (They used it for chromatography, and once used would be discarded as it had to be ultra-pure; so, he liberated it for use as paint thinner, cleaner, etc.) He taught me what solvents to use in which applications, as well as safe handling methods, from a very early age, so I liberally use solvents in ways that might alarm others.

As solvents go, heptane is relatively benign; at most it will cause mild dizziness when inhaled in high concentration, and it's non-poisonous (although still pretty nasty if ingested). Its greatest danger is that it will ignite explosively. To do this, however, it must be atomized in the presence of an open flame, so with care and good air circulation, it's quite safe to use indoors. I always have it on hand in a dispenser on my workbench; it's my go-to solvent 90% of the time. Hint: it's the ideal solvent to remove pesky price/UPC stickers, or any self-adhesive label that otherwise won't come off cleanly (Goo-Gone is nowhere near as good, and a lot nastier to smell).

Incidentally, I keep gallon containers of heptane, acetone, MEC and 90% alcohol on hand. Acetone is a good general all-purpose solvent for removing paint, cleaning brushes, and also debonding cyanoacrylate. I use MEC as a styrene bonding agent--significantly cheaper than any commercial plastic bonding agent. Alcohol is a decent paint stripper; I also use it as a hand and surface cleaner when working with resins.
« Last Edit: December 14, 2012, 04:35:45 AM by David K. Smith »

havingfuntoo

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Re: Motive-power maintenance
« Reply #32 on: December 14, 2012, 07:39:40 AM »
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David it is good that you have stressed you have had training from your father in the correct way to handle the solvents you have listed. Some modelers work in basements beside or adjacent to hot water furnaces some of which have pilot lights and others that will ignite on demand, electric units have breakers that will sometimes spark when activated. To have and use a solvent collection like yours in a location like that is inviting trouble. It is important when discussing the products we use to alert the reader to their known obvious hazards and ensure a good supply of fresh air always be provided.

peteski

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Re: Motive-power maintenance
« Reply #33 on: December 15, 2012, 02:00:49 AM »
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Peteski I noted the shopvac posting you made and actually backed you up on that one, drama queen I may be but I would rather be that, than accused of not posting a warning on some thing that I know has the potential to do a lot of damage. There are different grades of naphtha with different properties ...... your choice is lighter fluid ...... some one who follows your suggestion might not choose that grade .......

There is no accounting for what people do and we all know a little knowledge in the wrong hands is very dangerous ....... and I am not casting dispersion at anyone. Your experience and knowledge is quiet extensive and even frustrating but some times you take for granted the knowledge base of fellow Railwire participants.  A little expanding on some of your chosen process could help all.

I just took an exception to John basically blaming me for the explosion of his engine.  When I original mentioned the ultrasonic cleaner I did not mention any specifics of what cleaning solution I used.  For all you know, I could have been using jewelry cleaner.

So John bought some home-brewed cleaning solution (which I assume it had no warnings on the bottle about the flammability),  he cleans the motor without letting it completely dry, then runs the mode and BOOM!   To be honest, I'm pretty sure that the same thing would have happened if he simply dunked the motor in the solution (without using the ultrasonic cleaner).  His mistake was not letting the flammable liquid fully evaporate.   Assuming that he knew that it was a flammable liquid, he should have thought of fully drying the motor before using it. If he didn't know it was flammable then the the person who sold him the liquid has some blame in this.

When I did post a full explanation of my cleaning process, I did provide full description of all the steps I take to make sure that my engines don't burn up.  I don't recommend or force others to use my method - I just described what works for me.

As far as the spelling goes, I'll go and correct my previous posts to Naphtha.  That was a typo on my part.
« Last Edit: December 15, 2012, 02:10:15 AM by peteski »
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