Mineral Spirits, Acetone, Denatured Alcohol?

[foxtrapper]

They will all work fine, none is "best" or best suited for cleaning a Shopsmith. They all can do the job. There are many other solvents worth consideration. Ventilate with all of them, both for medical reasons and fire safety.

Mineral Spirits generally leave a residue, unless you buy artist grade (expensive). Good solvent overall. Tends to work best on oils and such, less well on wood pitch and burn residue.

Alcohol leaves no residue. Good solvent overall. Tends to work better on wood pitch. Tends not to damage paints and plastics.

Acetone leaves no residue. Good solvent overall. Tends to work very well on oil residue, and better on burn residue than alcohol. Quite capable of disolving many paints and plastics.

Spray cans of brake cleaner are usually perchloroethene, which is also a dandy solvent leaving no residue.

Water is the best known universal solvent. It will disolve more things than any other solvent yet discovered. Not good at oils, but often times quite good with pitch and the like.

Various citrus solvents cut greases well. Normally not an issue with a Shopsmith. Lots of water is necessary to flush the material from a surface.

[backhertz]

The last steps of the Power Pro upgrade have you attach the new decals. Jim says to leave the old decals on because there is nothing that will remove the adhesive residue.

Well, the headstock I bought on Sat was a 1991 C type. Part of the large decal was coming up at the corners, so I ripped it off. The residue remaining was very sticky. Reminded me of the stuff I peel off the back of a new credit card attached to a piece of paper.

So I got some stuff my wife bought a long time ago: Goo Gone. It smells like oranges & it removed all the residue with some wiping with the Goo Gone on a rag. 10 minutes later- it was all gone. For some reason I must be getting closer to my "feminine" side, I read the directions which said after using Goo Gone, clean the surface with soap & water. I hope by actually admitting I read directions, I do not kicked off the forum...<smile> But I'm glad I did clean it off as the Goo Gone left a residue of its own. The new decal went on perfectly.

[JPG]

A bit of a tangent, but Last week I got overly aggressive with 3M 77 by really really getting a paper overlay stuck to a scroll saw project many teeny tiny internal/adjacent cuts.

Dilemma: How to remove the paper overlay? Add to that the 'detail' that the wood was also a sandwich which was also glued with 3M 77.

Since a light application of any solvent was necessary to preclude seeping down the the wood joint(1/16" from the paper) I grabbed a can of golf grip solvent in a spray can. Just happened to be perchloroethylene (dry cleaning fluid). It soaked through the paper pattern and softened the adhesive enough to slide the paper off. Subsequent application of perc with quick rubbing off with a rag removed the residue. Only one 'sandwich' separated.

The sandwich was created to provide a backer board for the 1/16" BB plywood. I was initially planning on separating the sandwich, but handling those small thin parts while finishing(coloration/painting) was a concern. I may 'unsandwich' the layers prior to 'inlaying' since I now know perc will allow easy separation.

Wish I had a 'french horse' for cutting this out. No doubt in my mind it would have turned out less error prone(the cutting). I broke three blades just trying to get them mounted to the scroll saw. I lost count while cutting.

Real fun trying to insert a blade through a 0.030" hole. Without kinking it that is. Boy those blade holders are heavy!:rolleyes: Finally succeeded by mounting the holder to the bottom end, then pushing the blade up from the bottom of the table through the hole, attaching the blade holder to the lower arm. then securing the blade in the holder which was already secured to the upper arm.

BTW no clicka clicka. Only a single clunk each time a blade broke while cutting.

[camerio]

I am just amazed ...

There is now sound effects on the forum

"BTW no clicka clicka. Only a single clunk each time a blade broke while cutting."

JPG you're the best.

[garys]

Cleaning? A Shopsmith needs cleaning? I just use mine. I vacuum the sawdust off it, wipe the tubes down with a clean rag once a year or so, and wax them. It has been running strong like this since 1983 without any other cleaning.

I feel tools are for using to get work done, not cleaning and shining up.

[fjimp]

Cleaning? A Shopsmith needs cleaning? I just use mine. I vacuum the sawdust off it, wipe the tubes down with a clean rag once a year or so, and wax them. It has been running strong like this since 1983 without any other cleaning.

I feel tools are for using to get work done, not cleaning and shining up.

Gulp, well at least you will know why when it has issues. I truly hope that prior to that day you discover the simple and effective means to clean and lubricate prior to a huge repair bill. Contrary to popular believe proper maintenance is inexpensive and in the long run highly rewarding. Jim

[JPG]

I am just amazed ...

There is now sound effects on the forum

"BTW no clicka clicka. Only a single clunk each time a blade broke while cutting."

JPG you're the best.

Those 'sounds' were a reference to an earlier thread regarding the scroll saw making that clicka clicka noise.

I made reference to mine not making it(I 'smugly' stated mine would not do so). In a later post I mentioned it had not taken a shake down cruise yet.

A certain member in SD called me on that so I needed to set the record straight. i.e. The shake down cruise did indeed not clicka clicka. The clunk was unexpected, but understood once it occurred.

The 'secret' to no clicka clicka is the internal connection between the upper and lower arms and proper spacing(controlled by proper blade mounting in the blade holders).

[jtrainer]

Not to Hijack but I have a bottle of Mineral Spirits that I used to cosmoline from historical weapons and the like.

Any issue with the cosmoline and any powder residue in the mineral spirits when pre-cleaning the way tubes before waxing?

[JPG]

Not to Hijack but I have a bottle of Mineral Spirits that I used to cosmoline from historical weapons and the like.

Any issue with the cosmoline and any powder residue in the mineral spirits when pre-cleaning the way tubes before waxing?

I doubt the powder residue will cause the inflammable mineral spirits to become explosive:D!

Howsomever it may cause it to become corrisive:eek:!

The cosmoline might leave a sticky residue(?).

I would rinse with something else prior to waxing. JMHO.

[backhertz]

I just did the Power Pro upgrade. At the end, Jim says to leave the old labels on because nothing will remove the adhesive residue. Well I found something that easily removed it & smelled like oranges. Goo Gone. Pic attached. It smells like oranges and must then me cleaned off with soap & water to remove the chemical residue.

Tony