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Hi everyone. I managed to pick up this L & R cleaning machine from a garage sale nearby for only $40 CAD yesterday (should have went out and bought a lottery ticket too). Everything still works thankfully (someone even rewired parts of it), but the machine itself is quite dirty. It has accumulated a lot of dust on the exterior, and the central column + motor shaft have some sort of orange/yellow residue on them. 

I want to start by giving the machine's exterior a thorough cleaning, but I was wondering if anybody had advice on what cleaning solution(s) to use. I was thinking of starting with 70% Isopropyl alcohol, but I'm not sure where to go from there. I was also thinking of disassembling the motor housing partially to take a look at the state of the bearing. Any thoughts on whether I should clean the motor housing interior or not? Thanks for the help. 

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Edited by maxc
Typo: correcting "70&" to "70%"
Posted

I would be very wary of solvents on the old paint.

Try very dilute soapy water, or a non-rinse clear kitchen cleaner (eg. "Dettox" style)? That stuff is nearly as powerful as commercial machine degreasers!

Just use a damp cloth rather than soaking things, both for the cleaner and for removing that after its soaked.

 

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