Grease removal

[HectorLooi]

I haven't been doing much watch repairing recently. Have been busy baking fruitcakes for Christmas. 

I have be using my trusty 51 year old Kenwood Chef that has been passed down to me by my mother. Just into my 2nd cake of the season, it started smoking until the smoke alarm in my kitchen went off. I had to go out and get a small hand mixer as I had another 6 cakes to bake.

Anyway, the smoke was caused by a overheated inductor, which was replaced. But it had a bigger problem. The gearbox was starting to leak oil. Hopefully nothing dripped into the first 2 cakes I made. 

I opened up the gearbox to regrease and reseal the gearbox. The gearbox was filled to the brim with some brown goop. It was hard in some places and oily in others.

I scooped out as much of it as I could and wash off the rest.

Can you guess what I used to remove the grease?

[mikepilk]

For that amount of grease, petrol?

[Malocchio]

You put the parts on the street for 5 minutes with a sign "don't steal the grease"

[nickelsilver]

If I was cleaning that I would remove as much as possible with paper towels, then good dish soap hot water and a stiff brush. Any stubborn stuff I would hit with WD-40 and a brush, one thing it actually does well is clean stubborn dried on oil/grease. Then again with dish soap (Fairly Liquid). Definitely nothing strong alkaline as the parts look to be some aluminum alloy.

[HectorLooi]

Hint - This solvent is dirt cheap and is @Neverenoughwatches favorite cleaning agent.

[tomh207]

4 hours ago, HectorLooi said:

Hint - This solvent is dirt cheap and is @Neverenoughwatches favorite cleaning agent.

I’ll have a guess at paraffin/kerosene then 

 

Tom

[HectorLooi]

1 hour ago, tomh207 said:

I’ll have a guess at paraffin/kerosene then 

 

Tom

Bingo. I was surprised at how effective it was. I just poured a bit into a disposable aluminum baking tray and used a paintbrush to scrub the surfaces clean.

Now if we can figure out what brass brightening agent can be used in an oil-based cleaner, we'll have an alternative to L&R #111 cleaner.