remove dried up grease from VCR mechanical parts

Alcohol is not a very good solvent for greasy substances. A much better solvent is naptha, available in little squeeze bottles as Ronsonal cigarette lighter fluid, or much cheaper and in quart cans at paint stores as VM&P naptha (varnish maker's and painter's naptha). It is a good grease solvent, evaporates with no residue, and attacks few plastics. Also great at removing self stick labels.

On 29 Dec 2003 16:14:11 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com ( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) wroth:

I get good results with naphtha. Also known as mineral spirits. Easy to find in small quantities as cigarette lighter fluid.

Of course, it's somewhat flammable, but then, so's alcohol.

Jim

Also available under the label "Goo-B-Gone"... takes the damned stick-on store pricing right off without any residue.

...Jim Thompson

A common problem, especially in Mitsubishi who use a graphite based grease which goes lumpy (I kid you not). CRC 2-26 works, but for a long term cure you need to strip it down, solvent wash (petrol OK) and then regrease - Koenig make a nice one formulated fro plastic stuff.

If you have good access to the grease, simply *wipe*--or scrape--it off. When you regrease, the old stuff will mix in with the new. Give the mechanism plenty of 'excercise' to facilitate the process. (However, there are some lubricants which are not compatible with others.) Be careful with any solvent you might choose, as it could attack any plastic parts with which it comes into contact.

If you simply hose the mechanism out with solvents, you risk washing out unnoticed lubrication and replacing it with nothing, damaging plastic or solving enamel insulated wiring...or possibly greasing something which was never meant to be. Be very careful, and--ideally--take pictures or notes as you go. Use a minimum of solvent, and relube each subassembly as you clean it.

jak

( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com)

Have you priced VCR's recently? They practically give them away.

I recently bought two of them for $69 (total) to use as cable converters for old TV sets.

...Jim Thompson

Me personally...or was that a rhetorical question? No, I haven't priced them lately. I have enough of them laying around here--that I haven't bothered to fix--to last me a lifetime. I use them the same way you do, but they don't cost me a cent. Someone's always throwing one away. OTOH, I do have a Sony SL-750 that I'm gonna fix up for my daily driver...someday.

jak

there

with

was

as

clean

So THAT's what VM&P stands for! I came across that term years ago when I was our painter's supervisor for a brief time, and no one, not even our solvent salesman, could tell me.

I trust you're pretty sure of this?

Thanks,

----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Some greases without graphite in also forms hard lumps. Graphite is a plus since it is a good lubricant when under more pressure than grease alone. The graphite has nothing to do with the forming of lumps, that is the grease's fault. Graphite's only real downside is conductivity.

Regards, NT

My wife came home from a shopping trip looking for naptha, and said all she could find was VM&P naptha, and didn't know what that meant, so she didn't get it. I went back and read the can (packaged by Klean Strip), and in the fine print at the top front of the can, it says, "100% Varnish Makers and Painters Naptha". I connected the dots.

Like this:

Really? Naptha is essentially gasoline (white-gas, or Coleman gas, if you must). Last I looked at a cracking tower schematic naphtha and gasoline were pretty much the same thing.

I thought "GooGone" was citris based.

The label says that it also contains "Petroleum distillates"

( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com)

ARCO used to sell a motor oil that had a very high Graphite content. It worked very well where wear, and fuel economy were the measured factors. I used it in everything. I discovered rather painfully, with one vehicle that burned oil, it required frequent replacement or cleaning of the spark plugs to keep the beast running. As the oil burned in the combustion chamber it plated, and shorted out the plug.

Obviously not a good choice for that particular vehicle.

Louis

Gasoline is basically naptha with a lot of additives....

jak

Evedently, though some resources show a distinction. In any case, the stuff is to be handled like gasoline.

On 29 Dec 2003 16:14:11 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com ( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) wrote: Alchohol is ok for some forms of dried lubricant but I use contact cleaner or a quality carb cleaner spray. You can get a can of the Wal-mart brand carb cleaner for about 78 cents. just don't spray it into the component spray it onto a clean cotton rag or q-tip or spray it into a small glass jar or glass.(I use a small shot glass) then wet the rag or swab. A piece of chammie or sponge will work well also. Take care to keep it off the plastic or rubber parts. Use denatured alchohol or head cleaner for drive rubber. The carb spray I use is also great for removing hard deposits off video/audio heads.