cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/8721869
Parts like sprockets, chains, hubs, BBs, etc are quite useful for projects to build tools, furniture, art. I get them at no cost by dumpster diving. Cleaning them is quite a pain though. These are some of the options I’ve considered:
dishwashing machine— if normal dishwasher detergent is used, I would expect it to corrode aluminum parts (correct? Can someone confirm or deny that?) Chains and /some/ sprockets are steel, right? Would they do well in the dishwasher? I wonder if there is some kind of alternative detergent that won’t harm aluminum since I always have to hand-wash an aluminum pot cover.
ultrasonic bath— this method strikes me as the most convenient and what I would expect someone who needs to clean lots parts to use. But there is a risk of de-anodization if you use degreaser. Some jewelers use ultrasonic cleaners with a cocktail of Mr. Clean and ammonia. Would that work well on bicycle parts, non-destructively?
Enzyme-based oven cleaner— I tested this on sprockets and it seemed to work quite well but doesn’t get into the nooks and crannies and dissolve any of the mud.
Enzyme-based drain cleaner— instructions say wait 6 hours, so i did not test it. Is that time perhaps just because it takes that long to spread down the drain and munch on large volumes of gunk? Perhaps it would work in less time on bicycle parts.
boiling water with dish soap— I hoped it would melt the greasy grime. The water was quite dirty afterwards but did not make much noticeable progress.
degreaser spray— did not test this. I just have degreaser for kitchen surfaces so maybe not the right stuff.
bicycle cleaning spray— kind of strange that this exists. Bicycles have many different materials and different kinds of grime. It did not do too well on greasy sprockets as far as I could tell.
Question on the enzyme-based cleaners: enzymes are a bit pricey by volume compared to other cleaners. Is there a way to store and reuse them? Ideally I would like to pour a bottle of enzyme-based drain cleaner into a bucket and just always soak parts in that same bucket. Do those little guys multiply when you feed them? If the water is always dirty, will the enzymes always be too full to chow down on parts being added?
Enzymes are proteins. They aren’t living cells. They can degrade over time. That being said it’s not a new concept.
https://www.crcindustries.com/smartwasher/ SmartWasher is the Best Parts Washer Cleaner
I guess proteins is a little over my head. I just saw on the label a bunch of pac-mans gobbling up stuff. I understood that… and hoped I could multiply them. So IIUC, I just have to keep buying them and not reuse them much? Do they degrade in the original bottle just the same as if they’re in dirty water?
Tbh I haven’t seen or used enzymatic drain cleaner. I just know how enzymes work bc bio major.
The enzymatic cleaner shouldn’t degrade too much if it’s kept at a sane temperature. Same with reusing.
Pacmans gobbling stuff up is a pretty good example.
I documented a drain horror story here, the fiasco of which involved 3 different enzyme-based drain cleaners. They seem to have a dual purpose: use a small amount every 1 or 2 weeks as a maintenance task, or pour down a large amount to work on a clog. I had a very slow drain and the enzymes made no apparent difference. But I know in general enzyme cleaners are quite good. It’s amazing how well they work on the oven. I had a general purpose enzyme based cleaner that worked great for things like food spills that dried on a wall.
I read through that thread. Holy shit. Certain enzymes can only break down certain things.
Right, but these were specifically for cleaning drains. One of them was kitchen drain specific, and the other two were for drains in general. But indeed it’s possible that the clog was not even organic… perhaps calcium deposits from hard water.
I wonder if pouring a whole bottle of enzymes would have worked. When pouring just 50—100ml or so, it would spread out on the bottom of the pipe and only touch the bottom part of the clog. But if a whole liter rushes through at once then it would cover the whole clog. But it’d be a pricey test.
How much does the enzyme cleaner say to pour?
product 1:
- maintenance: 2 caps/week (a cap is big, looks like ~100ml if i eyeball it)
- clog clearing: 500ml (½ bottle)
product 2:
- maintenance: 25ml/2 weeks
- clog clearing: 300ml (⅓ bottle)
product 3:
- maintenance: 25ml/week
- clog clearing: not mentioned for this purpose
Going from memory I rotated between the products and I think I poured in about ⅓ of the clog clearing doses on the first two every few days… because I was a cheap bastard and just wanted to constantly have the enzymes in there. But yeah, probably a mistake. I think I tried a 300ml dose of product 2 just once. But I probably should have tried a full dose more often.
I just bath parts on metal degreaser like essence F for the night and wipe it. You can re use after filtering, it is efficient enough