{Collins} Safely Cleaning Equipment

[GARDGORE@xxxxxxx]

I agree it's best to just clean the dust off only and for the really nice 
stuff this is probably all that's really necessary anyway. For this I 
partially disassemble the equipment and using an assortment of brushes and a 
shop vac with the hose on the discharge side generally can get everything 
looking pretty good here. There is a caution here however, be sure to tape 
over the metal bands on the brushes to prevent scratching IF cans, etc. This 
would be followed with careful light lubricating of moving parts remembering 
that a radio is 50% mechanical construction (and 50% electrical). There are 
those times that warrant some kind of washing however and for this I endorse 
and have used the Bill Carns method observing the cautions he listed. As an 
interesting sidenote about eight years ago I washed an otherwise nice but 
very dirty NC-283D in much the same way observing those cautions but in 
addition while still wet I rinsed off and sprayed everything down with WD-40 
to displace the moisture. I stayed with it of course to force evaporate the 
Stoddard solvent carrier with the blow dry method and left out on the deck in 
the sun it was ready to work on later that afternoon. I followed with a 
careful wiping off of everything with shop towels as much as possible to 
remove the excess and the result was a shiny clean much more presentable and 
enjoyable chassis to work on. I have seen the claims and flames of many that 
WD-40 is nothing more than Stoddard solvent kerosene in a can, that it is 
corrosive, will cross link and harden, gum up, etc., but after eight years I 
have just not seen any evidence of this. That receiver still looks as shiny 
and works as good as the day I cleaned it and the bandswitch and all controls 
still operate smoothly and quietly. I just have not had to go back to address 
anything that the naysayers have warned about. In addition the chassis, the 
entire assembly really, has a measure of corrosion protection everywhere now, 
something that the wash only proponents don't have. WD-40 is not just 
Stoddard solvent. True, it is mostly Stoddard solvent as that is used as the 
liquid carrier which is used to distribute the ingredients. The carrier is 
meant to evaporate and does evaporate soon afterwards. It also contains a 
light mineral oil and beeswax. It is these ingredients that give the product 
the properties that I find beneficial to preserving metal surfaces of BAs. It 
lubricates too of course due to the percentage of mineral oil content. Again, 
please let me repeat, Stoddard solvent does not lubricate anything, it is the 
oil content that is left behind that does the lubricating. In my experience 
here the life of that lubrication has been good enough that it has not had to 
be treated with anything again. I have used DeOxit before and it works too 
but it also is mostly Stoddard solvent. Other similar types of sprays with 
different ingredients are CRC and Cimguard. Cimguard is an industrial spray 
with a specific rust prevention package. After trying several I have obtained 
the best results with the WD-40. It leaves behind a slightly waxy film but is 
in no way objectionable (to me) like some of the alternatives. IMHO you are 
wasting your time looking up Material Safety Data Sheets to prove or disprove 
contents claims. Manufacturers are only required to list ingredients that 
would pose a risk to public health or safety. Proprietary ingredients that 
pose no health risk will not be listed. The actual breakdown of ingredients 
can only be found by laboratory spectral analysis which we have done here for 
other things and even then the results are inconclusive.

Flame suit on............
Regards, Greg Gore; WA1KBQ

In a message dated 7/2/2002 9:48:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
billcarns2@xxxxxxx writes:


> Well, it has been a while since this was gone over well and there are many
> newcomers, so here goes.
> 
> After restoring Collins for almost 20 years, that comment about using 
> Simple
> Green and then finding the corrosion really got to me.
> 
> Here are my strongest recommendations.



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