Cleaning chucks and jaws with stain on them...without disassembly?

[Jon Rista]

Well, a couple of weeks back, I had a mishap with a can of stain. I reached for something else, the can of stain was there, caught my hand, and tipped over. Not entirely, but enough that a decent blop of stain poured out and onto...my workbench, a bunch of tools, as well as one of my chucks and a couple sets of jaws that were sitting there. Needless to say, the chuck aint chucking right now.

I generally keep my chucks pretty clean, blow them out after each use. My main chuck is a sealed Record Power, which seems to need only that, to be blown off each use. I have a couple of Nova G3 chucks, however, that seem to gather gunk inside of them. In the past, I disassembled them to clean them out....however REASSEMLBING is an unholy PITA. So I am wondering...is it possible to clean a chuck without disassembling them? Its all just metal...and I've never lubricated them in any way. So, I figure, with the right solvent, maybe I could just immerse them and let the solvent do the work, then drain them and...clean them out. Not real sure what the best solvent to use would be though. I know I get a decent amount of dust packed underneath the slides in the nova chucks. Taking them apart in the past, was a way to really scrub that spiral thread on the base. Is there any solvent that would take care of that dust deeper in, without the need for disassembly? And, to boot, dissolve this stain that ended up getting in there too?

Thanks!

 

[Phil Hamel]

I would try mineral spirits to see what it would do. Let it soak overnight then blow it out good with air. I have Nova g2 and g3's and don't relish the idea of taking them apart either! I try to blow them off with air after use.

 

[Jon Rista]

Does it matter what kind of mineral spirits? I had a big can of the "odorless" kind, which I originally bought to clean off some stain on my trex deck boards. The stuff never worked for that purpose. I've had my chuck and jaws soaking in that mineral oil since I posted this (went out and started digging out every solvent I had, and had forgotten about the mineral spirits, so decided to give it a try.)

Thus far...it doesn't seem to have done jack. I've tried to use the odorless mineral spirits for some other things, and the results are NEVER like what I used to get with true mineral spirits. Here in nanny state Colorado, true mineral spirits have been outlawed, so we can't buy them locally or online. So this is the only kind of mineral spirit I seem to be able to get ahold of. I do have DNA (sold as "Fuel"), Acetone, and Turpentine. I think that is about it for solvents now. Nanny state Colorado has outlawed everything else.

 

[Jon Rista]

Found a can of lacquer thinner. That seemed to start working within minutes. Managed to get some old shellac off right away. The stain is taking longer, but it does seem to be softening. Also seems to have loosened the dust packed into the gear a bit. Hopefully a couple of hours soak will do the trick.

 

[Tim Connell]

Odorless mineral spirits as you've discovered are a waste of money. Regular mineral spirits probably won't do too much better with dried stain. Long shot, but can you get lacquer thinner?

A strong solvent in an ultra sonic cleaner would work, but those rated for solvent are probably very high $$$.

I'd just disassemble and use fine steel wool. The stain won't be bound tightly to the metal, and should come off with just a little elbow grease.

Edit, you found the lacquer thinner while I was typing, glad it seems to be working for you.

 

[Jon Rista]

Odorless mineral spirits as you've discovered are a waste of money. Regular mineral spirits probably won't do too much better with dried stain. Long shot, but can you get lacquer thinner?

A strong solvent in an ultra sonic cleaner would work, but those rated for solvent are probably very high $$$.

I'd just disassemble and use fine steel wool. The stain won't be bound tightly to the metal, and should come off with just a little elbow grease.

Edit, you found the lacquer thinner while I was typing, glad it seems to be working for you.

Ah! I just posted about lacquer thinner. I did have some, do I gave it a try. Seems to be working well.

I did look up "odorless" mineral spirits. Apparently, they suck because all the aromatics, the stuff that actually does any real work, have all been removed. The remnant is aliphatic compounds, which are not nearly as strong (still a solvent, just not nearly as effective). Aliphatic also stink. Aromatics at least smell good (while they eat away your brain!)

Anyway... Lacquer thinner is doing the job, I think. I may still have to take everything apart to scrub the inside... Guess I'll see in a little bit here.