miamijim

What did you put in your ultra sonic cleaner?

Sun light will do that. Do you know how to get the color back?

C9H13N 

That pulley looks like it was white to begin with, and then the teeth stained darker over the years. Uncolored nylon is off white.

upthywazzoo 

I just used water at 50c for the Front Derailleur. I used water with a splash of 4U degreaser on the rear derailleur. Sunlight did not fade the black plastic. It had previously been dark, matte black.


The pulley was not originally white, and this isn't the first time I've done this. The other time I bleached a pulley, I used brake cleaner.

momo608

Good old fashioned fresh soapy SOS pads for rusty parts like steel rims and spokes, lacquer thinner with an assortment of nylon brushes and old bondo spreaders for caked on old grease and when I'm worried about melting something with lacquer thinner, I use mineral spirits. I use a non cleaner/abrasive yellow wax to clean up the old paint on bike frames, and lots and lots of chrome/aluminum polish on chrome and aluminum parts.

realsteel

Thanks rootboy, but don't worry: I'm very careful with anodized parts. Just WD40, mild soap and water.

miamijim

What I'm saying is an ultrasonic cleaner and heat isn't responsible for what happened. What kind of degreaser?

upthywazzoo 

4U degreaser. So if I take a part, put it in the ultrasonic cleaner with water and no heat and it comes out fine--then I put a part in the cleaner with 50c heat and it comes out faded, with the finish removed--what conclusions am I to draw?

dddd

Might be that the cleaner simply removed the oil film that was keeping the faded plastic black-looking?

I generally disfavor immersion of assemblies that have compartments for sprung pivots where clean grease is supposed to live in peace.

Any water that gets inside of a derailer pivot's spring barrel(s) is going to invite corrosion, and it takes a bit of strategy to get lube back into the pivoting surfaces at both ends after immersion. Some spring barrels are closed at one end after all. So how do you get all of the water out after sonic cleaning?

I second Narhay's advice to do all that you can with "mechanical" removal steps before breaking out the washers and chemicals, though those methods also definitely have their merit in some places. Plastic cards (or even thin steel rulers for sprockets) can strip hardened crud off without damaging anything.

My tip for today, I use a couple of drops of Finish Line Citrus Degreaser on a toothbrush for cleaning hub flanges at the spokes, and it is extremely effective. This is more of a petro-type of cleaner btw.
On the last go-round I use some rubbing alcohol on the brush and wipe it all down with a clean terry cloth before it evaporates.
Additional scrubbing on the first go-round (with some of the abrasive dirt still present) actually effects a polishing of whitened aluminum, so the hubs look really good afterwards.

dweenk

I try to avoid abrasives unless absolutely necessary. Hot water, dish washing liquid, mineral spirits, and in some cases alcohol come next.

For rust on steel, I use aluminum foil and vinegar (rinsed well), and if required, I put it in a bath of oxalic acid or EvapoRust.

Once I used one of the Purple Power products on aluminum and it ruined the finish. A powder cleanser named Bon Ami works well as a very mild abrasive. Now I use wet sandpaper for severely oxidized aluminum - varying grades until it is clean and smooth enough to polish.

But then, sometimes the patina is OK.

big chainring 

Reliable Products Challenger. Spray it on and rinse with water. Very minimal effort needed. I had a PX-10 that was super dirty and grimy. Sprayed everything with the Challenger and hosed it off in the back yard. All the dirt and grease and grime came right off. Didn't hurt my grass either.

Brings life back to brake pads and gum hoods as well.

lenos

I have a heated ultrasonic tank and it's awesome. I use a water based solvent mix from Smart and Final. Also a good soak in Diesel is good to get the grease loosened up on really old stuff.

Ed.

Ultrasonic. I don't put things like complete assemblies in it that can't be disassembled. Think derailleurs as there's no good way to relube the pivots (although one could then take the whole thing, put it in a bag with some suitable lubricant, and ultrasonic that).

I typically use Simple Green heavy duty grease stuff. I have seen the color issue on plastic bits. Anything aluminum has come out fine. (brake calipers, shifter levers, etc). It works well on chrome pieces, too.

My daughter makes up a cleaning paste that does a nice job. I think it has baking soda or corn starch in it as the 'abrasive'. If there's interest I'll find out the recipe. I use Mequires (sp) on paint and chrome and, IIRC, Autosul (sp) or Simichrome on non anodized aluminum.

Toothbrushes and swab sticks (not Qtips) are also in my kit.

Bicycle Addict

Kerosene for unsticking shifters etc Diesel for moderate stuff and ATF fluid for the rest, gloves a must.
Oil content kind of ensures parts do not really dry out. ATF is good.


This is Fred.

Fred is Paul.

3alarmer 

...which pivots are you talking about? I don't understand this statement, and have been cleaning derailleurs in an ultrasonic cleaner for 4 or 5 years now.

I don't see anything on them that I cannot get either a teflon drylube in a spray solvent carrier into, or in a pinch, drop in a little Tri-Flow. What am I missing ?

dddd

Tried taking apart either the mounting bolt pivot or cage pivot? There are a lot of variations on the configuration inside with the spring and bushing bores. Some derailer knuckles are open only at one end so it's not going to be clear as to what is going on in there with cleaning, lubricating or with residual cleaning fluid, water, etc.
These spring pivots are properly serviced by taking apart, cleaning away any harmful detritus and applying some grease to moving contact points.

The soak method used on an assembly strays as far from this as I can imagine.

On most derailers though, I service the spring pivots by applying a fat drop of oil to entry points and just wiping it clean, no disassembly and no contaminating the insides with dirty wash solvent or water rushing in past the dirt line.

For brake calipers, I just apply oil to the pivot point and let it sit overnight. Oil moves slowly and won't flush dirt inside if the caliper is left stationary overnight. Later I'll wipe off the exterior knowing that clean oil is in there where it is needed.

miamijim

I fully submerged complete assemblies with the understanding I'll have to re-lube 'hidden' area/pivots. I've been doing it that way for decades and know how to get those pivots and such re-lubed. I'm patient and take the time to do it. I've dis-assembled derailleur pivots on many occasions, to be honest, there's nothing fancy in there, tolerances aren't tight so it's not like they're going to seize up if you don't.

Clean. Relube.

2 steps.

Ed.

The parallelogram pivots.

Probably nothing; just chalk it up to more of my idiosyncratic thinking.

ramzilla

Big elbow length nitrile gloves, plastic kitty litter tray, 1 gal paint can, cheap wire brushes from Horror Freight, 1/2 gallon diesel fuel. Soak entire freewheel, FD, RD, chain, brakes, everything at once. Put lid on can. Shake that baby around. Repeat shaking procedure every day for a week. Take it out, wire brush everything clean, wipe it down & put it all back together. Next.

mstateglfr 

1 day too late. I just soaked everything from an 87 Nishiki I am rehabbing in Simple Green HD and a bunch of aluminum came out spotted...blotchy, really.

I have fixed up probably 5 other bikes the same way and none came out like this. They soaked for the same amount of time with the same amount of solution(give or take).

Brutal to see.




The pictures actually amplify the discoloration. They aren't as bad as they look here, but it's still noticeable if you look from 2 feet.

big chainring 

I keep on expounding on Challenger. It's the real deal. You just can't imagine how much time it saves and how well it works. It's Simple Green on steroids. I bought a gallon of it several years ago. I clean our bathrooms with it. I clean many many bikes with it. And I still have a quart or more left in the gallon. You guys will be amazed at how well this stuff works. It takes so little to do the most greasy grimy jobs. Try it. You will wonder why you have been using all these other solvents.

Jicafold

I use the 1 gallon can of Berrymans Chem Dip parts cleaner. It comes with a plastic basket to hold your parts. I soak overnight and then simply wipe clean or spray off with a garden hose and dry. It takes off everything and doesn't harm paint or discolor. It's virtually effortless.

parken

Ultrasonic cleaning works by cavitation: tiny local cavities form in solution, physically braking local assemblies of dirt particles. If surfaces are not smooth and compact (e.g. scratched or already peeled paint) ultrasound can indeed worsen the situation.
That said, there's no better way to clean metals especially hidden parts.

raymond1354

Plastic is a continuous sheet (polymer) so should be immune. It also degrades by U.V., so I have to think that some of the degraded particles come off because of cavitation and some are left behind as the little bubbles are too big - or something.

r

raymond1354

I guess my other "question" is what to you do with all the effluent? Thinking that it is filled with toxic chemicals from the bike and all these cleaning fluids, the composition of which is frequently unknown.

r

3alarmer 

...are you talking about ultrasonics ? If so, they are far and away the method that seems to require the least toxic input for effective cleaning. What exactly do you think is toxic on your bicycle ?