WD-40, CRC 'Lectra-Clean, Liquid Wrench, and Kroil

[pfjw@aol.com]

Circumstances: Dynaco SCA-35 that may be best described as "neglected" , as follows:

Filthy with greasy grit - what I would consider to be kitchen-type grease mixed with black grit similar to what landed on windowsills when I grew up in NYC, with regular dust co-mingled. To the point that individual components on the boards were very nearly indistinguishable.

Most of the controls sprayed with white lithium grease that had hardened to near-concrete status.

Most of the rotary controls frozen - hard. The exceptions being the rear hum-pots that had never been touched, and so remained operable.

Process: Rinse the entire shebang in WD-40, purchased in bulk and delivered via pressurized refillable aerosol can. Probably a pint used overall. Done over a trash-can with some kitty-litter on the bottom. This loosened the skunge. Rinse with CRC, over the same trash-can after 24 hours. This pretty much removed the _EXPOSED_ skunge on the controls, switches and boards. All of a sudden individual components became visible. Flushed the controls with WD and CRC - amazing the amount of waxy crap that came out.

Wipe down with lint-free cloth, stiff artists' oil brushes and high-proof isopropyl alcohol.

Apply lubricating cleaner to all rotary and sliding controls.
Apply Liquid Wrench to all shafts.
24 hours.
3 of 5 controls were free. Bass & Selector-switch still frozen, hard.
Apply Kroil. 12 hours. Re-apply Kroil.

All shafts are free.

More basic cleaning. Check _every_ connection with a dental pick. Tighten all tube bases. Apply power, no tubes. All good. 40 minutes, no unusual heat signatures.

Add tubes. Short inputs. As above, draws 85 watts, below nameplate of 110 watts. 1 hour, all voltages stable and correct.

Add speakers and signal - Voila! Sound, hum and buzz-free. All controls working properly.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

 

[Fox's Mercantile]

On 2/11/19 9:54 AM, pfjw@aol.com wrote:

Apply lubricating cleaner to all rotary and sliding controls.
Apply Liquid Wrench to all shafts.
24 hours.
3 of 5 controls were free. Bass & Selector-switch still frozen, hard.
Apply Kroil. 12 hours. Re-apply Kroil.

Which is why I use Kroil and don't waste my time on other products.


--
"I am a river to my people."
Jeff-1.0
WA6FWi
http:foxsmercantile.com

 

[pfjw@aol.com]

On Monday, February 11, 2019 at 11:09:38 AM UTC-5, Fox's Mercantile wrote:

On 2/11/19 9:54 AM, pfjw@aol.com wrote:
Apply lubricating cleaner to all rotary and sliding controls.
Apply Liquid Wrench to all shafts.
24 hours.
3 of 5 controls were free. Bass & Selector-switch still frozen, hard.
Apply Kroil. 12 hours. Re-apply Kroil.

Which is why I use Kroil and don't waste my time on other products.

Jeff:

Using Kroil as cleaner/rinse would be wildly expensive! And of all the Dynaco products, the SCA 35 and ST 35 are amongst the lease amenable to going through a dishwasher. Between the cloth-lead transformers with open bells and fish-paper insulation and other issues, the risk is just too great - or that would have been my first choice in this case.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

 

[Fox's Mercantile]

On 2/11/19 11:42 AM, pfjw@aol.com wrote:

Using Kroil as cleaner/rinse would be wildly expensive!
And of all the Dynaco products, the SCA 35 and ST 35 are
amongst the lease amenable to going through a dishwasher.
Between the cloth-lead transformers with open bells and
fish-paper insulation and other issues, the risk is just
too great - or that would have been my first choice in
this case.

I suggested nothing of the sort.
You mentioned stuck controls. Kroil worked on the two that
did not respond to the alternative "un stickers."

Hence my comment about why I use Kroil without wasting my
time using inferior products.


--
"I am a river to my people."
Jeff-1.0
WA6FWi
http:foxsmercantile.com

 

On Monday, February 11, 2019 at 10:54:45 AM UTC-5, pf...@aol.com wrote:

Circumstances: Dynaco SCA-35 that may be best described as "neglected" , as follows:

Filthy with greasy grit - what I would consider to be kitchen-type grease mixed with black grit similar to what landed on windowsills when I grew up in NYC, with regular dust co-mingled. To the point that individual components on the boards were very nearly indistinguishable.

Most of the controls sprayed with white lithium grease that had hardened to near-concrete status.

Most of the rotary controls frozen - hard. The exceptions being the rear hum-pots that had never been touched, and so remained operable.

Process: Rinse the entire shebang in WD-40, purchased in bulk and delivered via pressurized refillable aerosol can. Probably a pint used overall. Done over a trash-can with some kitty-litter on the bottom. This loosened the skunge. Rinse with CRC, over the same trash-can after 24 hours. This pretty much removed the _EXPOSED_ skunge on the controls, switches and boards. All of a sudden individual components became visible. Flushed the controls with WD and CRC - amazing the amount of waxy crap that came out.

Wipe down with lint-free cloth, stiff artists' oil brushes and high-proof isopropyl alcohol.

Apply lubricating cleaner to all rotary and sliding controls.
Apply Liquid Wrench to all shafts.
24 hours.
3 of 5 controls were free. Bass & Selector-switch still frozen, hard.
Apply Kroil. 12 hours. Re-apply Kroil.

All shafts are free.

I've got a jar of Kroil from my neighbor.
I read somewhere about ATF* plus acetone and
a third thing.. ethyl alcohol? that was 'better'
for unsticking nuts and bolts.
I never tried it.

George H.
*Automatic Transmission Fluid

More basic cleaning. Check _every_ connection with a dental pick. Tighten all tube bases. Apply power, no tubes. All good. 40 minutes, no unusual heat signatures.

Add tubes. Short inputs. As above, draws 85 watts, below nameplate of 110 watts. 1 hour, all voltages stable and correct.

Add speakers and signal - Voila! Sound, hum and buzz-free. All controls working properly.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

 

[Fox's Mercantile]

On 2/12/19 7:34 PM, ggherold@gmail.com wrote:

I've got a jar of Kroil from my neighbor.
I read somewhere about ATF* plus acetone and
a third thing.. ethyl alcohol? that was 'better'
for unsticking nuts and bolts.
I never tried it.

George H.
*Automatic Transmission Fluid

Actually, it's a little better than Kroil.
<http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/179374/212342.jpg>
But, to me, it's not worth my time fucking around
playing "Junior Chemist" When I can just buy something
that works. Works well, and works repeatedly well.


--
"I am a river to my people."
Jeff-1.0
WA6FWi
http:foxsmercantile.com

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Tue, 12 Feb 2019 20:07:39 -0600, Fox's Mercantile <jdangus@att.net>
wrote:

On 2/12/19 7:34 PM, ggherold@gmail.com wrote:
I've got a jar of Kroil from my neighbor.
I read somewhere about ATF* plus acetone and
a third thing.. ethyl alcohol? that was 'better'
for unsticking nuts and bolts.
I never tried it.

George H.
*Automatic Transmission Fluid

Actually, it's a little better than Kroil.
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/179374/212342.jpg
But, to me, it's not worth my time fucking around
playing "Junior Chemist" When I can just buy something
that works. Works well, and works repeatedly well.

That depends on how its tested and who's doing the testing:
"Which Penetrating Oil is Best? Let's find out!"
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUEob2oAKVs>

Spoiler

See graph at:
<https://youtu.be/xUEob2oAKVs?t=516>
Best
Heat (using a torch)
Liquid Wrench
Acetone/ATF
Royal Purple
WD-40
PB Blaster
Aero Kroll
Dry
Worst.

The problem with these results is that most of the penetrating oils
seem not much better than torquing an unlubricated rusty bolt. To me,
that looks like something might be wrong with the proceedure or
application method.


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Fox's Mercantile]

On 2/12/19 9:54 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

That depends on how its tested and who's doing the testing:
"Which Penetrating Oil is Best? Let's find out!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUEob2oAKVs

I've seen this before, I serious question his results.


--
"I am a river to my people."
Jeff-1.0
WA6FWi
http:foxsmercantile.com

 

On Tue, 12 Feb 2019 22:24:11 -0600, Fox's Mercantile <jdangus@att.net>
wrote:

On 2/12/19 9:54 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
That depends on how its tested and who's doing the testing:
"Which Penetrating Oil is Best? Let's find out!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUEob2oAKVs

I've seen this before, I serious question his results.

I'm starting to think that penetrating oils don't help much with
the initial torque required to break a fastener loose. But once even a
little movement happens the oil can then act as a lubricant and help
prevent galling as the fasteners are turned.
But I am not convinced because of one particular case. An antique
rifle of mine has a flip up peep sight. The peep sight can be adjusted
by turning a knurled collar. When I got the rifle it was obvious that
the collar was stuck pretty good because there was damage to the knurl
from pliers. I tried various penetrating oil over the years and could
never get the collar to trurn. Then a few years ago I tried using some
Break Free on the thing. I wet the assembly in the evening and the
next morning I was able to turn the collar with just my fingers. Not
easily at first. But I was able to get the thing apart and it was
rust that washed out of the collar and off of the screw.
Eric

 

[Ralph Mowery]

In article <dks86e9vhjl07vetlij6f22dnqs9jkksbt@4ax.com>,
etpm@whidbey.com says...

he collar was stuck pretty good because there was damage to the knurl
from pliers. I tried various penetrating oil over the years and could
never get the collar to trurn. Then a few years ago I tried using some
Break Free on the thing. I wet the assembly in the evening and the
next morning I was able to turn the collar with just my fingers. Not
easily at first. But I was able to get the thing apart and it was
rust that washed out of the collar and off of the screw.
Eric

Waiting overnight or even 2 or so days making sure the part stay wet
often works very well. Many will spray the part and expect it to be
free in about 10 seconds.

 

On Wed, 13 Feb 2019 16:38:51 -0500, Ralph Mowery
<rmowery28146@earthlink.net> wrote:

In article <dks86e9vhjl07vetlij6f22dnqs9jkksbt@4ax.com>,
etpm@whidbey.com says...
he collar was stuck pretty good because there was damage to the knurl
from pliers. I tried various penetrating oil over the years and could
never get the collar to trurn. Then a few years ago I tried using some
Break Free on the thing. I wet the assembly in the evening and the
next morning I was able to turn the collar with just my fingers. Not
easily at first. But I was able to get the thing apart and it was
rust that washed out of the collar and off of the screw.
Eric



Waiting overnight or even 2 or so days making sure the part stay wet
often works very well. Many will spray the part and expect it to be
free in about 10 seconds.

I know about the waiting bit. I had tried that several times on the
sight. Then gave up for years. Then tried the Break Free stuff. I'm
not sure why it wouked when nothing else did.
Eric

 

[Terry Schwartz]

I've always had reasonable success heating the part, then as it cools applying PB Blaster. Time. Then applying mechanical impact -- that seems to be the trifecta.

A few taps with a hammer, or an impact wrench, or the back of a crescent wrench, almost without fail will loosen the suspect nut or bolt.