cleaning up a old glowhead

PV Pilot Thu Oct 20, 2011 10:31 pm

Looks good. Another way is to spray with eagle 1 etching formulaa mag wheel cleaner,,let it set for a few minutes,,then rinse with water, buff by hand with your method or just a terry cloth.

**Admin** Thu Oct 20, 2011 11:28 pm

Looks great! I have a friend who said he cleans up his heads and other engine parts with a Scotch Brite green scrubby.

I was just talking to him and he said he got sick after cleaning a huge amount of aluminum parts. He went to the doctor and said it was from breathing aluminum oxide powder probably created when cleaning the parts and not wearing a approved mask.

nitroairplane Fri Oct 21, 2011 3:45 am

Thanks Mark just in time for my space hopper. Very Happy

SuperDave Fri Oct 21, 2011 8:13 am

A "scrubby" highly abrasive and destructive to soft surfaces like aluminum, plastic etc.

A better cleaning element would be a solvent that would soften "crud" allowing to be wiped or brushed away without damaging the surface.

Kim Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:10 am

Admin wrote:Looks great! I have a friend who said he cleans up his heads and other engine parts with a Scotch Brite green scrubby.

I was just talking to him and he said he got sick after cleaning a huge amount of aluminum parts. He went to the doctor and said it was from breathing aluminum oxide powder probably created when cleaning the parts and not wearing a approved mask.

Good point. Don't know about the rest of you guys, but I can get caught up in the work at hand and forget that a single speck of flying metal, or dust cloud launched from a tool can really mess up your day. Keep a pair of good, clear safety glasses handy, along with a stack of paint masks....stored in a zip-lock bag. They're all relatively cheap, but still won't help if you don't use them.

PV Pilot Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:26 am

The little nylon or steel bristles off of a dremel wire type wheel can make the eye water, if one dislodges at high speed and bounces off of the eyeball, not to mention poking out a eye. Even if your eyes are out of the plane of the spinning tool, it can still happen.

I had a dremel carbide grinding bit shatter once and pepper me with shrapnel. The really thin brown cutoff wheels are notorious for that, so much that I stopped using them.

**Admin** Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:27 am

SuperDave wrote:A "scrubby" highly abrasive and destructive to soft surfaces like aluminum, plastic etc.

A better cleaning element would be a solvent that would soften "crud" allowing to be wiped or brushed away without damaging the surface.

Well, he is one that doesn't care about the actual cosmetic condition of the engine parts. I have only tried the green scrubby on a few glow heads myself and absolutely nothing else. The glow heads were just average 1990s-2000s heads that just needed a quick cleanup. Although they really don't look bad after a quick cleaning, you can see it looks slightly rounded on the edges.

andrew Fri Oct 21, 2011 11:50 am

PV Pilot wrote:
...... The really thin brown cutoff wheels are notorious for that, so much that I stopped using them.

I really like the cutoff wheels and use them for any number of jobs.

However, you're absolutely correct --- apply any side load and they will break into multiple pieces. When using them, I practice the same rule that I do with running propellors: Stay out of the failure zone!! If the wheel breaks up or a prop throws a blade, I don't want to be in the trajectory.

Mark Boesen Fri Oct 21, 2011 12:42 pm

I carefully use fine sandpaper to remove the aluminum oxidation as it does a nice job of recreating the machined finish and does not round edges, use the Dremel nylon brush for final touch-ups and remember to used a small screwdriver to straighten any bent fins prior to cleaning. The tape on the wrench reduces the chance of marring the glowhead

ideeman1994 Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:24 am

Wow, didn't know this one! It works great, I applied this treatment to a Car engine on both the glow head and the flywheel, and it looks just like new!

shell shock Sat Oct 22, 2011 9:23 am

nitroairplane wrote:Thanks Mark just in time for my space hopper.

Oh? So your mystery engine did turn out to be a Space Hopper then?

@all

to clean my airsoft/engines/motorized bike (2stroke), i simply use this stuff:
http://www.chemicalguys.com/Extreme_Orange_AllPurpose_Cleaner_Degreasers_p/cld_106.htm

SS

nitroairplane Sat Oct 22, 2011 9:27 am

PV Pilot wrote:The little nylon or steel bristles off of a dremel wire type wheel can make the eye water, if one dislodges at high speed and bounces off of the eyeball, not to mention poking out a eye. Even if your eyes are out of the plane of the spinning tool, it can still happen.

I had a dremel carbide grinding bit shatter once and pepper me with shrapnel. The really thin brown cutoff wheels are notorious for that, so much that I stopped using them.

Mine shatter a lot i think its just because they are old i only have 2 left.

PV Pilot Sat Oct 22, 2011 9:37 am

nitroairplane wrote:
PV Pilot wrote:The little nylon or steel bristles off of a dremel wire type wheel can make the eye water, if one dislodges at high speed and bounces off of the eyeball, not to mention poking out a eye. Even if your eyes are out of the plane of the spinning tool, it can still happen.

I had a dremel carbide grinding bit shatter once and pepper me with shrapnel. The really thin brown cutoff wheels are notorious for that, so much that I stopped using them.

Mine shatter a lot i think its just because they are old i only have 2 left.

Black and Decker have a .025 cutoff wheel which is supposedly a bit more durable than the brown Dremel .025 brown wheels. The brown Dremel emery wheels CANNOT be sideloaded at all,,not a bit,, or they fly apart. They have always been that way for years,,just to delicate for anything but very small diameter wire or the like and a very steady hand. One thing that does help is to shape them down to about 1/2 size with the Dremel dressing stone, then they are slightly more durable.
http://www.dremel.com/en-au/Accessories/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=415

ideeman1994 Sat Oct 22, 2011 9:39 am

Mark, can you show also in images how you clean up the cylinder and the crankcase? I imagine it's a little more trickier to clean those up without damaging them...

Thanks, Manu

nitroairplane Sat Oct 22, 2011 9:44 am

PV Pilot wrote:
nitroairplane wrote:
PV Pilot wrote:The little nylon or steel bristles off of a dremel wire type wheel can make the eye water, if one dislodges at high speed and bounces off of the eyeball, not to mention poking out a eye. Even if your eyes are out of the plane of the spinning tool, it can still happen.

I had a dremel carbide grinding bit shatter once and pepper me with shrapnel. The really thin brown cutoff wheels are notorious for that, so much that I stopped using them.

Mine shatter a lot i think its just because they are old i only have 2 left.

Black and Decker have a .025 cutoff wheel which is supposedly a bit more durable than the brown Dremel .025 brown wheels. The brown Dremel emery wheels CANNOT be sideloaded at all,,not a bit,, or they fly apart. They have always been that way for years,,just to delicate for anything but very small diameter wire or the like and a very steady hand. One thing that does help is to shape them down to about 1/2 size with the Dremel dressing stone, then they are slightly more durable.
http://www.dremel.com/en-au/Accessories/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=415

Thanks for that PV i'll be sure to check those out.

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