[m4rtin]

hello,
what is the best dissolvent to clean inline bearings? Inline bearings are usually made of steel or titanium. Most people use petrol, rubbing alcohol, diesel or acetone. Which of those chemicals should be the best to clean bearings? Is the acetone only chemical of those which does not leave any recrements?

I would be very thankfull if any chemist could give an explanation

[enahs]

Go to your local auto parts store and by a cheap can of brake parts cleaner. It is a combination of petroleum solvents and should work excellent. It also evaporates really fast and leaves virtually no residue.

Or, if it is pure grease you are trying to remove, the brake parts cleaner will work great, but a can of degreaser will work even better, again it is just a mix of petroleum solvents.

These come in spary-paint size cans, and if you live near any city larger then ~3,000 people they should cost less then $2 American, and likely to find them on sale for less then $1 American.

They are excellent to have around, great for cleaning off the bar-b-q and anything troublesome on metal.


The other advantage of these is that they are in a compressed form, and so when you hook up the cheap nozzle (the long red thing) you can get precise aim with a decent bit of pressure it hard to reach locations.

[m4rtin]

thank you! I'll give it a try. However, if we look petrol, rubbing alcohol, diesel and acetone, then which is the strongest dissolvent of those? And is the acetone only one which does not leave any recrements?

[enahs]

The diesel would probably leave a bit of junk. So would the petrol, but not as much as the diesel.
Acetone and rubbing alcohol should not leave much, if any; but this depends on the quality and purity of your solvent.

For which is the strongest/best for your application, it also depends on what exactly you are trying to remove from the metal.