I use a clean rag and alcohol to clean the gate and trap, sound drums and metal rollers. Alcohol disolves any deposited film emulation and evaporates leaving no residue.

I use Q-Tips and alcohol to clean sprockets. It is very possible to accidently get a toothbrush bristle cought in the intermittent resulting in a badly scratched print--even if you clean the machine correctly by turning it over by hand!

409 or a mild soap solution followed by a clean water rinse and thourough drying to clean plastic rollers and platter decks.

Clear silicon bicycle chain lube to lube rollers such as on the AW-3 that do not use roller bearings on the rollers.

When cleaning painted surfaces, be careful of what you use, as solvents can attack and remove the finish! I like to use something like STP Silicon and NOT Armor All--which contains alcohol and can ruin finishes over the long haul!

No to carburator cleaner for reasons already stated!

No to compressed air, as you do nothing but blow crap around, and in a worse case situation can damage equipment by blowing dirt into places where it can cause damage. Using compressed air to clean machines in a machine shop enviornment is one of the deadly sins! Shop vac is much better! Compressed air is needed to blow out motor brush carbon dust--but take the motor off the platter and do this outside!

I have my own ways of cleaning bearing surfaces and cast iron (to remove rust), and am a little hesitant about discussing it for fear of an inexperienced person having an accident and or ruining the machine.

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Unless there are serious objections to its use, I am attracted to the idea of using diesel because of all the products mentioned here (for degreasing) diesel is the most readily available here.

Is anybody else using diesel for cleaning?

Brad: Is there a comparable product to substitute LPS Cleaner/Degreaser? There is a NAPA parts store here and they carry the LPS brand, but not that product. The main ingredient in the NAPA degreaser is kerosene.

And, while we're on the subject, is there anything that will safely remove these purple-ish stains from the projector?

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And, hey! Let's be careful out there.

~Manny.

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I am only using FilmGuard for edges at the moment, so I don't think I'll reap that benefit just yet.

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And, hey! Let's be careful out there.

I use diesel as a parts degreaser when rebuilding projectors, not to clean operating machinery (i guess the projectors would smell like a truck stop if you were to do so) and mainly because it is readily available, safe for almost anything you can stick into it (don't use it to clean roller bearings for example), and cheap when compared to many other commercial degreasing solvents.

Once the parts are cleaned, some get simply wiped dry with a shop rag, others (head castings, shutter housing castings, large pulleys, etc.) get washed in hot soapy water then immediately towel dried.

I am required to "rebuild" each of these Century's (poss Monee copy) about once every 4-6 weeks. Essentially, the whole thing gets torn down, inspected and remounted. It may seem like overkill, but the problems go away when this fanatical approach is used. It's good in a way because I have found quite a few screws that vibrated loose as well as the occasional gear that is showing signs of wear.

The heavy-duty techs have to fly in from the U.S. and after 9/11 they aren't too willing to get on an airplane...or into an airport. I hear it's hell trying to get on an international flight. Anyway, we have generally managed to limit their involvement to installation and electrical maintenance/repairs.

Also, I am down to the last two tubes of LUBRIPLATE and I'm wondering if anybody has ideas about gear lubricants. Is it really true that Vaseline Petrolium Jelly is the spec. lube for the gears in these?

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And, hey! Let's be careful out there.

~Manny.

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1. Genuine Century gear grease (the orange stuff)

2. Permatex 'SuperLube' grease (CPI and others re-label this as 'Century Gear Grease')

3. Vaseline (only if none of the other lubricants are available)

Don't use:

1. Lubriplate or any other 'white grease': All it will do is harden up and become a huge mess.

2. 'Wheel Bearing' grease: While it will do a satisfactory job of lubing the gears and doesn't harden (and can be used as a last resort if none of the other recommended lubes are available), it is VERY messy and difficult to clean out of the housing because it is very thick and sticky. This grease is very good for use on platter disc bearings however...

The orange Century grease...sold by Strong?...product number is TU-380?

Richard: Does TVP sell this stuff?

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And, hey! Let's be careful out there.

~Manny.

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Sorry if this is a dumb question...but Is that the same thing as Molybdenum Disulphide grease? If so, then do you have a specific product to recommend? I ask because there are all sorts of different grease products containing Moly.

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And, hey! Let's be careful out there.

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Manny you can order Molybdium Disulphide Multi purpose grease on line at MrMoly.com.