Subject:
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Re: Strong smoke smell on parts
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Sun, 7 Feb 2010 04:17:15 GMT
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Viewed:
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14939 times
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In lugnet.general, Frank Filz wrote:
> I have successfully used anti-bacterial liquid soap for cleaning smoke
> smelling parts. I soak the parts for a couple days in a soapy solution.
>
> One thing I noticed is that the smokey smell comes from an oily deposit, so
> my feeling is a soap solution is important.
That was my feeling too. I started off trying the vinegar-in-a-container thing,
but the smoky bricks now smell like smoke and vinegar; at best the smoke smell
has diminished only a little bit. When I get to washing them I'll make sure to
do a rinse first, to be safe.
I've noticed overall the advice on this front is very scattered--people have
many different techniques but most of them are light on details. Lugnet really
needs a good document on safe washing/drying techniques.
Since most of the conservative advice I've seen revolves around a light wash in
mild soap, I tried this with a load of parts (1 lb. tan, assorted) I got off
eBay. Most of the bricks are in good used condition as described, but a few are
scratched and some had various dirt. I removed patterned parts and did a brief
wash in lukewarm water with a light amount of dish soap (no dyes, no perfumes).
I had to take off the grime from the worst of them, a 1x2 plate, by hand, but it
came right off after only a couple of minutes in the water. I didn't have the
heart to leave the parts in longer. My wash basin is a plastic container with
lots (but not enough) of tiny holes drilled in the base; the holes are only 1.6
mm, 4 LDU, so they're safe for small parts.
I've begun air-drying the parts, having spread them out in 4 rows on paper
towels on cooling racks--except the bottom layer which is on a large bowl lid,
so no air flow underneath. I'm running a fan in the room (not straight at them,
so as not to blow away the paper towels or small parts). One thing I've noticed
early in this process is that the water is clinging to the interior of many
parts, especially the bottoms of bricks and plates. What I'm wondering is, does
air drying take care of that or would a light tumbling every day or so be
recommended?
Also, has anyone ever tried desiccants? I wonder if it's easier (perhaps even
faster) to stick the mostly-dried parts into a container with a bag of silica
gel and let the silica do all the work. Drying from within a container is the
best option if it's feasible, since the drying rack I have set up is on our very
limited counter space and I don't want to have to worry about cats knocking
anything over.
> One thing this will NOT work for is chromed parts, the soap breaks down the
> chrome.
Thanks. I'll definitely remember that. I don't think any chrome parts were in my
smoky lot but I'm sure this issue will come up again in the future.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Strong smoke smell on parts
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| (...) I have successfully used anti-bacterial liquid soap for cleaning smoke smelling parts. I soak the parts for a couple days in a soapy solution. One thing I noticed is that the smokey smell comes from an oily deposit, so my feeling is a soap (...) (15 years ago, 4-Feb-10, to lugnet.general)
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