What Do You Use To Clean Plastic Parts?

[HomerJHandley]

As subject, what do you use to clean the grubbyness of plastic parts?

Assume a toothbrush & something to wipe, but do you soak it in anything special, or just hot water & washing up liquid?

would using clothes washing powder be any more effective than just fairy liquid?

ta

[Tamiya1/10]

I just buy the best and softest, and small (1 inch or less) paint brush to remove all the dirt after each time at the track. For hard to reach places, I use compressed air filled from gas / patrol station free of charge. The paint brush is wash out with soap and water each time. I cannot stand putting away dirty RC, they all must be clean.

[HomerJHandley]

This is for a restoration (or clean up of parts sent and rebuild for a runner) of a 20+ year old car with grubby plastic not after a run as i dont think compressed air will do anything useful

thanks anyhow for replying!

[Arcticfox]

Homer I used a good quality car wax, the liquid stuff to clean my 25 y/o Hotshot 11.

Bodywork and other smooth plastic came up a treat. It was Autoglym showroom shine if that helps. But I have used other car wax and it does the same job.

Only ever used the liquid stuff not the the solid wax.

[Challenger-RT]

I use an ultrasonic cleaner for plastic and metal parts. This works perfect and is very fast also. So you save a lot of time instead of cleaning parts with a toothbrush.

[HomerJHandley]

Are these cleaners available at B&Q and the like as most seem to be either online or at places miles away!

[Arcticfox]

Small and cheap(ish) ultrasonic cleaners are like what you can buy to clean jewellery etc. Try argos.

[No Slack]

Ultrasonic cleaners are perfect but buy a good one (watch the Hz's). Also perfect to clean out your airbrush. You will be surprised how much paint comes out.

[HomerJHandley]

one at argos, but no real information!

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/part...pProductReviews

[No Slack]

http://www.airbrush-services-almere.nl/sho...ts/nl/d117.html

This is the P600 I use. But it is for parts only. (a chassis will not fit in this one). So check out the size you need before buying.

[Arcticfox]

Maplins do one for £20 normally £30 But again you are restricted on size. £300 buys what you can fit a chassis in, or at least half of it and then turn it around

What about using Muc off and leave parts to soak for a couple of hours. Then rinse off in warm water.

[Singleseven]

As subject, what do you use to clean the grubbyness of plastic parts?

Assume a toothbrush & something to wipe, but do you soak it in anything special, or just hot water & washing up liquid?

would using clothes washing powder be any more effective than just fairy liquid?

ta

I soke my parts in bleach overnight and then give them a good clean with a tooth brush in warm soapy water the following day . It works ok but then again an ultrasone cleaner sounds good...

[kaiser]

nylon parts get the hydrogen peroxid treatment to make them white again.

plastic parts get cleaned with a toothbrush and simple green cleaner.

[HomerJHandley]

i got one of these from Argos.

Quite small, and battery powered (!) but seemed to work reasonably well with the plastic parts, with drying with a kitchen roll bringing off any residual muck.

I will be trying later with a really mucky part to see how it brings it up, and will comment better then, as the stuff cleaned had a soak prior.

[94eg!]

[Yonez]

I use biodegradeable degreaser that I have for my bike for cleaning the chain and gears. Always have lots of that around.

Don't know if this is really smart but it is approved for the carbon frame so it should work OK. Did a good job on my vintage hotshot.

Gotta look into those ultrasonic cleaners. The degreaser isn't low labor. And it is badword for screws, nuts and other small fiddly parts.

This one looks interesting:

http://www.amazon.com/KENDAL-LITERS-DIGITA...7872&sr=8-4

[BeetleLover]

OK, so you strip your car down, throw all the plastic parts into a tub, add caustic soda and warm water, a dash of dishwasher crystals/biscuit... walk away for half an hour / hour. Come back and rinse the parts and you will have found, dirt and grease has just fallen off, even hard to reach bits and with no scrubbing!!! I lashed my tub to the top of our washing machine when it was going through the spin cycle, the vibrations aided shifting the dirt from the corners etc... watch cva damper components come up a treat even all the ribs on the tops of the dampers, they'll come up new! I can't recommend this cleaning process enough and do away with the elbow grease and the hours to scrape and brush out every corner...

James

[Guest Greg67]

Great tips guys!

[Arcticfox]

Stick em in the dishwasher when the wife is out, works a treat on CVA plastic of any colour. Place parts in the cutlery tray.

Be warned that Aluminium usually comes out a milky colour, pitted/rusted chrome on springs will clean off and leave bare metal as does any other parts that are metal with rust spots.

Screws with that brown/greeny Japanese plating usually turn milky but can be resurrected with a release oil spray on a rag like wd40 and other cheap sprays (cheaper is best I found)

Don't run it at the hottest cycle. 50c is more than enough. Best to run th washer at the coolest setting and work upto to 50c if needed.

Don't be tempted to put body shells of any type in there.

Always clean as much grease off as possible first, put the washer on the highest heat setting and run emptyafterwards to clean it.

The golden rule though; Never ever get caught doing it

[BeetleLover]

Yip. wanted to use the dishwasher too but that was off limits... I wouldn't suggest putting any metal in there except perhaps stainless steel (what cutlery is made from I'm guessing) Dishwasher powder/biscuit is generally caustic based so is corrosive and will damage the parts/screws. If you have some metal parts treated in this way when they are in a container with other parts the corrosion can propagate and lead to rust. The breakdown on Aluminium can be particularly disheartening, it's a backwards step for sure. You are better off to spend some time with metal polish and buy new screws.

I have also seen several different metals (brass, bronze, steel) react in a caustic solution, I suspect I had actually created a battery creating pops and sparks. Needless to say I didn't end up using these components on my model in the end, they were pitted, matte and had crazy oxidizing going on

James

[bjr250]

For the plastic parts I use a strong solution of clothes washing detergent. I put my parts in a tub with enough warm water to cover them and then add the detergent, in 5 litres I would use about what you use for 1/4-1/2 a load in the washing machine. This then gets left overnight. I then give them a quick going over with an old tooth brush before rinsing them.

James I will have to steal your idea for strapping the tub to the washing machine.

For the metal parts I put them all into a large glass jar (coffee or similar) and cover them with turpentine. I then give the jar a good shake every half hour or so for a couple of hours. This does not harm any of the parts or cause any oxidation. If you are worried about the effects of turps on the plastics when you reuse the screws etc you can then use a similar method but with a less aggressive solvent to remove the turps, however I have never had a problem.

[Mouton]

If you want to use Tamiya products:

http://www.tamiya.com/english/rc/e_beginne...nance/index.htm

The RC Cleaning Spray (87039) is great.

[Will16]

First I blow the lose stuff off with a air can then I wipe with a cloth.

[Jonesy76]

I find warm water and a bristle brush is superb for getting general dirt off components when I'm rebuilding an old RC, but once the parts are dirt free I then swap over to a steam cleaner to get old oil, grease stuck on muck off it.

[tonysmini]

I use Muck Off bike chain degreaser to clean all of my metal parts, they come out like new and a quick rub with industrial paper towel (blue roll) brings them up a treat. If I am reusing any bearings, they get soaked in Muck Off's Chain Wax spray then left until all of the solvent has evaporated. Wipe off the excess wax from the outside of the bearings and they are ready to go.

All plastic parts go in the sink with fairy liquid, hot water that I can comfortably put my hands in and then leave to soak for half an hour or so. Then give it all a good stir, and any stubborn bits get a going over from a soft bristle half inch paintbrush with neat fairy then soaked again for another half hour.

A good rinse off and air dry and it looks like new.