I just copy and paste the info on this forum and wait and see if anyone has a comment on what I find to be interesting.
1. A reader's comment on an quote from an article:
“A small bucket of 100LL Avgas works well to clean the bearings.”
While it’s basically true, Stoddard solvent is a safer alternative.
2. Another comment by the same person:
'the suggestion to use compressed air to dry the bearings is correct—but should have warned readers that compressed air should never be used to spin a clean, dry bearing'.
Bearings
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Colonel
- Posts: 2450
- Joined: Wed Jan 15, 2020 10:02 pm
- Location: Over The Runway
Oh dear. Using gasoline as a solvent is extremely dangerous, because
it evaporates so quickly. I far prefer low-odor mineral spirits, which is
certainly flammable, but evaporates so slowly, it is safe to use inside
a building for cleaning grease.
Everyone that works on an airplane should get a gallon of mineral spirits
and a squirt bottle and a pile of rags. Don't use caustic soap on metal
to dissolve grease. Collect old windshield fluid jugs and cut some off
at various heights for bowls for cleaning parts.
As far as spinning a bearing with compressed air, it's important to realize
the difference between scratching your @ss and tearing yourself a new
one. In my lifetime I have dried bearings with compressed air and never
hurt one, but I try to keep the RPM below 100,000 and the load is negligible.
it evaporates so quickly. I far prefer low-odor mineral spirits, which is
certainly flammable, but evaporates so slowly, it is safe to use inside
a building for cleaning grease.
Everyone that works on an airplane should get a gallon of mineral spirits
and a squirt bottle and a pile of rags. Don't use caustic soap on metal
to dissolve grease. Collect old windshield fluid jugs and cut some off
at various heights for bowls for cleaning parts.
As far as spinning a bearing with compressed air, it's important to realize
the difference between scratching your @ss and tearing yourself a new
one. In my lifetime I have dried bearings with compressed air and never
hurt one, but I try to keep the RPM below 100,000 and the load is negligible.
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Liquid_Charlie
- Posts: 451
- Joined: Sat Jan 18, 2020 3:36 pm
- Location: Sioux Lookout On.
- Contact:
That is too funny. My introduction to "bush" maintenance was watching the engineer hose the engines down with his thumb over the nozzle of the 80/87 fuelling hose at the dock in Red Lake. Greta would shit her pants.Oh dear. Using gasoline as a solvent is extremely dangerous
"black air has no lift - extra fuel has no weight"
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Colonel
- Posts: 2450
- Joined: Wed Jan 15, 2020 10:02 pm
- Location: Over The Runway
Yeah, I'll be in big trouble if David Suzuki ever finds out about this:
Gasoline as a solvent is wild. Use it outside with a good breeze, so
that a combustible mixture of vapor cannot form.
After an airshow, Freddy would pour a gallon of 100LL into the
floor of the front cockpit of his Pitts. It would run down and back
and clean out the oil inside. I would run away when he did that.
I do not understand people who use gasoline as a solvent. Mineral
spirits is just not that expensive.
Gasoline as a solvent is wild. Use it outside with a good breeze, so
that a combustible mixture of vapor cannot form.
After an airshow, Freddy would pour a gallon of 100LL into the
floor of the front cockpit of his Pitts. It would run down and back
and clean out the oil inside. I would run away when he did that.
I do not understand people who use gasoline as a solvent. Mineral
spirits is just not that expensive.