What do you need to do to break the bond of blue loctite?  Heat or force?

Also, what do you need to clean up blue loctite if you put too much on threads and some of it seeped up around the bolt head and onto a handguard?  I want the handguard to be clean for when I spray paint it.

Blue should just be force. Yes, wipe up the excess

After its already dried I Mean.  I tried to wipe it up but there was a small area I couldn't reach and I want to get that part too with some sort of solvent.  But I don't know what to use.

I used to use brake clean or carb cleaner and a q-tip. Or a cotton rag wrapped around tweezers or toothpick. I would try alcohol first. It's been awhile since a cared about excess. I usually use it on my truck or Harley.

Loctite is an anerobic compound - it hardens only in the absence of air, actually oxygen IIRC.

Thats why the bottle is not full, the airspace keeps it liquid.

So, any compound you can see, is probably still liquid. Just hard to get to, to wipe up.



As far as I know, there is no solvent for cured Loctite, at least any chemicals you want to use.



I would suggest mechanical removal - scrape, wipe, rub, etc. Toothpick, dentist explorer type of thing.



It sounds like to much got applied - a little drop will do ya - blue will usually come apart mechanically,

but a heavy coat can be tough, especially on small fasteners. Some heat softens it pretty nicely, tho.

A hair dryer, heat gun, or even a soldering iron right on the fastener, can do wonders.



Also, keep loctite off plastic components, it can eat them up, sometimes catastrophically.





 

Another idea would be to go to the Locktite website and see what info and FAQ's they might have. I'm just a shade tree mechanic

Methylene Chloride or you could try Acetone.

This.

Though I have never found a source of Methylene Chloride that was pure enough to work very well. I usually end up soaking the parts in Acetone.

Even after the Acetone I still have to pick at the threadlocker to get it off the threads.


Don't get either of these on plastic though.

All I got is xylene, naptha and paint stripper in a spray can?  Will the xylene do the same thing?  I'm guessing it should.  Definitely don't get that on plastic though.

I don't know, I have never tried Xylene... Naptha won't do anything but the paint stripper might have Methylene Chloride in it, you should search for the MSDS online to find the list of ingredients.

For your situation I would think just blasting at it with brakleen should work since the threadlocker is not cured.

I've had luck using Permatex Gasket Remover-----I also understand that MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) will dissolve it.

Steal one of your wife's or girlfriend fingernail pushers (plastic or wood with an angle on tip)

Scrape it off.

I have tried MEK, it won't touch cured threadlocker.

I have never had issues with turning cured blue loctite screws with just a wrench. The torque rating, I believe is about 50lbs to undo but I always find it starts to turn at about 30lbs torque or so. This is all assuming you have a good screw in there and you're using the proper wrench/screwdriver and a proper base. For tiny screws or cheaply made screws or improper tools will strip the head of the screw and you're in for a real hard time. You'll just have to trust that you won't break/strip the screw head by giving it a good thug. Don't be afraid to put some elbow grease on it.

However, blue loctite 242 has a temp threshold of about 200 degrees so if all parts are metal, you can simply use heat and simply turn the screw. For really stubborn, long time loctite stuff, I find heating it first really helps.

If you have a tiny screw, I recommend getting purple loctite. Also, you might want to invest in rockset for firearms. Of course it is much harder to undo but its weakness is water so soaking it helps.