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Posted: 6/19/2004 6:44:51 AM EDT
| Anyone one ever use brake cleaner to clean their AR? This stuff really breaks down powder residue and totally evaporates in just seconds. Thought it would be good for those hard to reach areas but I'm unsure of the affect it would have on my finish. |
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Brake Cleaner works so well that a company renames it "Gun Scrubber" and sells it for $7/can!!! (they really are that similar). Now, on this topic, for cleaning masses of grease/carbon/cosmolene/greasy sand, etc in a WELL VENTILATED AREA: Here is something to save you a TON of money if you clean often!!! (information courtesy of Chameleon Weaponry, at no charge to you!) If you have an air compressor of any size with a holding tank (the little $75 2 gallon ones from wal mart are fine) you can do this!!! 1) Get a regulator and line dryer: $20 2) Cheap Car Paint gun with 1-1.5mm nozzle: $35 3) PPG DX320 "General Purpose Cleaner" (Naptha, Toulene, many other good solvents in it), 1 gal: $12, 5 Gal: $30 (the solvent fumes/etc aren't any more harmful/worse than GunScrubber, no worries, plus it works much better!). The above can all be purchased from your local autobody shop. Make sure you get the "general purpose cleaner" that has acetone and Naptha in it, you can get MUCH more powerful solvents, (but they will melt plastics). Acetone. Another option is a solvent based on Alcohols and other chemicals, haven't tried it but it should also work. Hook all of it up on line from compressor. Set pressure at 45psi to spray gun. Fill spray gun with solvent. First "stage" of spraygun trigger is air only, so you have the "blower" part to dry. 2nd stage is "solvent", the further you go with the trigger, the more solvent comes out, there is a knob to adjust the maximum, usually don't need much solvent, but you can go full bore, doesn't do much other than waste more... Now, get part over garbage can in ventilated area. Pull trigger on spray gun all the way back about 3" from part(s) to be cleaned. Let up to have just air only for "dry" (is dry in 5 seconds). Repeat. If you have a smaller compressor (2 gal tank), you will probably only get 30 seconds of spray/dry before you ahve to wait for the compressor to get the pressure back up. Assuming you buy all of this new and set it up ($150 if you need to buy the hose), you have the cleaning ability of about 100 cans of brake cleaner for less than the cost of the brake cleaner!!!! It gets better, once your first 5 gallon of solvent is gone, it is then only $30 for another 100+ cans worth of brake cleaner! (imagine cost if you were using Gun Scrubber....) I haven't seen this solvent damage any plastics (I would keep it away from scopes), and it will remove bowflage and Krylon if you soak at the Krylon too long. (same thing Gun Scrubber and brake cleaner will do). All of this, plus a built in dryer instead of solvent only!!!! I came up with this idea for painting the guns using an older HVLP gun I had, worked great, so then I got a Very Cheap detail gun (siphon fed, can on bottom, inline lever for air/solvent: $25), and it is now a setup in two rooms of the shop! Everybody that sees it says "wow, I gotta set that up!" I use this on everything and cannot believe the amount of time saved, and the cost (about $0.50 for AR receiver, bolt, trigger group). This also works good as a "pre-cleaner" for your bore if you are going to clean it. Blast some solvent down the bore before working on the bolt/receiver, and go back and blast a bit more down the bore (from the receiver side) every few minutes. You will be amazed at how little cleaning is required once the powder is gone, and the bulk of the soft carbon (taking copper fouling with it), without even using a patch/cleaning rod! (Still use proper cleaning and oil bore afterwards, as this strips EVERYTHING out, allowing rust) You don't need to clean the spraygun, as you are running solvent through it, just empty it and let it sit until you need it again if you aren't going to be using it for a week or more. Make sure you oil parts quickly and wipe down all other metal parts with oil, as this strips all oil off. After adding up the costs just now, Anybody that buys more than 2 cases of brake cleaner a year should seriously consider going to this setup, and if you already have a compressor, there is No Reason you shouldn't! Finally: Yes, you can use this solvent on surfaces finished by me (Lauer DuraCoat), it doesn't melt away unless you soak it in something severe overnight and then scrub and then soak... Wear Eye Protection Chem Mask (charcoal type, $5 disposable) wouldn't be bad idea, make sure you are outside or have much air moving! Not responsible for people using the wrong solvent and melting some plastic or stripping off the finish on wood items, or anything else for that matter. |
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ONE WORD FOF CAUTION - These solvents strip ALL traces of lubrication from the metal surfaces. You need to thoroughly relubricate everything and all surfaces thereof after using them. I like Remoil aerosol for this general purpose, overall purpose. One more thing, solvents are bad for you. Keep them off your skin and out of your lungs. |
Pay attention to these points! An item cleaned with GunScrubber/BrakeCleaner, or worse, my "setup"  will rust pretty far in 1 day of average humidity and heat. I rcommend wiping the individual pieces down with an oiled rag so you don't make a giant gunk magnet out of "spray on" oil. For the bore, an OTIS pullthrough with MPro7 cleaner followed by oil usually gives me a white patch (yes, NO BRUSH!), wipe down all of the outside with a silicone rag or a simple cotton cloth you have soaked in Mpro7 oil many times (aka "gun rag"). I am a huge fan of MPro7 oil and carbon solvent, not very popular, but extremely good. At the shop, I would say that 30% of the guns we get in to "fix" are simply gunked up because people have a jam, spray in some oil at whatever is visible, it starts working again, so they go until it stops, then spray in more, up until spraying in oil doesn't make it work. That is why I found the setup above priceless to clean these guns up quickly (minutes now vs. hour+ to: disassemble, clean to 'factory new', oil, and assemble). Much faster and more thorough than a solvent tank or parts washer, only downfall is the fumes. On the fumes: Between the solvents and paint, I developed chemically induced asthma last November/December, to the point of needing an inhailer and oxygen (I got better.  ). I now use a "free air" system while painting. It is like a fighter pilot's mask pumping in fresh air from 50 feet away in fresh air. Prior to that I only used the disposable 3M chem/particle masks, but they didn't cut enough of the stuff out (isocyanides in paint go through them and burn lungs).I edited my post above to reiterate the need for Good Ventilation when using the "super soaker" cleaner setup I detailed, and would also recommend being outside WITH a 3M mask (particle + organic/acid filter) on! They cost about $12 and for use while cleaning would last a year. Sometimes cumbersome, but Well Worth It. There is nothin worse than not being able to breathe! 
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Hey brass, Thanks for the tutorial! I recently picked up a compressor, and I'm thinking about trying your technique. What kind of gloves do you use? I ask because I accidently picked up carb cleaner instead of brake cleaner the other day when I was doing my brakes. The carb cleaner has toluene in it, and it made my hands burn like crazy. Thx, fiz |
Nitrile, thicker ones. Latex kinda just dissolve... They aren't the cheapest to get, but they work very well. ($4/50) |
I'm pretty new to this forum (and have my 20" Bushmaster parts on order....YEEHAAW!)....but was wondering if yall would recommend using mineral spirits to clean my new Bushie after a day at the range?? Here's my current cleaning system: I've got a large rubbermaid (Sp.?) food container found at walmart and a gallon can of low-odor mineral spirits (also found at walmart) to clean my handgun parts after a shooting session. I fill the container about half-full, then totally submerge frame/slide/parts (minus grips) and go to work on them with an old toothbrush, do any neccessary bore solvent work, then set them aside to dry. While parts are drying, I put a coffee filter into a large funnel, pour the mineral spirits back into the gallon can via the coffee filter, put the cap back on, wipe out the container of all small metal/carbon/debris, then dispose of the filter with a lighter.......Poof!! hing Good system?? he Thanks for opinions! Mike |
Oh, and carb cleaner my have some sort of oil in it (believe it or not) to loosen the choke on the carb... It leaves some residue that is usually "unfriendly" to paintworks, but not a huge problem if you are just de-gunking. |
Yeah, it does have a residue. I sprayed my rotors and got some on my hands. They started to burn like hell, so I doused them in cold water. When I came back out, I noticed that the rotors had an oily sheen. That's when I realized that I had grabbed the wrong red can at autozone. |
Same here. Works real good. Got my brake cleaner at the 99 cent store for $.99 a can. Very similar to Gun Scubber. 556man |
You used carb cleaner on a minigun?!!?!?? 
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