Wippen ( and other action part ) cleaning secret revealed!

[gordon stelter]

To all of you who emailed me privately, and everyone
else, here again is how I clean really nasty action
parts:

Wear a good carbon filter mask, rubber gloves goggles,
ski hat, rainsuit and rubber boots. THIS STUFF IS VERY
CORROSIVE TO SKIN !!!!!!  
Put a few gallons of "SuperClean" or equivalent 
( cheapest from auto paint stores ) in a 5 gallon
bucket. ( But don't use "Greased Lightening", which
smells like dog pee, or that Green stuff which
discolors the parts and doesn't clean them well! )
Throw in the wippens. Slosh around for a  few seconds.
Dump the filthy resulting ooze into another bucket
through a screen to catch any important parts ( like
jacks ) which may have come off.( I remove all the
jacks anyway during this procedure and save for
re-gluing later )  I also OCCASSIONALLY find that a
part, usually a flange, comes unglued as it was
originally machined from a laid-up board. So you want
to examine all the bits ( mostly action felts and coil
springs )that come off.   Rinse the wippens with a
hose until most of the suds stop coming out of them (
Blasting off remaining old felt at the same time. ).
   Lay the cleaned parts out on a  screen and flip
over every few minutes. Blow a fan over them if you
wish.
     Bring indoors and let dry for another week.
Lubricate with Protek. Re-bush if necessary ( often
not! ) 
     I don't consider this a substitute for replacing
with quality new parts, IF available!  But I have used
it with great success on actions with filthy, obsolete
parts. The next time I intend to also follow-up with
ozone treatment for maximum odor emoval, although the
above cleaning will get out most of the old odors. (
But not severe mouse-pee smell. )
    Thump

P.S. If you missed the "after" photo, it may have gone
to your bulk folder, as it did with me.



		
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