Cleaning 1st Stg without usltrasonic

[plaamook]

Hi everyone,
Sorry if this has been addressed somewhere but I've looked (and looked...) and I can't find it.
I need to service some DS4's and I don't have an ultrasonic bath (yet) so I'm just gonna do it the hard way. Vinegar and a toothbrush.
Can anyone remind me what the vinegar mix is (50/50%...?) and how long one should soak parts for? I haven't done this for some years now.
Thanks in advance

 

[kmev]

Vinegar is usually around 8% acetic acid and cutting it 50/50 gives you about a 4% soulution. 3% to 4% is ideal as is a 5 minute soak. Any more than that and you risk removing the chrome regardless of the acid used.

With the use of any acid including vinegar, you need to follow up with a soda bath to neutralize the acids. A 5 minute soak in a solution of 2 tables spoons of baking soda per quart of water works well. Most of the crud also bubbles off when the parts are placed in the soda bath whihc is always fun to watch. You really should use a basket to move the parts from the acid bath to the soda bath and then to the hot water rinse to prevent you from touching the acid or losing any small parts along the way.

Acids can be used on the plastic parts but it is normally not required unless the reg is in a really bad way. And then, keep the dip times short.

You also want to be careful with teflon coated springs and lever. I normally skip the acid bath with them and under no circumstances do you want to put them in an ultrasonic cleaner as it will remove the teflon coating.

From another thread.

 

[Jacob BV]

Biox (the stuff reccomended by apeks) is amazing stuff, most parts don't need an ultrasonic clean if you put it in some warm biox. I also keep used biox and use this as a pre wash, wash it off with distilled water then put in fresh biox. You can also dilute it quite a bit (I think I use 50/50) and it still remains really effective. So although it seems a high upfront cost it really works amazing and lasts a long time.

 

[plaamook]

Cheers guys.
That'll do.
Biox...I'm that poor. Hence the toothbrush!

 

[SlugLife]

Cheers guys.
That'll do.
Biox...I'm that poor. Hence the toothbrush!

No shame in that. If you're not doing a bunch of regulators, a lot of tools that make things easier, might not make much sense. Even if you weren't "poor" it's a matter of prioritization. Do you spend $80 on an ultra-sonic machine, or buy some cutting devices, tools, etc?

I bought an ultrasonic, but it mostly just takes up space in a box. The ultrasonic I did buy probably wasn't that much better than a tooth-brush and proper chemicals to be honest.

 

[plaamook]

Shame...yet another luxury I can't afford any more!
80€ buy's a lot of beer. And fills. And petrol. And so forth.

 

[sea_ledford]

You can also microwave the parts. Yes, in a regular microwave. Just make absolutely sure that all parts are completely submerged. Unless you like the lightning bolt in a box feature.

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but it worked like a champ!

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

My regs very seldom (if ever) have enough verdigris or crud in them to warrant an ultrasonic cleaning. I soak my regs attached to a tank and pressurized, and as a result they are always like new and clean inside. 50/50 white vinegar solution will take care of anything else if needed.
I have restored some pretty old crusty regs in the past that were given to me and 50/50 vinegar always seems to loosen even the worst crud.

 

[Bigbella]

Plus-1 on the 1:1 white vinegar / water solution, though I would heat it to around 50˚ C for a ten minute soak -- and an old toothbrush can be awfully effective . . .

 

[SlugLife]

My regs very seldom (if ever) have enough verdigris or crud in them to warrant an ultrasonic cleaning. I soak my regs attached to a tank and pressurized, and as a result they are always like new and clean inside. 50/50 white vinegar solution will take care of anything else if needed.
I have restored some pretty old crusty regs in the past that were given to me and 50/50 vinegar always seems to loosen even the worst crud.

Same. It's the "ebay regulators" which need an ultra-sonic. O-rings are crumbly. Salt-corrosion in places you'd think was impossible. Cleary drug through all kinds of muck. Probably flooded multiple times with salt-water. Probably not serviced since they were bought.

My own regs which I've already serviced, I may take them apart and rinse once a year because I'm bored and it's too cold for me to scuba-diving. Or if I accidentally flood them. They usually look like I serviced them yesterday.