Methyl Ethyl Ketone as a cleaner?

MEK is some wicked cleaning solvent. We use it a lot in the Aviation Industry.

Everyone else has mentioned the stuff to know about it Re: Safety. It's got a bit of a minty scent to it I find.

Wear gloves, fresh air and rinse your parts after with something like Iso then oil it up proper.
 
When I worked for Behnsen Graphic Supplies in Vancouver, back in the late 80's and 90's, we had MEK in our ventilated solvent room in the basement. It was used as a solvent/cleanup for certain screen printing inks- possibly epoxies. Other than pulling tins for orders I never had to work with it but I remember being told it was particularly nasty. I pity the poor buggers who bought that property as I'm sure the"solvent dungeon" required some special cleanup procedures.
 
To all of you, thank you for your input! To expand on my original post, I had a buddy who swore it was the be all and end all when it comes to cleaning steel. He said it would take off anything down to the bare metal. He lied! I had intended it to clean baked on carbon residue on the gas system of my Winchester Mod.100, and so today I had the chance to use it. Here's what my personal experience has shown. First off, to those warning me about the dangers of toxic fumes, thank you, but I had worked with toluol when I was younger and I didn't find it any more foul or dangerous than toluene or acetone. Secondly, as a cleaner, it's no better than CT carb cleaner or crud cutter. With all of these, you still need steel wool or a bronze bristle brush to remove all of the baked on crap so you can buy the less expensive and equally effective stuff from Canadian Tire and get the same result. As to using it in a well ventilated area, that's a given for anyone with a lick of common sense. Attempting to use it in a confined space without good air flow would quickly teach any newbie the folly of such actions. BTW, good locking forceps or long nose pliers are a must to keep skin contact to either minimal or non-existent status. Once again, thanks to my fellow gunnies for your feedback.
 
LawrenceN said:
... I had intended it to clean baked on carbon residue on the gas system of my Winchester Mod.100...With all of these, you still need steel wool or a bronze bristle brush to remove all of the baked on crap so you can buy the less expensive and equally effective stuff from Canadian Tire and get the same result....
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This reminds me of a thread from many years ago, discussing a particular special carbon cutter for firearms and someone found that it was chemically the same as GM Top Engine Cleaner (I think) which was available in a 16 oz. container for 1/2 the price of the 8 oz. "gun" product. Many of these miracle products are nothing more than long-standing industrial chemicals which are put up in 4 or 8 oz. containers with a fancy label, at 4x the price.
 
josquin said:
This reminds me of a thread from many years ago, discussing a particular special carbon cutter for firearms and someone found that it was chemically the same as GM Top Engine Cleaner (I think) which was available in a 16 oz. container for 1/2 the price of the 8 oz. "gun" product. Many of these miracle products are nothing more than long-standing industrial chemicals which are put up in 4 or 8 oz. containers with a fancy label, at 4x the price.
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Ayup.

Back in the days of the FN in the Forces, I worked in a Small Arms shop, where we were stuck cleaning up after the users, when there was a range day for the officers, and that sort.

We went through cases and cases of Easy-Off Oven Cleaner! :) Worked very well!

Cheers
Trev
 
trevj said:
Ayup.

Back in the days of the FN in the Forces, I worked in a Small Arms shop, where we were stuck cleaning up after the users, when there was a range day for the officers, and that sort.

We went through cases and cases of Easy-Off Oven Cleaner! :) Worked very well!

Cheers
Trev
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Easy-off oven cleaner is what we used to use to clean dirty old engines before tearing them down to re-build!

That stuff is great!
 
Just remember is WATER soluble , so if you do get it on your hands.... Body... Rinise with water. Not actone. Or gas or .... You get the point.
Work with it for 25 years I the fiberglass industry.
It available at any fiberglass supply shop , by the gal.
Cheers
 
BCRider said:
Close, the catalyst is actually methyl ethyl ketone peroxide. That last "peroxide" is the difference between the solvent and the catalyst. This stuff is particularly nasty. Getting ANY of it directly into the eye needs INSTANT flushing with lots of water. If left for as little as 10 to 15 seconds permanent blindness is almost certain.

A paint store locally has MEK. I got some for special use knowing the risks. As a solvent goes it's simply not worth the risks to use on our firearms. Besides it evaporates so fast that unless you use lots of it the solvent will just evaporate away and leave the grunge still in place. Like water turns dirt into mud and then back to dirt when the water evaporates.

It's also not cheap.

If you're looking for a safer general cleaning solvent based recipe google for Ed's Red. It's easy and cheap to make up and highly effective. More importantly the ATF left behind in the spots you can't reach after the solvents evaporate will fight off corrosion and lubricate any moving parts.

I didn't bother with the lanolin they mention. And the odorless kerosene normally used for oil lamps isn't always around and isn't cheap when it is. So I came up with my own "close enough" version;

1/3 ATF, the red stuff
1/3 Varsol or "low odor paint thinner"
1/3 acetone or generic lacquer thinner.

I found that with the acetone if it is a grade with too much water in it that the final mixture comes out cloudy. Acetone, like alcohol, mixes with water. And the cheap acetone often has some water content which comes out when you mix it in with the other things. So I tend to use generic cheap lacquer thinner from the paint stores and get a lot less or no cloudiness in the final mixture.

For a little extra lubricity a shot of a good quality motor oil can give you a little more film strength. I mix my Ed's Red in a 1 liter paint tin I got from the paint store. To a 3/4 full tin I add roughly 1oz of Mobil 1 synthetic engine oil. I find this produces a noticeably more durable oil film that resists rubbing off on hands or being wiped off with a rag on the outsides of the guns. And the 3/4 full tin is nice for dunking parts without a lot of slopping around. But next time around I may go for a gallon can and make my mixture up so it's roughly 1/3 full.

Lots of fumes off this Ed's mix as well. Good ventilation is a must! ! ! ! I also strongly suggest good quality disposable nitrile gloves to avoid too much skin contact.
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Made up my 'Ed's Red' solvent solution including the original 4th ingredient, Kerosine, which I found at CanT in the 'camping section', low sulphur an low odour...poured the mixture into my new Ultrasound Cleaner and dropped in the slide to see how it would work. 90 seconds later the dirt/crud was almost completely gone...so was my front sight.
Warning: fiber optic rods do not play well with Ed's Red. Duh, should have guess that.

Jim
 
Sorry to read about the front sight fiber. It was the acetone you can thank for that. Any of those highly aromatic solvents need to be carefully tested on any sort of plastic or the result can be just what you found.

The acetone and toluene are two of the main active ingredients in plastic model cement which act to soften the plastic so it "welds" together. Clearly the fiber is one of the plastics sensitive to such solvents.
 
josquin said:
This reminds me of a thread from many years ago, discussing a particular special carbon cutter for firearms and someone found that it was chemically the same as GM Top Engine Cleaner (I think) which was available in a 16 oz. container for 1/2 the price of the 8 oz. "gun" product. Many of these miracle products are nothing more than long-standing industrial chemicals which are put up in 4 or 8 oz. containers with a fancy label, at 4x the price.
Click to expand...

MOPAR Combustion Chamber Conditioner is the good stuff. Spray on and let soak. Carbon comes off easy.
 
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