I’m going to wax my next chain with MoltenSpeedWax and have already cleaned up a chain from new using degreaser and white spirit (mineral spirits). Does anyone re-use their white spirit for each clean? It seems like a lot can potentially go to waste otherwise. If you let the spirit settle does the sediment from the cleaning just go to the bottom and then you can pour the spirit into another ‘clean’ spirits tub until next time? Or can you filter the spirit through a mesh to get rid of the gunk?
Does the denatured alcohol just do the last bit of cleaning to help the wax stick to the chain? I’ve only previously used Squirt Lube and didn’t use the denatured alcohol in the clean process.
I think you can reuse the mineral spirits as you have described. I think the ‘decanting and filtering’ you describe would work pretty well. Haven’t done it myself, but it seems good to do, as you will throw out less of it as it is not the awesomest stuff to just chuck from an environmental perspective.
I threw out the mineral spirits from the first rough of cleaning because it was pretty gunky but saved it from round 2. The crud seems to have settled to the bottom of the glass jar I’m keeping it in so a coffee filter should do nicely in getting rid of the gunk. I always do final rinse in isopropyl alcohol (because that is what I have on hand) just to get rid of any mineral spirit residue since that’s what MSW recommends. I saved that too since to looked quite clean.
I do the same as @redlude97 The gunk usually settles over time, so if you can accommodate a few containers, you can concentrate the dregs in one and pour the good stuff back into another. I use old pickle jars. Score 2 for reduce and re-use.
I reuse as much as I can, even the degreaser. Always finish off though with clean isopropyl alcohol. I am also using some old candles that were lying around mixed with some parafin. Seems to work OK
not rinsing with isopropanol can leave some non volatile (heavy) oil residues from the mineral spirits and this can impact the wax adhesion. Depending upon how hot the wax is and how well if mixes at the surface it may not get to all part if there is an oily residue. It is not so much that they are both organic materials but that they differ a lot in viscosity and surface tension and this could cause some spots not to have wax adhering to them. I suspect this has been tested by the boffins at MSW and they found better results after the alcohol rinse and dry.
i hope you are using the low water version of isopropyl alcohol. I can envision the water from the 70% still being on the chain, negating some of the effort put into removing everything that will prevent wax adhesion.
I reuse, but I also do a final rinse in new isopropyl on a new chain to make sure there is no residue (old iso i also reuse when redoing older chains)…
+1 for reusing. I have a mason jar and pour used MS from the working bucket through a handheld strainer. Settles in a few days.
Denatured alcohol removes residual sliminess from MS, and gets rid of the smell that otherwise causes a splitting headache. I reuse the denatured alcohol as well.
Note that if you’re using an ultrasonic cleaner, the advice is to avoid MS. Something about fire. Or cancer. Maybe both.
the issue is potential for fire or explosion because flammable solvents when heated via ultrasonics will evaporate and because the vapour is usually more dense then air it will puddle around the ultrasonic bath. The internal electronics are typically not isolated and can cause sparks or arcs which could potentially ignite and cause fire or explosion. If you want to use a solvent in an ultrasonic bath there are ways. You place water in the bath as the cavitation and sonic wave transfer medium then you place the solvent in a pyrex beaker and cover it with a foil or other sort of cover to reduce the loss of vapours, ideally you do so in a well vented area with adequate air flow. You could use a glass jar but one is never certain how it will hold up whereas a beaker is prestressed and able to handle a certain amount of temperature shock. Ultrasonics probably will not cavitate through molten wax due to the high viscosity of was. Cavitation is the bubbles you see. No cavitation very little every transfer.
a simple way to know is to put some in a small dish and let it evaporate. You can easily tell that way. Also if you wipe it with a tissue you should be able to see the residue if oily or coloured.
You won’t achieve very good results if all you have used to degrease a brand new chain is mineral spirits. In my experience, the oil on a brand new chain is very thick and will not be removed with just mineral spirits. You will find that your chain doesn’t hold the wax for very long.
I have done multiple washes (4) of mineral spirits. Left them to soak for 2 days at a time with frequent agitations. Left them that long mostly because I was lazy. After that, degreaser and then after that denatured alcohol. Chain came back visibly clean but but noticed that i could still feel a hint of slipperiness from the thinnest layer of oil.
One 16 hour soak in unleaded petrol though followed by degreaser. That did the trick. Be careful though as petrol is quite savage. Handle it in the proper conditions. I appreciate though that petrol is not for everybody.
Figured I’d bump this thread. I just cleaned a chain in mineral spirits, then followed up with Denatured alcohol. On drying, there’s a white residue on parts of the chain that weren’t wiped dry. Not clean enough? Something in the Denatured Alcohol? (I used the Klean Strip Above - it’s supposed to be Ethyl Alcohol and Methanol)
Ok, for what it’s worth: Repeated mineral spirts and denatured alcohol, still had residue. So threw the chain in my cheap Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner with simple green for a while. Came out perfect, and there was even a little bit of oil / grease floating on the surface so very obviously the mineral spirits and denatured alcohol didn’t get it 100% clean.
Guess the ultrasonic needs to be part of my cleaning regimen going forward.
Yeah, I pretty much went to town on it multiple times. It was either something with the mineral spirits which was a little dirty, but it did get two successive baths in denatured alcohol after that. The only other thing, brand new chain that had been installed on a new bike I just picked up. Not sure if the lube they had on it was just being stubborn.
pickle jars. Score 2 for reduce and re-use.