What do you guys use to clean excess buildup of oil and grease from your baitcasters?

Alcohol or acetone. 

Mineral spirits, which is the carrier in Boeshield

OP's, c. 1925

  

 

Dawn. Brian. 

16 minutes ago, a1712 said:

Dawn. Brian. 

No. Honestly, Isopropyl Alcohol is the best for me. I use mineral spirits and acetone some times and don't really see any difference between them. Alcohol is a lot less toxic.

Gun Scrubber, polymer safe version.

1 hour ago, JediAmoeba said:

 Alcohol is a lot less toxic.

Than Dawn, that you put your hands in and wash your dishes you eat off of......ok. Brian. 

Depends if you have the reel disassembled or still together. 

After I disassemble the reel frame I scrub the frame of the reel with dish soap/toothbrush. Blow dry with compressed air.

 

I clean metal gears/bearings with alcohol or solvent.

 

Simple Green for most of it - mineral spirits for the stubborn grease - alcohol for a final 'rinse'.

Be careful with Acetone it’s Keystone base and can dissolve some plastics.

If Bulldog1935 uses mineral spirits take his advice?

Tom

6 minutes ago, WRB said:

Be careful with Acetone it’s Keystone base and can dissolve some plastics.

If Bulldog1935 uses mineral spirits take his advice?

Tom

< Experience

 

Dissolved a retainer on my old Abu Ambassduer 500R with acetone a number of years back...had a devil of a time finding a replacement back then.

Use acetone on metal parts only, it works great for bearings.  The rest of the internal parts I do Simple Green in an ultrasonic and scrub away any leftovers with a firm toothbrush followed by a rinse.  Exterior parts like frames, handles, side plates, and star wheels get cleaned with aircraft instrument panel cleaner in an ultrasonic.  It takes the crap right off and doesn't damage metal or decals.  

Rubbing alcohol for metal bearings and Dawn for everything else.

Thanks a bunch guys.  I think I'll tackle it today since it's raining.

What exactly are we cleaning?

 

Naphtha is safe for most paint and plastics, but not all.  It also dries fast and doesn't leave a residue.  Acetone is stronger and works faster, but will eat paint and a lot of plastics.  Dawn is safe for everything and does a good job of cleaning oil and grease.  But it's slower, requires more elbow grease, and doesn't penetrate as well as the other solvents.  

 

So basically I use Naphtha for most stuff, Dawn for the large, plastic parts, and acetone for the bearings, unless they have plastic on them.  

Dawn got my vote, but don't forget a good scrub with a toothbrush. It's very effective for most open parts.

 

For little parts that are hard to get to, like bearings, I would use acetone or Zippo fluid (Naphtha) with an ultrasonic cleaner like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/374483836600?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28. 

Several minutes of acetone bath in that machine, yields a better cleaning result than an overnight soak does. 

Full strength Simplegreen concentrate rinsed with hot water. Acetone for bearings. 

Took it apart today and it was very dirty.  Cleaned it with alcohol and it still randomly turns backwards.  I'm thinking it may be the anti-reverse bearing/sleeve?? A $5 part. Thinking I will order it and see what happens. It's an older Silvermax reel, probably 12 years old.

Unless it’s rusted , corroded or visibly damaged save your time and money chasing the sleeve. If you can get the bearing out of the side plate order a new EWC clutch with the appropriate dimensions. You can get oem too but they’re usually more$.