Cleaning off dried up WD40

[Cuttings]

There has been a lot of discussion about WD40 on here from time to time but I haven't seen and can't find anything about cleaning off dried up WD40.
I have a neoprene cover that goes between the carriage and the column on my mill. When working on aluminum it gets a lot of WD40 throw on it which dries up making the neoprene somewhat stiff. Does anyone have a good way of cleaning this off. I thought that some fresh WD40 might work but haven't tried it.

[kev74]

Fresh WD40. If that doesn't work, try mineral spirits.

[epicfail48]

Second vote for fresh wd40, just be sure to wipe it off!

[Noitoen]

If you get a red wine stain on your shirt, you use white wine to remove it

[DrMike]

I'm guessing that the gunk on the neoprene cover is not WD-40, but oil or other stuff that WD-40 has dissolved and redeposited on the cover. I'd spray a heavy coat of WD-40 on it, let it sit for 5 minutes, wipe it all off. If you do this as you finish machining aluminum, you wouldn't see any build up.

WD-40 is a decent yet inexpensive solvent, can be a decent cutting fluid for Al, but generally a terrible lubricant. A lot of folks spray it on something that is covered with old oil and grime, and that thing magically starts to work again as the WD-40 dissolves the goo and holds it in suspension - but stops again as the solvents in WD-40 evaporate. The old oil and grime, which were floating in the solvent, are now redeposited in a nice, thin layer and WD-40 gets blamed for leaving a sticky "varnish" behind. That ain't varnish, it's the gunk that was there before, now thinly spread out.

In my experience, if you use WD-40 only as a solvent you won't have issues with it. Approach what needs to be cleaned, spray it on heavily, let it sit and work for a few minutes, then wipe it all off. Repeat as necessary to clean. Use as much as you need - it's cheap and readily available. But when it's clean (this is the key part), put away the WD-40 and lubricate with oil, Break-Free, grease, whatever's appropriate.

[thaiguzzi]

Fresh WD40. If that doesn't work, try mineral spirits.

Or brake cleaner.

[Cuttings]

Stand by fellows, I will try some of these suggestions today and let you know. Keep in mind a lot of you in North America have half a day in before we get going out here. I had some chores to do this morning so will head out to the shop soon and report back later.

[RWO]

The old oil and grime, which were floating in the solvent, are now redeposited in a nice, thin layer and WD-40 gets blamed for leaving a sticky "varnish" behind. That ain't varnish, it's the gunk that was there before, now thinly spread out.

This is just plain wrong. WD-40 leaves behind a sticky brown film. If you don't believe it spray a film on a clean glass surface and let it dry out completely. I have seen guns cleaned and "lubed" by rookies that were basically inoperable because of the brown gunk. This is a well known by serious shooters. In my younger days, I used to clean and preserve chucking reamers and endmills in their clear plastic tubes with WD-40. Every one of them eventually developed the brown gunk on the tools and the insides of their tubes. Now I use CRC 3-36 with no problems.

RWO

[Cuttings]

OK, I have cleaned the neoprene cover and finished my lunch so here are the results.
The WD40 worked pretty well with a bit of elbow grease.
I tried a bit of brake clean, although I don't like to use it inside the shop as someone might find me sleeping beside the machine.
The brake clean probably cleaned it easier but if I where to clean the whole thing using brake clean I would remove the cover and clean it outside.
The cover cleaned with WD40 and wiped dry looks like new again and is just as flexible again.
I think the residue on the cover was dried WD40 mixed with some very fine aluminum.

[Tungsten dipper]

OK,
I tried a bit of brake clean, although I don't like to use it inside the shop as someone might find me sleeping beside the machine.

LOL! Kind of like "Take a trip and never leave the farm"!

[DrMike]

This is just plain wrong. WD-40 leaves behind a sticky brown film. If you don't believe it spray a film on a clean glass surface and let it dry out completely. I have seen guns cleaned and "lubed" by rookies that were basically inoperable because of the brown gunk. This is a well known by serious shooters. In my younger days, I used to clean and preserve chucking reamers and endmills in their clear plastic tubes with WD-40. Every one of them eventually developed the brown gunk on the tools and the insides of their tubes. Now I use CRC 3-36 with no problems.

RWO

I have done your test, a couple of times. If the glass starts out clean (and this seems to be the key in the test), I have never seen a "sticky brown film" when the WD-40 eventually dries, no matter how many times I tried it.

I have also seen many, many old guns clogged with "brown gunk," guns that were "cleaned" with and without WD-40. Again - in my experience - folks tend to "clean" guns with WD-40 by spraying until everything is sopping wet, at which point the mechanism works slick and feels fine. However, if the gunk isn't actually removed when it's still suspended in the liquid WD-40, it gets redeposited everywhere when the solvent dries, and the WD-40 gets the blame for the gunk.

In 30+ years of competitive shooting I've head all the horror stories about WD-40 ruining guns. Many "inoperable" guns (and other small, intricate mechanisms) I've gotten to work in minutes by spraying wet with WD-40 to loosen the "sticky brown gunk," letting it sit for a few minutes, cleaning the "gunk" and the WD-40 off when it is still wet, and then properly lubricating. It's not the most efficient solvent and sometimes takes a few applications, but its cheap and readily available, and It has never never failed to perform for me.

When you hosed down your reamers and endmills with WD-40, did you wipe off the first application, or did you let all the now-dissolved cutting fluid, oil and leftover preservative dry and harden as the WD-40 evaporated?

If you don't want to use WD-40, you don't have to, all is good. But if you do want to take advantage of it. then use it only as a solvent. Spray until wet, let it soak for a few minutes and wipe off, then use a lubricant to protect or lube.

[john b]

To have wd40 work the way it's supposed to, you have to shake the the can to get the lubricant off the bottom.

[J Tiers]

WD40 is a mixture... not very well mixed.

Don't believe it? Pour some in a glass jar, let it suit with cover on. It will separate into two layers, clear liquid, and a milky lower layer.

Oil on plastic, as with the OP, is best removed with Purple cleaner (lye and another ingredient). Just about always cleans off anything that started life as oil etc.

The only thing it does not do well with is ancient grease, when the oil has departed the scene long ago, and all that is left is the "soap" component. Getting that out of a bearing, for instance, is pretty hard (just like the soap is).

[Georgineer]

To have wd40 work the way it's supposed to, you have to shake the the can to get the lubricant off the bottom.

There is now a range of things, including lubricants, called WD40. However, the original was a water dispersant (hence WD) and not a lubricant. I wonder what it is that you're shaking up off the bottom.

From experience, I'm with the ones who find that WD40 leaves a sticky varnish if left for a long time.

George B.

[Bob Engelhardt]

It's hard to believe that WD40 is taken so seriously by such knowledgeable people - not just here, but all over the hobby machinists world. WD40 is the half-assed solution for any job except water displacement. It's the one-stop, convenient, jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none kind of product. Paint thinner, naphtha, alcohol are far better solvents. Pretty much any oil is a better lube. Paint thinner & alcohol are better cutting fluids for aluminum. Any made-for penetrant is better. Rust protection? seriously?

[/Rant]