Removing That Baked On Grease

[Good Cheer]

Received a beautiful .44 hollow base mold
http://i.imgur.com/vqMPi02.jpg (https://imgur.com/vqMPi02)
that seems to have never been degreased and never cleaned. There are areas of burned on grease to be removed. I've been soaking it and performing some gentle physical removal. Certainly none of that wire wheel cleaning that some ebay sellers seem to love. Any how, this is as bad as I've ever seen for baked on hydrocarbons. And it got me to wondering about best things to soak in. What do you fellas use?

[Mk42gunner]

I tend to use spray on brake cleaner first. Scrub with a paper towel.

If that doesn't work after a couple of tries, then I move on to harsher methods.

Robert

[358429]

I suppose if you got it appropriately hot to cast and wiped it with an 2 cycle oily cotton rag, lot of that stuff will just come off. If that fails to work you're not really any worse off.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[Good Cheer]

Both excellent ideas gents.
The only other thought I came up with was total degreasing, then placing in boiling hot water to achieve water penetration beneath the tight scale and then into a sandwich bag and into the deep freeze to let the thrust of the expanding ice push from beneath it... which would achieve nothing more than I could by hand in the same amount of time.
:rolleyes:

Not to worry, slow but steady wins the race be it for golden apples or iron blocks.

[Conditor22]

try 50/50 acetone/atf let it sit several days. It will work its way under the grease

[downzero]

I drop molds in my ultrasonic cleaner with some dish soap and Simple Green.

[fastdadio]

I drop molds in my ultrasonic cleaner with some dish soap and Simple Green.

Simple Green is acidic, might want to be careful with aluminum molds. I etched my motorcycle engine case with it once.
I would think oven cleaner would work well for the really baked on stuff.

[gwpercle]

I got several Lee aluminum moulds clean of heavy baked on grease , used as mould lube and sprayed heavily with "Drop-Out" mould release , they were realy gunked up , with long soakings in Acetone or Lacquer Thinner and gentle scrubbing with a stiff old tooth brush , Oral-B will not melt . Keep soaking and scrubbing , may take two or three times ...Acetone is the best remover .
I finally got them all clean but will never use beeswax as mould lube or Drop-Out spray mould release , those things get baked on and are the devil to get off .
Good Luck
Gary

[zarrinvz24]

I got several Lee aluminum moulds clean of heavy baked on grease , used as mould lube and sprayed heavily with "Drop-Out" mould release , they were realy gunked up , with long soakings in Acetone or Lacquer Thinner and gentle scrubbing with a stiff old tooth brush , Oral-B will not melt . Keep soaking and scrubbing , may take two or three times ...Acetone is the best remover .
I finally got them all clean but will never use beeswax as mould lube or Drop-Out spray mould release , those things get baked on and are the devil to get off .
Good Luck
Gary

Make sure to use a medium firmness toothbrush. The soft or extra soft ones just won’t cut it.

[Good Cheer]

Thanks fellas. I'm'a still getting her cleaned up.
The end of this story is liable to be expensive with things to use the mold.

[downzero]

Simple Green is acidic, might want to be careful with aluminum molds. I etched my motorcycle engine case with it once.
I would think oven cleaner would work well for the really baked on stuff.

Oven cleaner is super alkaline, it will melt your skin off if you're not careful. I don't mess with that stuff unless I absolutely have to.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Drain cleaner that is 100% Lye...diluted of course.
That's what is used to soak cast Iron fry pans in, to clean the decades of burnt grease/carbon off of them.

[Mal Paso]

Oven cleaner is super alkaline, it will melt your skin off if you're not careful. I don't mess with that stuff unless I absolutely have to.

It's great for chainsaw chain. It's lye, I was thinking it might work, just be careful. The scary melt your skin stuff in a kitchen is protein inhibitor.

[rintinglen]

Were it I, I would go with Conditor on this one. I would remove the mold from the handles, put it in an acetone resistant container like a pint paint can, cover it with my ATF/Acetone mixture, close the lid and let it sit for at least 24 hours, preferable 2-4 days, then scrub it with a toothbrush outdoors while wearing protective gloves and eye gear. That should take care of the problem. Then I'd boil the mold for 15-20 minutes in a pot with a splash of Dawn dish washing liquid with the expectation that my clean mold when dry would yield the best boolits it was capable of.

[fastdadio]

It's great for chainsaw chain. It's lye, I was thinking it might work, just be careful. The scary melt your skin stuff in a kitchen is protein inhibitor.

Works great on two stroke pistons, power valves, and heads also. Been using it for years on my mx bikes when top end time comes around. I use Carbon Off brand;
This;
https://rapidswholesale.com/carbon-off-aerosol-19-oz-can.html?msclkid=1677451849a81aec965d240ef6208609&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=(ROI)%20Shopping%20-%20250%2B%20AOV%20Tier&utm_term=4579259774876573&utm_content=250%2B%20AOV%20Tier

[centershot]

try 50/50 acetone/atf let it sit several days. It will work its way under the grease

^^^^ This! ^^^^

[kywoodwrkr]

I've been cleaning some very badly treated moulds by cleaning with brake fluid, not cleaner, the fluid used in the brake system.
Also bought some 3" & 4" brass, not brass coated steel, bench grinder wire wheels for brushing.
Was going to use a carding wheel I have but brass bench grinder wheels are great.
May leave a brassy looking tint on surface, but ballistol takes that off and protects as well.
If in doubt of brake fluid cleaning ability, remember the warning about not getting it on painted surfaces-ie car finish.
YMMV

[Good Cheer]

Thanks for all the input.

[kevin c]

I wanna be sure: ATF=Automatic Transmission Fluid?

[Mal Paso]

I wanna be sure: ATF=Automatic Transmission Fluid?

ATF=Automatic Transmission Fluid and Acetone 50/50 beat every other rustbuster/penetrating oil in tests by major players every time. Not sure how it works on grease.

To keep the acetone from evaporating and be able to spray I keep it in one of these. Holds pressure for years.

[kevin c]

Thanks, Mal.

I've got baked on beeswax residue on a mold face and a couple cavities of an aluminum mold, applied in a misguided attempt to remove what I thought was tinning. I'm hoping that a soak in the half and half followed by brushing will get it off.

[725]

I had baked on carbon etc in an old pie plate. A little soaking in hot water w/ Dawn & Lemi-Shine did the trick. Sponge scrubber washed it all away. Tooth brush would be good for the mold.

[kevin c]

Thanks, 725. Another option to consider. Was the pie plate aluminum or another metal? I know that Lemishine's active ingredient is citric acid, and etching of aluminum in acidic solutions was mentioned, but don't know whether the citric acid is strong enough to cause a problem. I can test that with some scrap aluminum I have and will report back.

[725]

It's a metal (not aluminum) pan. It was so bad the wife wanted to throw it out. I soaked it with the dawn / semi-shine and and very little elbow grease later, it's clean as a whistle.