New drill press - cosmolene all over it.

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psycho78

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Jun 17, 2006
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Just got a cheap benchtop drill press in the mail today. I opened the box, and it's covered in wax paper and has this thick cosmolene gunk all over everything. Whats the best thing to get this crap off?
 
BAH! This thing is a dang mess...

Do any other drill presses have this goo on them? i know old military rifles do, but didnt expect it here.

Got a couple of my first knives going, and I was planning on using it today too...lol.
 
Brake cleaner or Gun Scrubber would help. Easy-off oven cleaner works well.

If you can, take it outside or put it in a bucket big enough to hold it, and take a heat gun to it. Start at the top. That'll get rid of most of it.

Edit: Be mindful of any paint using these things.
 
Yeah.... the thing is painted green. Will any mineral spirits or degreasers or anything strip that?
 
man that sounds like a mess. When I got my milling machine it was covered in that stuff. Took what seemed like forever to get it off. I used varsol to get mine cleaned off. good luck.
 
Do NOT use brake cleaners or oven cleaners. They WILL strip or damage the paint. It may be a cheap import, but there's no reason to make it look like a junker before you even use it.

For smooth, machined surfaces, like the top of the table and the column, use a razor blade to scrape the majority off first.

Then use some rags (not paper towels) and either some diesel or some WD-40 to clean off the rest. It's slow going, but worth the effort. Take your time, do it right.

Paint thinner may be okay if it's used carfefully, but your best bet is the diesel/kerosene/WD-40, since it'll dissolve the preservative, but is unlikely to harm the paint.

You have it easy- I had a full size Bridgeport-clone vertical mill covered with the stuff that I had to clean off. :D

Doc.
 
psycho78 said:
Yeah.... the thing is painted green. Will any mineral spirits or degreasers or anything strip that?
Click to expand...

Unless it just bothers you, you could just leave most of it on. Wipe off the large globs, and clean the spindle, pullies, table, and column, and you should be fine.
 
DocsMachine said:
Do NOT u


You have it easy- I had a full size Bridgeport-clone vertical mill covered with the stuff that I had to clean off. :D

Doc.
Click to expand...

Doc, next time you get a nice mill that you don't want to bother cleaning up just let me know and I'll take it off of your hands for free, won't even charge you to take it away :D
 
makes me wonder if the deltas and the craftsmen, dewalt etc brand tools have this crap on em.

I'm gonna try to get this thing straightened out. I also read that good ol hot water and dish soap will do.

The places I've found anything on cosmolene are mostly on the gun forums, which is a different ballgame than an electrical machine. Thanks for all your input fellas. Hopefully I can show you all some knives really soon.

Knowing my luck I'll get this thing cleaned up and it'll run like a pile of shit.....:grumpy:
 
My milling machine came like that too. After poking and scraping for a few minutes I got fed up. I knew better than to use any volatile chemicals already (thats another story).
The only thing around was household cleaner with orange oils in it from the kitchen. The stuff worked great at degreasing. Just spray on and wipe off. (smells nice too) My paint stayed on and the mill was clean. Now I keep the stuff on hand.....steal from the kitchen.... for other degreasing jobs.
 
A couple years ago I ordered a cheep 13" lathe from enco. Whoever was in charge of insuring that it didn't rust during its trip over the pacific ocean made darn sure not to skimp on that cosmolene. It literally took over an hour and a couple rolls of shop towels to get it mostly cleaned up. This was a couple years ago, and I still find that goop in spots from time to time.

It dissolves pretty easy in about any cleaner you might use. I recommend wd40 because it won't make a stinky mess.

American made stuff isn't like that because it doesn't spend a month in a leaky container over a salty ocean coming from somewhere in Asia, but they still use some on the unpainted surfaces. The American made stuff doesn't seem to dry and get hard and sticky quite so bad either.

I love unwrapping new machines.
 
I use a piece of wood ground like a chisel to knock most of it off... the wood won't screw up your paint or machined surfaces.

Once I get the thickest stuff off, I wipe down with Kroil. It works much better than WD40 for this purpose (in my experience) but is stinkier than WD.

:)
 
Nicks got the right idea with the wood scraper. Try using a hand held hair dryer or a heat gun to warm up the coating, this will make it easier to scrape and will allow the WD 40 to dissolve the remainder left behind so you can get it off with the minimum amount of WE40. Don't heat it so hot that the coating starts smoking, the fumes might kill you!

Jim Arbuckle
 
I got a press once that had cosmolene all under the paint in spots! You'd touch it and the paint would squish off and grease you up. I usually scrape it off with wood, then shop towels with an orange cleaner and then wax the surfaces really well.
 
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