Kevin,
I too have one of those parts washers (a cheap plastic one) and I never use it anymore. :-(
Not exactly a solution to your problem, but I use Fantastik spray household cleaner to clean almost all my parts. I don't think I've cleaned anything but a chain by dunking (in Varsol), everything else gets cleaned by a full strip down and is then cleaned with a large supply of rags, old toothbrushes and Fantastik.
Often when there's things I need to clean and stuff I want to watch on the tube and I've not seen too much of my wife lately I'll bring the part(s), the required tools for disassembly, a pile of rags and the Fantastik spray upstairs and park myself at the end of the sofa to work.
Still married! :-)
David Bilenkey Bilenkey Industrial Design Ottawa, ON, Canada dbilenkey@sympatico.ca
> -----Original Message-----
> From: classicrendezvous-admin@bikelist.org
> [mailto:classicrendezvous-admin@bikelist.org]On Behalf Of Kevin MacAfee
> Sent: October 30, 2001 11:05 PM
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: [CR]Parts cleaning dilemma
>
>
> Greetings all
>
> I live in wild, wonderful and soon to be wintry Minnesota. As
> such, all of my bike restoration/repair efforts move into the
> basement. I recently acquired one of those small parts washers
> that works quite well. However, the solvent I am running through
> it is primarily water based, biodegradeable etc. and does not
> clean worth a damn.
>
> Any of you have luck with a parts cleaner that is not smelly or
> toxic but works well? I have used Pedro's and another
> biodegradable kind purchased from bike shops that works well but
> it gets expensive in those little cans.
>
> Thanks for any suggestions.
>
> Kevin "I want a few more months of warmth" MacAfee
> St. Paul, MN.