Have any of you worked with naphtha?

Fwiw, I would do a 2 stage process....

1) remove the grease with a household degreaser

2) remove paint with paint remover.

I use Naphtha all the time, it's also called lighter fluid.  I keep it on the bench for various cleaning chores.  I also use 99% Isopropyl Alcohol for the same purpose.  IMO, Acetone is a far nastier substance than Naphtha.  Another nice thing about Naphtha is it doesn't attack most paints, so it's good for cleaning where alcohol or Acetone would not be advised.

Yeah, what John said. As for any solvents, if they make you a little freaky; wear gloves, keep the area well ventilated, and don't drink them. 

Acetone is fingernail polish remover. Women use it all the time. Methylene Chloride, and Trichloroethylene (1,1,1) now that's some nasty stuff.

Forty Rod posted:

I know this stuff is very flammable and not to be used around any heat or spark source and I'm not supposed to use it in enclosed spaces nor get it on my skin.  Scares the bejabbers out of me, but I will be very careful.

 

I need to remove the paint and any oil or grease from some old Ralstoy trucks made of some sort of metal, I suspect a zinc alloy.  Will naphtha damage the metal in any way?  I have some household rubber gloves, but don't know if they will be sufficient for this use.  What is the accepted way to use this,  brushes, sponges, old cloths?  

 

And how do I clean up after using it and how do I dispose of any run-off or excess?

 

I replace handrails for a living and my company uses a more concentrated version of naphtha on the rubber handrails. In a pinch when we do not have access to our companies proprietary formula we use naphtha. I would reccomend any type of nitrile gloves, and to be sure to use it in a well ventilated area.

I cannot speak to its use in your scenario but I do know you should use the proper PPE when using it.

Old clean rags are fine for use. Same with paint brushes, it's actually how I separate the plyes to the handrail when I have to build the handrail. I would only use cheap "dope" brushes however and not any expensive paint brushes and after use I would throw them out. Just be sure to dispose of them right away because of the smell of the chemical. It will discolor the stainless steel on the ballistrede of the escalators I work on if not wiped up right away.

It stinks & can melt certain products.  Wear mask & gloves.

I think you're thinking of Acetone, it'll attacks a lot more things that Naphtha does.  I can think of very few materials that Naphtha melts except label and tape glue.

Acetone occurs naturally in the human body. Despite its reputation, it has a rather low toxicity. It is not considered a carcinogen, a mutagen, or a neurotoxin. It is quite safe.  I think people tend to confuse it with things like toluene, which is quite nasty.

Avanti posted:

Acetone occurs naturally in the human body. Despite its reputation, it has a rather low toxicity. It is not considered a carcinogen, a mutagen, or a neurotoxin. It is quite safe.  I think people tend to confuse it with things like toluene, which is quite nasty.

Correct, but it still eats a lot of stuff, including many plastics.

If you look at the MSDS for Naphtha and Acetone, you'll find that both are listed as very flammable (no surprise), and Acetone has a higher probably of adverse health effects.

Lots of nasty stuff are found in trace amounts in the human body, that doesn't mean they aren't harmful or hazardous to your health in concentration.

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

Fwiw, I would do a 2 stage process....

1) remove the grease with a household degreaser

2) remove paint with paint remover.

Be careful with household degreasers. They may be based on sodium hydroxide or other strong alkaline materials, which can damage zinc. I cannot think of a petroleum solvent that will damage zinc. Many of them may damage you. Best thing to limit fumes and reduce the fire hazard is use it out of doors. 

Naptha is the recommended thinner for Hennings Collector Color. Its the only thing I use it for. There are better and safer products for degreasing. Dish soap and hot water is one. Axalta Prep Sol 3919S is the best but the price reflects that.

Pete

I've never considered Naphtha all that dangerous, obviously you have to be careful not to light yourself on fire.  99% of my uses are a little bit on a rag, pretty hard to see how it's going to get away from me and cause a problem.  Acetone is another matter, just the fumes are pretty bad!  I have a can of it around, but I rarely ever use it.

Be careful with the wheels; if anything goes wrong it's gonna be the wheels melt or dry out and crack.  Keep them dry if you can.

I'd try the rag with alcohol, then naptha, laquer thinner, then acetone (nail polish remover ).

Where stubborn, steel brush, wet-dry sandpaper, and or dremel brush (careful not to dig pits or make deep scars.. a brass dremel brush is safer for that.)

If you've never wet sanded, fyi it really speeds things up, it's cleaner, easy as a rinse on clean up, and with the dust washing away, easy to gauge progress. For the semi-trailors, especially, I'd wet sand if I had chemical fears. Sanding sponges work pretty well too.

The axles won't mind being water wet for a while if you dry them fully, and wipe with an oil rag after. (I've washed engines plenty.....dunk, dunk, lather, rinse, blow dry with a hairdryer, then oil ANY non-painted metal.) You can chase water in  spray cracks with oils too. WD40 is great final rinse/cleaner before real oil. (WD40 is not a lube or long term metal protection...short term and it is a wire dryer...#40.

I have the early Benkins trailer and need a semi for it. It fits nice over a lionel helicopter car's tail holder & mech;never falls off until I find one I like (a Ralstoy semi isn't necessarily my goal either)

Naptha is the base component for gasoline. When crude oil is refined, Naptha is one of the light cuts. It is then blended and used as the feedstock for gasoline.

Acetone and Keytone ( MEK) are even lighter components. Both of these products are used in solvent cements and model airplane glue.

As long as a paint has these products in the ingredients, they can be used to remove or thin the paint.

If you just want to remove all oils from a surface you can also used alchohol. It probably will not damage the surface.

Almost any kind of chemical used for paint thinning or for degreasing is likely to be something to have caution around (okay, maybe not water with a water based paint or dawn dishwashing soap, though I wouldn't recommend drinking it *smile*). With petroleum distillates in general they put out fumes that are not great to breath in, so should be used in well ventillated areas, and I would recommend wearing nitrile or rubber gloves to protect your skin (would be true of alcohol as well).   Distillates can be absorbed through the skin, and they can cause liver and kidney damage and most of them are carginogenic (that doesn't mean don't use them it means simply long term exposure could be a problem). 

The other thing to keep in mind is that something can thin paint when it is in liquid form but once cured won't do it any harm. Latex paint is thinned using water, but once it has cured, you can clean it with a damp cloth and it won't craze or dissolve. Paints that can be thinned by a solvent in general may or may not soften if exposed to it later after drying, you don't know unless you know what something is made of, what the paint is, and have information on what works and doesn't to safely clean it or what will strip it. Over the years I have had people tell me that something is 'safe for plastics', as if plastics were all the same when plastics are very much varied, there are plastics that with lacquer thinner will disintegrate seemingly instantly, there are plastics that won't react to it in a thousand years. 

Naptha can be used for cleaning and the like, as can other petroleum based products, and should be treated like any of them, just test it on whatever you plan to use in a hidden area to make sure it doesn't hurt them. 

  Growing up I worked with my dad in his garage rebuilding standard and automatic transmissions. One of my jobs was washing all the parts including the case. We used Safety Kleen solvent degreaser and bought it by the 55 gallon drum. The stuff works great if your looking for a safe non-flammable cleaner. Go into almost any local garage with a jar and I'm sure the owner would gladly fill it for you. Ask for fresh out of the drum. As for how safe it is, I could remember dad and I discussing and worrying about the future of our lung health on many occasions. Working with it everyday, especially during reassembly, every part would get blown off with compressed air to make sure every spec of dirt and solvent was completely removed. During that time, especially during the winter months when the garage doors were down, a fine mist could be seen in the air when the sun would shine in. Well, so far so good. Dad is 83 now and used the stuff every work day for 50 years. He still swears by it and uses it to clean wheels and the tracks on his layout. 

FWIW, I've seen Isopropyl Alcohol damage more paint than Naphata, I'm very careful with alcohol around painted surfaces.

Dave Zucal posted:

  Growing up I worked with my dad in his garage rebuilding standard and automatic transmissions. One of my jobs was washing all the parts including the case. We used Safety Kleen solvent degreaser and bought it by the 55 gallon drum. The stuff works great if your looking for a safe non-flammable cleaner. Go into almost any local garage with a jar and I'm sure the owner would gladly fill it for you. Ask for fresh out of the drum. As for how safe it is, I could remember dad and I discussing and worrying about the future of our lung health on many occasions. Working with it everyday, especially during reassembly, every part would get blown off with compressed air to make sure every spec of dirt and solvent was completely removed. During that time, especially during the winter months when the garage doors were down, a fine mist could be seen in the air when the sun would shine in. Well, so far so good. Dad is 83 now and used the stuff every work day for 50 years. He still swears by it and uses it to clean wheels and the tracks on his layout. 

Just for the heck of it (and being bored today), I looked it up. Safety clean is a combination of distillates, including Naptha and mineral spirits. Looking at the safety sheet, it has a low vaporization rate, so that will be better on the lungs, and can cause skin and eye and nasal passage irritation if it happens to get on the skin or in those areas, but basic precautions will take care of that (and amazingly, isn't a carcinogen). Much better then the things my dad and I used working on cars, things like lacquer thinner, spray ether (starting fluid), you name it *shaking head*..

Also check out Simple Green products. Heres a link

Simple Green

Also look for (Methyl Ester)-soybean oil. It is used as a cleaning solvent. Not sure if its commercially available.

Back in my Amoco days we used a product called Amosol (naphtha, xylene and ethyl benzene) was great stuff for cleaning around motors etc. but somewhat flammable and needed a well ventilated space and gloves, very drying. Of course this was an industrial product probably not made any more.

If you use naphtha just wear gloves in a ventilated area and dispose of the rags properly. 

franktrain posted:

Also check out Simple Green products. Heres a link

Simple Green

Perhaps you missed a few years back when Lee Willis used Simple Green on his Fastrack and more!

I've stopped using Simple Green on Fastrack

Simple Green DOES hurt locos

Simple Green and Dirty Wheels

I'd leave Simple Green under the kitchen cabinet!

I agree with GRJ on the Simple Green I have seen where it can damage and cause corrosion on some bare and treated metals.

Yes I do remember his problem with simple green, really did muck things up for him. It is a good cleaner for the right application though.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

franktrain posted:

Also check out Simple Green products. Heres a link

Simple Green

Perhaps you missed a few years back when Lee Willis used Simple Green on his Fastrack and more!

I've stopped using Simple Green on Fastrack

Simple Green DOES hurt locos

Simple Green and Dirty Wheels

I'd leave Simple Green under the kitchen cabinet!

I definitly missed the train on that (pun intended) what ended up happening? The simple green rusted out componets? Our my trade uses it to clean up after we're done and it works great on aluminum and stainless steel but those two metels are naturally corrosion resistant. 

EDIT

Sorry I totally missed the links in your post YIKES!