What solvent to clean Sparton horn motor?

[David in San Antonio]

I’m rebuilding my Sparton horn, and the book says to soak the brushes in solvent. Home Despot has acetone, mineral spirits, odorless mineral spirits substitute, xylene, paint thinners of various types, etc.
Maybe something else?
What have you personally used and would recommend?
Thank you.

[stevests]

Got to the local auto parts house & get some electrical contact cleaner - it works good on motor driven horns.

[Jim Brierley]

Or just plain old paint thinner. It'll dry quickly and be ready to use.

[katy]

Paint thinner? Laquer thinner?

[rotorwrench]

You can clean most parts with what ever solvent you have on hand. Painted parts, where it's in either good condition or recent paint jobs, should use a mild solvent that has no affect on the paint. The armature can be wiped but solvent may be detrimental to the field coil insulation, card board insulators, or any bakelite that may be supporting the comutator segments. Some motors can get more frail with age. Used your best judgment on this. A lot depends on condition.

[mcgarrett]

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You can use a product made specifically for electric motors and switchgear - like this...

https://www.amazon.com/CRC-05018-Lec...21&sr=8-8&th=1

[David in San Antonio]

I appreciate the input. I think it makes sense to begin with the least aggressive one first, like the electrical contact cleaner. This is the first time I’m taking apart / cleaning / inspecting/ repairing as needed, and reassembling one of these.
I won’t be surprised if I find a broken wire, as the unit suddenly stopped working in mid-awooga on a very hot day. I’ll let y’all know what I find.
Thanks again.

P.S. A good friend suggested brake cleaner (!). Nooooooo

[Big hammer]

Brake cleaner is for brake parts ………………….. if heated up by flames or electric sparks it may make a gas that will kill you or may kill you ! I cleaned a lawnmower carburetor with brake cleaner and when it started up a poisonous white cloud surrounded the mower, I pushed it away from me into the yard , it killed the grass around the mower and almost killed me !

[BButturff]

Originally Posted by Big hammer

Brake cleaner is for brake parts ………………….. if heated up by flames or electric sparks it may make a gas that will kill you or may kill you ! I cleaned a lawnmower carburetor with brake cleaner and when it started up a poisonous white cloud surrounded the mower, I pushed it away from me into the yard , it killed the grass around the mower and almost killed me !

This is why I only use non-chlorinated brake cleaner. It's still flammable when wet but chlorinated brake cleaner makes some VERY toxic fumes when it gets hot.

[updraught]

Originally Posted by BButturff

This is why I only use non-chlorinated brake cleaner. It's still flammable when wet but chlorinated brake cleaner makes some VERY toxic fumes when it gets hot.

The gas is heavier than air so sinks to the bottom of bomb craters. A bit of a problem in WW1 when you jumped into a crater in a time of need.
I gather was also was absorbed into cigarettes in your pocket and they didn't taste good after that.

[CT Jack]

The brushes are graphite (nonporous) and shouldn't need to be soaked in a cleaner. Maybe your sound adjustment screw is too tight preventing the motor from turning. Loosen the sound adjustment screw several times and you should hear the motor running without any horn sound.

[David in San Antonio]

CT Jack - I tried loosening the adjuster screw first thing. The motor is not turning at all. At this point it is partially disassembled and awaiting inspection and cleaning.

[katy]

"The motor is not turning at all."

Does that mean it is seized up? Or just doesn't run?

[noboD]

Originally Posted by updraught

The gas is heavier than air so sinks to the bottom of bomb craters. A bit of a problem in WW1 when you jumped into a crater in a time of need.
I gather was also was absorbed into cigarettes in your pocket and they didn't taste good after that.

It's think it's called phosgen gas. Almost like mustard gas.

[JayJay]

Originally Posted by BButturff

This is why I only use non-chlorinated brake cleaner. It's still flammable when wet but chlorinated brake cleaner makes some VERY toxic fumes when it gets hot.

The new non-chlorinated brake cleaners (green can) are predominately if not completely acetone. You can buy acetone in gallon cans far cheaper than you can buy brake cleaners.

I find that the new stuff evaporates far too quickly to be useful for most general degreasing. I purchase gallon jugs of old school chlorinated brake cleaner (red can, e.g Brakleen 05090) when I can find it and apply it with using a metal pressurized sprayer (Sure Shot or equivalent). You need to be sure you don’t let this stuff get into your recyclable oil or it will contaminate the whole batch, tolerance of chlorine in recycled oil is practically zero. And yes, flame plus chlorinated solvent equals phosgene, a highly toxic gas.

[rotorwrench]

Trichloroethylene is hard to get now. Perchloroethylene was used for quite a while for brake cleaner but most have converted to non chlorinated mixtures of solvents. One brand is likely different than another due to the many types of fast dry solvents out there.

In WWI, they burned what was referred to as freon (chlorofluoromethane) before it was banned for use. It turns into phosgene when burned. My Grandpop got some pretty good doses of phosgene during his time in France in the Great War or War to End All Wars. So much for ending all wars.

[David in San Antonio]

Originally Posted by katy

"The motor is not turning at all."

Does that mean it is seized up? Or just doesn't run?

Katy - It just doesn’t run. It turns freely, not seized.

[JayJay]

The horn guy used to be Jim Diehl, 231-577-1375, [email protected]. I had contact with him several years ago and tried again by email this last February, got no reply.