best way to remove carbon

[jerrycmorrow]

needing to clean off carbon from exhaust port and top of piston on project saws. have considered 200 - 400 grit sandpaper, a steel rotary brush on my drill, and oven cleaner?
any of these feasible? need help on this since i need the carbon gone but sorta new at working with aluminum/magnesium.
thanks for guidance.

 

[Jacob J.]

I use a wire brush attachment on my die grinder, which works good for pistons and cylinders. I've also had good luck using a old pocket knife to scrape the exhaust port and then sanding it clean by hand. A wire brush attachment in your drill works good for cleaning the combustion chamber.

 

[jerrycmorrow]

thanks jj. just curious, will the steel wire brush scratch or otherwise scar the alum/magnesium? or should i use a brass brush instead?

 

[STIHL880]

While cleaning this ole' husky 61 rancher, i used paint thinner, a cloth, a pocket knife, and steel wool. It took a LOT of elbow grease, but the end result sure looked good. and i didn't scratch. Good luck.

 

[promac850]

Yeah, a steel wire brush, if used too aggressively, will scratch up aluminum and magnesium.

 

[pioneerguy600]

If you are not in a big hurry and don`t want to scratch or damage the surfaces then ordinary paint remover will remove carbon, the Kleen-Flow carb cleaner I have also removes carbon, helps if I pick at it a bit with a hardwood pick or a hard plastic scraper that I cutomize from strips of schedule 80 plastic pipe, got tons of that stuff around anyway, just saw off a couple strips and grind to profile.

 

[jay_d]

i use a striaght razor to pry the big stuff loose, then a crankshaft brush on the ports and brass wire brush on pistons

(if you use brass it will clean as good as steel, but it will break before it hurts the aluminum parts

 

[jerrycmorrow]

what about oven cleaner? will that degrade alum/magnesium?

 

[jerrycmorrow]

While cleaning this ole' husky 61 rancher, i used paint thinner, a cloth, a pocket knife, and steel wool. It took a LOT of elbow grease, but the end result sure looked good. and i didn't scratch. Good luck.

yeah that elbow grease is why i was looking for some more chemically oriented method. plus all the small places i couldn't get too.

 

[jay_d]

aluminum brightner will clean them good too.

 

[o8f150]

i have used transmission fluid,,,has a lot of detergent in it but won't harm aluminum,,and it works great,,just have to knock off the large carbon first