FYI one of the most useful tools I have for cleaning smaller parts like electrical contacts is my Dremel MotoTool or equivalent.
http://www.dremel.com/en-us/Pages/default.aspx
With a brass bristle brush in it, you can do a great job of safely cleaning them. There are different shape brushes avail., some are radial discs,
some are 'cup-style,' shaped like a concave cup when viewed from the business end,
one is a short-wire brush which looks like a pencil eraser.
Different metals are used for the brushes, w/brass and steel being the ones I see most-often. I think they may have stainless steel too. Harbor Freight sells brushes too quite a bit cheaper than the '1-per-pkg.' Dremels, but the Dremels seem to last longer in-use, they don't shed their wire quills as-quickly as the HFT ones. Also, please be sure and wear eye protection! These brushes will shed their wire quills as they work and you don't want to have to go to the E.R. to have some pieces of wire removed from your eye surface. They use gentian blue to dye your eye so they can locate the embedded projectiles and a UV light to find the pieces embedded in your eye for removal, and there is a week-long recuperation as your eye heals, every time you blink it is like sand in your eye, v. uncomfortable! So, please use eye protection every time!
Another of the Dremel bits I find very useful are the sandpaper flap discs in different grades of roughness (120 & 80 grit). The key to these is using the right amount of pressure and the right speed on your variable-speed switch. They work great for larger surfaces which need to be cleaned and w/a bit of care, last a good long time. I find these worthwhile to use on gasket mating surfaces where you are joining two flat machined-castings like crankcase halves. I suggest using the finer of the two grades of abrasive I see at the Dremel display so you won't remove metal. For contoured pieces which can get cruddy, like the master cyl caps which have a cast channel in their underside, where the rubber gasket resides, I recommend one of the narrow radial brass or steel brushes to clean the channel. I use brake fluid cleaner to remove any gorp or other residue after cleaning, again, use safety glasses to keep the spray out of your eyes, as chemical burns can be very uncomfortable to the eyes and may lead to permanent damage!
HFT has an inexpensive gun-style "spot" media blaster (normally about $20, I got mine on-sale for <$10) which I fill w/baking soda I buy at the local Costco, they have it cheaper than HFT, which is saying something! It does tend to make a mess and spread everywhere, so don't use it anywhere near a disassembled motor.
Once the baking soda is airborne, it can land many feet away from where you used it. This is good for cleaning small parts with tarnish or mild corrosion and I have used it to clean the male/female spade terminals found in many electrical connectors.
Here is a link to a business which has a great array of different attachments and bits for rotary tools, and they offer other suppliers besides Dremel, for instance they have flap wheels in different sizes/diameters/lengths/grits compared to Dremel's products.
http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/CTGY/dremel-sanding-flap-wheel
I recommend you buy several at a time, that way, you have them on-hand when you wear one out.
This last one is the Osborne Helituf brush and should be good for cleaning things like master cylinder bores or other narrow spaces.
Widget Supply has bulk wire brushes which reduces the price to about $0.44/apiece for the 3/4" size if you buy 36. http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/PROD/dremel-brush-steel-wheel/SFH2-SMS69
Be sure to click thru the links to find just the shape brush, abrasive, or grinding bit you need.
Another tool I have found useful is the Dremel attachment which allows you to fit the bits into narrower spaces than you can with the motor itself, it's a 36" whip w/a narrow bit holder.
My father bought me my first rotary tool when I was about 12 so I could work on my HO slot cars in the early 1960's, and nearly 50 years later I still have it, but mostly I use a variable speed Dremel. It has paid for itself many times over by allowing me to make repairs on all kinds of things around the house besides the rolling or floating stock. And now that Christmas is here, the perfect time for a gift you can actually get some good use out of in your maintenance work! I bought one of the lesser sets w/a 3 speed switch Dremel several years ago for one of my brothers at Radio Shack, it was <$30 on-sale. He used it the first week he had it to make a hardware repair on cabinetry on the job and saved many times the purchase price in replacement and man-hour costs.
HFT has their own brand of course, and I suppose that if you wanted to cheap-out and get theirs you just take it back if it breaks. Their warranty is usually not the same (read, 'less') as if you bought a Dremel from Ace Hardware or a big-box store.
$22.97
Once you have one and a supply of bits and fixtures, you will find many applications which will save you time, $, and frustration.
http://www.dremel.com/en-us/Pages/default.aspx
With a brass bristle brush in it, you can do a great job of safely cleaning them. There are different shape brushes avail., some are radial discs,
some are 'cup-style,' shaped like a concave cup when viewed from the business end,
one is a short-wire brush which looks like a pencil eraser.
Different metals are used for the brushes, w/brass and steel being the ones I see most-often. I think they may have stainless steel too. Harbor Freight sells brushes too quite a bit cheaper than the '1-per-pkg.' Dremels, but the Dremels seem to last longer in-use, they don't shed their wire quills as-quickly as the HFT ones. Also, please be sure and wear eye protection! These brushes will shed their wire quills as they work and you don't want to have to go to the E.R. to have some pieces of wire removed from your eye surface. They use gentian blue to dye your eye so they can locate the embedded projectiles and a UV light to find the pieces embedded in your eye for removal, and there is a week-long recuperation as your eye heals, every time you blink it is like sand in your eye, v. uncomfortable! So, please use eye protection every time!
Another of the Dremel bits I find very useful are the sandpaper flap discs in different grades of roughness (120 & 80 grit). The key to these is using the right amount of pressure and the right speed on your variable-speed switch. They work great for larger surfaces which need to be cleaned and w/a bit of care, last a good long time. I find these worthwhile to use on gasket mating surfaces where you are joining two flat machined-castings like crankcase halves. I suggest using the finer of the two grades of abrasive I see at the Dremel display so you won't remove metal. For contoured pieces which can get cruddy, like the master cyl caps which have a cast channel in their underside, where the rubber gasket resides, I recommend one of the narrow radial brass or steel brushes to clean the channel. I use brake fluid cleaner to remove any gorp or other residue after cleaning, again, use safety glasses to keep the spray out of your eyes, as chemical burns can be very uncomfortable to the eyes and may lead to permanent damage!
HFT has an inexpensive gun-style "spot" media blaster (normally about $20, I got mine on-sale for <$10) which I fill w/baking soda I buy at the local Costco, they have it cheaper than HFT, which is saying something! It does tend to make a mess and spread everywhere, so don't use it anywhere near a disassembled motor.
Once the baking soda is airborne, it can land many feet away from where you used it. This is good for cleaning small parts with tarnish or mild corrosion and I have used it to clean the male/female spade terminals found in many electrical connectors.
Here is a link to a business which has a great array of different attachments and bits for rotary tools, and they offer other suppliers besides Dremel, for instance they have flap wheels in different sizes/diameters/lengths/grits compared to Dremel's products.
http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/CTGY/dremel-sanding-flap-wheel
I recommend you buy several at a time, that way, you have them on-hand when you wear one out.
This last one is the Osborne Helituf brush and should be good for cleaning things like master cylinder bores or other narrow spaces. Widget Supply has bulk wire brushes which reduces the price to about $0.44/apiece for the 3/4" size if you buy 36. http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/PROD/dremel-brush-steel-wheel/SFH2-SMS69
Be sure to click thru the links to find just the shape brush, abrasive, or grinding bit you need.
Another tool I have found useful is the Dremel attachment which allows you to fit the bits into narrower spaces than you can with the motor itself, it's a 36" whip w/a narrow bit holder.
My father bought me my first rotary tool when I was about 12 so I could work on my HO slot cars in the early 1960's, and nearly 50 years later I still have it, but mostly I use a variable speed Dremel. It has paid for itself many times over by allowing me to make repairs on all kinds of things around the house besides the rolling or floating stock. And now that Christmas is here, the perfect time for a gift you can actually get some good use out of in your maintenance work! I bought one of the lesser sets w/a 3 speed switch Dremel several years ago for one of my brothers at Radio Shack, it was <$30 on-sale. He used it the first week he had it to make a hardware repair on cabinetry on the job and saved many times the purchase price in replacement and man-hour costs.
HFT has their own brand of course, and I suppose that if you wanted to cheap-out and get theirs you just take it back if it breaks. Their warranty is usually not the same (read, 'less') as if you bought a Dremel from Ace Hardware or a big-box store.
Once you have one and a supply of bits and fixtures, you will find many applications which will save you time, $, and frustration.
