[GreenKeys] Cleaning Teletypes (The older ones)

[Pete Lancashire]

KG>The base units were never tank cleaned...


KG>The Varsol/oil process was tuff on the cloth covered
KG>wiring harnesses, being very difficult to get all the solvent
KG>residue out...

KG>Pbly the major reason the bases were never tank cleaned!

I would think for a restoration, one could remove the wiring, but not
having done this before, maybe there's a reason why not ?


KG>  ... in Montreal the company had installed
KG>a new ultrasonic cleaner which was purchased for this
KG>M35 overhaul project...

KG>After the cleaning process, the typing units were almost
KG>hot to the touch...

If done right a majority of the sound energy goes into what is being
cleaned.
If you have a tank as big as you did, 500W to 1KW going into the transducers
would not be uncommon. Energy in, heat out.

>Afterwards, the entire typing unit wud be immersed in oil
>to ensure all felts had been oil saturated...

So many talk about not covering everything in oil, but I ask other than
having
to let all the oil drip off, why not ?

KG> believe the cleaning agent to have been a type of liquid
KG>Freon...

Yep it would have been, When at Burroughs we clean wire wrapped back planes,
they were around 3 x 4 feet.
The tank was something like 5 feet by 3 by 5 feet deep, The liquid was
boiled and
the super heated vapors would do the cleaning. Refrigerated coils near the
top of
the tank would cause the vapor to condense back. The bottom had two sections
one the boiling liquid and the other the condensate. There was a pump on
that
side that went to a hand held wand.

Was not uncommon to go through a drum every month, even more if one took a
gallon or two home.

They used "Freon-TE" which was Freon mixed with Ethel Alcohol.

Then the was a similar setup with a tank about 2 x 2 x  4 deep and had an
ultrasonic
setup in the clean side of the bottom. You would immerse what was being
cleaned then slowly
lift it out into the vapors. When on the night shift it was great for
cleaning old carburetors :-)




On Sun, May 21, 2017 at 9:18 AM, Kenneth Gartland <trnsrme at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all!
>
> Back in the day in our Teletype shop, we did have the
> luxury of a fairly large and deep motorized cleaning
> tank...It was about the size of one of the old style
> horizontal water cooled Coke coolers...
>
> In the early days, we wud use the varsol and oil mix,
> but for some reason later on, the mix was changed to
> "Gunk" and oil...
>
> It never seemed to work as well as the Varsol/oil mixture...
>
> Cleaning and degreasing the old M14 and 15/20 machines
> was quite labour intensive, and time consuming...
>
> Our tank could hold about six typing units at one time...
>
> The base units were never tank cleaned...
>
> They were all cleaned by hand with compressed air
> to remove debris, then cleaned with solvent moistened
> cloths and air dried w/comp air to finish!
>
> The Varsol/oil process was tuff on the cloth covered
> wiring harnesses, being very difficult to get all the solvent
> residue out...
>
> Pbly the major reason the bases were never tank cleaned!
>
> I worked in the TTY shop in Montreal for a time doing
> the Teletype Corp'n sponsored M35 typing unit overhaul
> program, where many front plate parts and clutch assemblies
> were being replaced due to metal fatigue and case hardening
> issues...
>
> I am sure you Model 35 repair techs were involved with
> this program...
>
> More to the point, in Montreal the company had installed
> a new ultrasonic cleaner which was purchased for this
> M35 overhaul project...
>
> I never saw anything clean so well...
>
> The typing units wud literally come out squeaky clean...
>
> After the cleaning process, the typing units were almost
> hot to the touch...
>
> Afterwards, the entire typing unit wud be immersed in oil
> to ensure all felts had been oil saturated...
>
> I believe the cleaning agent to have been a type of liquid
> Freon...
>
> I gess the cleaning situ for all of us is to use what ever
> method seems to work the best...
>
> I have heard that "Simple Green" can lead to "Rust spotting"
> and/or formation of whitish deposits on equipment
> being cleaned with it...
>
> I have never tried the product myself, so I can't truly
> judge the permormance...
>
> Thanks for listening!
>
> Cheers!
>
> Ken
> VE3-HMQ
>
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