Man, do I ever hate Chinese protectant goo!

[Frank Trinkle]

Just spent over an hour on my new Steelex Mortising Machine removing all the sticky, greasy, nasty protectorant they spray over all their machines before shipment! Went through a 1/4 bottle of citrus degreaser and tons of shop rags trying to get the last of it off... though there's probably still more I didn't see on the first pass.

It's one thing to protect the cast iron parts, but do they REALLY have to spray that stuff on EVERYTHING but the motor?? Grrrr!!:mad:

My Grizzly's only have that stuff on the Iron and rustable parts. Much easier to clean!

[Chris Tsutsui]

I think they use some sort of grease or oil that is very cheap and probably not synthetic. This gives that pungent odor that reminds me of walking into a Harbor Freight, or Dollar Tree/99 cent store.

[Mike Circo]

In the future try first using a PLASTIC paint scraper. You can get off 90% of the junk right away.

Then use good quality mineral spirits. That dissolves the remainder without the risk of introducing water to your new cast iron.

I've done that on all my machines over the years and the clean up goes very quickly and easily.

[John Thompson]

Ditto Mike. I helped Steel City assemble over 40 machines the week before the IWF Show in Atlanta. Plastic paint scraper first or... and old junk credit card.. then we used WD-40 and rolls of paper towels. Surprisingly 3 of us had them all clean in about 2 hours.

Sarge..

[glenn bradley]

I use paper towels to wipe the bulk of it off and soylent green or whatever to finish up. Like some of your's, the machines I have gotten only had the cast iron gooped. Let us know how that unit works out for you. Folks have been talking about it for awhile.

[Roger Jensen]

So let's imagine your post if they didn't cover all of the components with goo, you opened it up and there was a spot of rust anywhere on the machine: "Man, do I ever hate it when the Chinese don't protect the equipment with something"

[Richard Chan]

Man oh man the Chinese get blame for everything even when they do it right.

[Frank Trinkle]

So let's imagine your post if they didn't cover all of the components with goo, you opened it up and there was a spot of rust anywhere on the machine: "Man, do I ever hate it when the Chinese don't protect the equipment with something"

LOL!!:D You must have been spying on me when I got my ShopFox mobile base last week! It was full of rust!

Cudo's to Grizzly though, because when I sent them pictures of the base, they sent me a gift card that equaled what they would have sold the base for at one of their tent sales. I cleaned it up and assembled it... and it's fine.

[Bill Wyko]

Automotive wax & grease remover from an auto paint supplier and it'll practically fall off. About 15.00 a gallon. It's safe on paint and just about anything else too.

[Jim Becker]

Cosmoline is used industry wide and beyond to protect cast iron surfaces from rust during shipment after manufacture. My Minimax Italian equipment was slathered with it, too... Nature of the beast.

[Chris Padilla]

My MM j/p still has some on it...5 years later...but not in any critical areas...those were cleaned off. :)

[Jacob Mac]

I used my wife's windshield scraper (plastic). And then forgot to replace it. The first part of the plan worked magnificently. The second part of the plan... Not so much.

[Steve Jenkins]

I scrape then use kerosene to remove the rest. It's pretty cheap and works better than mineral spirits.

[Tom Esh]

I guess it does it's job, but I've taken to wearing disposable gloves when removing with the stuff. Who knows what's in it - or what it's contaminated with.

[Frank Trinkle]

Heh Heh... probably "melamine" to add protein! LOL:D

[Gary Click]

We just had an interesting experience with Chinese perserative.

We import quite a few castings and forgings from china and they have shown up with a goo similar if not the same as what I have received on machines. Being the responsible company we would like to be, we asked for MSDS sheets on the material to keep on file. We were politely told no. After we pressed for the MSDS Sheets (required by OSHA by the way) we were very politely told to go to hell.

We now get parts from other sorces or have them shipped "raw". Rust for our parts is not an issue.

I now wonder just what is in that "stuff". I will be in China the end of next month and intend to find out more.

[Tom Esh]

Heh Heh... probably "melamine" to add protein! LOL:D

Exactly! Given that whole fiasco, I shudder to think what could find it's way into industrial products not designed for consumption.

[Jim Heffner]

Frank, that goo you are describing is probably cosmoline! I had it all over a jointer I bought a couple of years ago, best way to remove it is to dissolve it. I used some spray carb cleaner or spray brake cleaner from the auto parts store....dissolves that goo really quick, lots easier to remove it this way. Spray it on...let is set for a few seconds and scrape it off with a plastic putty knife or bondo spreader. After it is all removed, I cleaned the surface with windex and a couple of rags, then ready to wax the machine bed and good to go! I forgot to mention...do all this in a well ventilated area...fumes get a little strong from the spray cleaners!