Cleaning Materials

[Ronald Bishop]

I have sort of messed up a couple camera finishes by using too strong of solvents.[Simple Green]
   I just dug out a few long forgotten cameras last weekend. Excersized them a little and ran a roll of old expired film thru them with great results.
One is a Minolta  Auto Wide that is really nice[but dirty] surely don't want to mess it up. I mean this Minolta is cherry, and the meter works:}}

[Julio1fer]

One usually quite safe is isopropanol, or isopropyl alcohol. You may be able to buy it at a drugstore or pharmacy. It is flammable and not to drink but otherwise very safe. You may use it to clean glass also - opticians use it all the time.

I would  first to try a paper towel, dipped in a glass of water plus one or two drops of household detergent. Use une wet towel and one dry - wet, rub, then dry. Dirt comes out in the dry towel. Change the towels when they are too dirty. Do not wet too much, you should not see drops of water in the surface you are cleaning.

After this treatment with water and detergent,  you may use the isopropanol for a final polish, or just let the water dry by itself. Isopropanol dries very quickly.

NEVER use acetone - it will dissolve most plastics.

[Glenn Thoreson]

I regularly use Formula 409. It doesn't seem to hurt any finishes. I even use it to clean the leather and leatherette covering, the give it a coat of Kiwi paste shoe polish. For most bellows, a little lemon pledge does wonders. It's astonishing to see how much crud comes off of some cameras.

[Mike Kovacs]

Sorry, exactly what finish did simple green hurt?  I use it, 10 squirts into half a litre for cleaning parts, often ultrasonically.  It does a nice job with the chrome too, though keep in mind these are removed from the camera at the time.

[KirkT]

Simple Green is very strong.  You need to make sure you dilute it like Kovacs does and wash it completely when done.  I use it on car parts, but it'll eat up aluminum if left of too long.  Very good stuff, but you need to be careful when using it.

[melek]

One of the simplest things to use is liquid dishwashing detergent. It's made to cut through grease, but it won't damage plastic or other surfaces.

Goof Off (the xylene stuff) works incredibly well to loosen the Agfa helicals, but the stuff is dangerous beyond belief (actually, I don't know that, but it sounds good). It will melt many plastics, and I can't think that inhaling those strong fumes are good for your long-term well-being. It wouldn't suprise me if it gets banned in a few years.

Goo-Gone is benign and does a good job of removing sticky tape or pricetag residue, but you have to wipe the surface afterward with a damp cloth, because it lease an oily film.

For leather surfaces, I really limit it to saddle soap and the appropriate color shoe polish with the occasional use of mink oil to soften some leathers.

[Ronald Bishop]

Melek, I used dish soap and alcohol on the Retina that I took to the shop last week. The soap cleaned well, but left a film so I chased it with alcohol, we both be shinin know
   The Xzylene be some rough stuff, years ago I drove tanker truck and handled some of it. They used it in the boat building industry. To make a long story shorter, CA. wouldn't allow it's transportation into the state in tanker trailers. That was in the early 70s.

[Conrad Hoffman]

Increased concern over solvents over the last couple decades has resulted in their elimination from many industries. That's a good thing and you'd be surprised what the right soap and water can accomplish. OTOH, when you need a solvent, you need a solvent.  Greases and hardened grease residues just don't dissolve well in soaps or alcohols. Xylene is not so bad to work with, but you have to follow the usual precaution of working in a well ventillated area, keep the solvent covered, and keep it off your skin. No flames or pilot lights either! The next step up is probably toluene. It destroys more plastics and is probably more hazardous, but again, if you follow good practice, the hazard is minimal. There are other ones like MEK, but I don't have any experience with that. A very useful solvent is WD-40. It removes gum and many other things, without damaging plastics and paint. I also use ArmorAll on paint, plastic, and synthetic coverings, but be careful to polish off all the excess, lest you end up with deposits and a gummy mess.