New Chain Cleaning Process

I've been very old school when it comes to cleaning chains and other cycle drive train components - it's  been white spirit all the way. 

There's no doubt it works really well - but it stinks, it's bad for the environment, it's bad for you skin, and it stays in the chain for a long time so when the chain is refitted it thins the first oil application and still leaves a black film on the chain 

I decided to try a more modern alternative and get an actual parts washer. This would mean a move away from white spirit and I could drop the parts ion the washer and leave them whilst doing something else. 

I got a basic parts washer from eBay:

and also some non-solvent degreaser:

The first fill with a ~50/50 water/degreaser mix

Here's the pump running (with the parts tray removed):

And here is a filthy chain being cleaned:

Whilst the degreaser did degrease - it's nothing like as effective as white spirit and I needed to use an old paint brush as well to brush the chain under the cleaning jet. Some models have an option to fit a hose/brush combination and I think this would be better. (I do use a an old paint brush with white spirit as well though)

I also removed the rear derailleur and cleaned that. And separately I very carefully used the paint brush, wetted with the solution, to clean the cassette in situ.

I also had previously bought an electric compressed air duster (to blow dust out of computers) and I used this to dry the chain and derailleur

Because the cleaning fluid was not hydrocarbon based it was safe to use this blower. It certainly dried both the chain and derailleur really well - very effective indeed and I'll use that again.

Here's the final result:

That drivetrain won't stay like that for long riding in the winter 

Here's what the washer looked like at the end of the cleaning process:

Summary

For

• It doesn't stink the garage out with white spirit fumes
• You can put parts in and leave them washing whilst doing other jobs
• Its quiet
• Its's OK.

Against

• The degreaser is nothing like as effective as White spirit
• I needed to use the brush to get it really clean
• It might have come clean if I'd left it for a few hours
• I still used blue nitrile gloves to look after my hands (PPE and all that)
• I am not sure what to do with the dirty water/degreaser mix when it's no longer effective (I'd better read the instructions!)

I'll see if I can get at nozzle/brush fitting like this:

I'll use this process again though in the future