cleaning blow molded cases

[warmpancakes]

ok I have a snap on blow molded case that is nasty dirty and covered In grease is there a easy way to clean them?

 

[G1GRANDEUR]

WD-40? Simple Green? Soap?

 

[Wrench 2201]

I use either 1st Ayd all surface cleaner or WD-40 and a fingernail brush. Then wipe clean with a shop rag. Works great for super dirty air tools too.

 

[35mastr]

Simple Green and a good scub brush.

 

[DandDMachine]

I use a Super Clean degreaser, grab a soft parts washer brush to scrub the bad spots. They usually clean up good. Rinse them off with hot water and wipe dry. Some of them have holes that allow water to fill the get in the inside. If they do put that end down to drain as much out as possible then allow to dry overnight if you have time.

 

[plung]

Dawn soap?

 

[SINISTER]

Simple green, or purple power. Sit for a few hours. Come back with another shot, and a finger nail brush. Result is brand new.

 

[royesses]

Go-Jo non pumice hand cleaner works great.

 

[kartracer55]

As a warning, many blow molded cases have little holes in them in strange places. When the hurricane came through in august, a lot of my stuff ended up under water. It was very difficult to get some of that water out of the cases. I ended up letting them dry out by a dehumidifier for about a week, so that my freshly cleaned toolbox would not have little puddles of water in every drawer.

 

[warmpancakes]

cool thanks guys

 

[alfazer]

Is your lady out of the house?
Does it fit in your dishwasher?

 

[purplezr2]

Hot water/Dawn compressed air. Works great.

 

[jjjrmx5]

If just dusty, I take dawn and water or windex and a good scrubrush to them, then hose them down water and dry a few days. Put a fan on them if you want to hurry the process.

For the bad ones I take P-21S or Eagle One automotive wheel cleaner to them. Spray and let sit for 15 minutes. Then scrub and hose off. Repeat til clean. The spray bottle wheel cleaners attack the grease and oil based stains a bit more than the multi cleaners but are still water based/cleanable and are just mild enough to not hurt the plastic.

 

[fordbroncodave]

i like diesel in a 5 gallon bucket. let it soak friday night through saturday and clean them up on sunday with simple green and dry next to a camp fire

 

[premierplayer]

Is your lady out of the house?
Does it fit in your dishwasher?

This, well, if you have a dishwasher in your shop, that would be good too.

 

[jhelrey]

Hot water parts washer...

 

[DekeT]

Is your lady out of the house?
Does it fit in your dishwasher?

First thing I thought of.

 

[Cougar67]

As a warning, many blow molded cases have little holes in them in strange places. When the hurricane came through in august, a lot of my stuff ended up under water. It was very difficult to get some of that water out of the cases. I ended up letting them dry out by a dehumidifier for about a week, so that my freshly cleaned toolbox would not have little puddles of water in every drawer.

I lost quite a few power tools to Irene but saved the cases. Everything had to be rinsed in bleach/water. After weeks some of the case I had laid out still had water in them so I drilled holes in some spots to let them drain.

 

[machine_punk]

Water, a scrub brush, mild soap of your choice (dawn, 409, windex, simple green, etc.)

Windex and dishwashing soap are built specifically to be degreasers. Use windex on ANY hard, shiny surface, not just glass.

Or, you could use your pressure washer, if you have one.

M_P

 

[Honda 1]

+1 on the Simple Green!

 

[warmpancakes]

soaked it over night in purple power scrubbed with brush then used baby wipes and qtips for the indents came out way better

 

[trolle]

I realize this thread is really old, but I stumbled across this trying to figure out how to do this. I used the RX cleaner from West Marine and I had tried cleaning this thing with Simple green, solvent, Tough & Tender and the RX Cleaner worked wonders and it looks brand new, I just sprayed it on and let it sit for 10 mins used a tooth brush and it was perfect.

 

[roscomcfarland]

I lost quite a few power tools to Irene but saved the cases. Everything had to be rinsed in bleach/water. After weeks some of the case I had laid out still had water in them so I drilled holes in some spots to let them drain.

Speaking of blow molded cases and metal. My first ever tool kit got left out in the rain for close to a year. It’s a craftsman, spine drive sockets and I got it when I was a teenager as a present. I’ve restored everything but the case. All of the sockets, extensions, ratchet all rusted in the case. I’ve tried to clean the case a few times, solvent bath in a parts washer, alllllll kinds of wipes, degreasers, brake clean etc. there are still rust stains. Any ideas of how I can get the rust stains out so I can put the kit back together?

 

[TailGunner3000]

First off, I want to know where you live that it rained for a year.

But seriously, if all those cleaning methods failed, you may have to resort to a plastic dye.

 

[roscomcfarland]

lol perhaps I should’ve phrased that more concisely. I live in Idaho, not a very rainy place but it does snow. So going through a season, getting sitting water in the set and it sitting for so long it got super rusty. I left it like that for another few years never paying it any mind and forgetting it even existed. Stumbled back upon it and remembered all of the bs it got me out of, changing tires with it on my crappy cars etc. I did my best to restore the ratchet and sockets with Naval jelly. Jelly got dried out and never rinsed them out like I should’ve. This next go around gave evaporust a try and it worked well. So that rust is DEEP in the plastic. I ended up using big Mule wipes, a dremel and some polishing wheels, solvents, and evaporust. Looks okay now. Finishing the last of the sockets up and I’ll call it good for now.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

I used WD40. The wife was home or I might have tried the dish washer. I would have taken any chunks off first but know we will never know. . Worked great on floor mats one time. Maybe this is why we are currently on our fifth dish washer.

 

[lotus_esprit]

In the UK we have a rust stain removal gel called Y10, intended primarily for fibreglass but works well on plastic too when I have tried it.