Cleaning Precision Measuring Tools
We have experienced the same problems for years: how to clean honing oil from dial bore gauges and snap gauges before it can gum up and slow the dial readings. We used to immerse the measuring head up to near the dial in acetone, and gently run the gauge through its entire travel multiple times. This was our preferred method for years, but it is labor intensive. Acetone is flammable and you also don’t want to get acetone on the dial face as it will frost over immediately. We now sim- ply immerse the measuring head, not the entire unit or dial assembly, into our ultra sonic cleaner. After a minute or so, run it through its range several times while immersed. If you clean them this way, you can do it every several uses or even once a month (we prefer to clean them all on Monday mornings before we open the shop). We then rinse the ultrasonic juice from the tools in our “final clean” parts washer for a minute or so, then lightly WD-40 the working parts. You don’t want to clean dial veneers, small machinist rulers, or anything else with painted markings in this manner. The paint markings, even if recessed, will disappear in mere seconds!

Timm Jurincie
Tuf-Enuf Auto & Marine Performance
Avondale, AZ.
November, 2014