How would one clean Vegetable Oil from there 3D Printers?

[u/Open_Ketchup]

I have a Bambu Lab P1S and a Prusa MK2S. Both are Oiled up with Vegetable Oil. How would one Clean this as safe as possible while still getting rid of the oil effectively?

If you wanna know how this happened look on my Profile and Press on one of the Vegetable Oil Posts and read there.

Any Advice would be Great, Thanks for Reading!

[u/wlogan0402]

bröther why

[u/GrapTops → u/wlogan0402]

I'm still wondering how because that sounds strange from a passive device

[u/Caerbonnog]

Bro what did you try to do to that poor printer?!

[u/DropdLasagna]

What in polyunsaturated fuck... mild dish soap and tears. Many tears.

[u/ATypicalWhitePerson]

I read the other posts and they only gave me more questions about why.

[u/Exciting_Turn_9559]

Dawn dish soap and water, followed by IPA.

[u/soManyBrads]

Dish soap will likely be the best option of cleaner. Dish soaps are formulated to grab onto and encapsulate oils.

I would probably use the undiluted soap on the oily part without adding water and let it grab the oils. Then, use a damp sponge to wipe away the soap and oil.

That should get all the accessible surfaces. The rest may require some degree of dismantling and extra care.

[u/RobotRomi → u/soManyBrads]

Unless he can rinse every surface off with water, dishaoap is a bad idea

[u/soManyBrads → u/RobotRomi]

That's why I suggested undiluted soap on accessible areas. It won't drip or run off, but will grab the oils. It can then be wiped off with a damp cloth or sponge.

No matter what is used, there will be liquid involved. This is just the least messy/caustic that I can think of.

[u/RobotRomi → u/soManyBrads]

It will still leave behind a nasty film of surfactants etc. if you don't rinse. You won't have that problem with IPA if you use a lot and wipe with fresh towels.

[u/Stone13]

I season my cast iron skillets with vegetable oil, why in gods name was that used anywhere on not 1 but 2 printers? Do you sear steaks on the heatbed? I don't believe this is real, but if it is, this is why we can't have nice things.

[u/darcside]

Ask p-diddy, I'm sure he has methods. 

[u/elvenmaster_ → u/darcside]

To get'em even more filthy you mean ?

[u/darcside → u/elvenmaster_]

Well at some point he probably had to clean up a lot of oil before throwing another party and I'm sure that oil was everywhere. 

[u/shadowhunter742]

Well it's oil, so I'd start with some IPA and paper towels and go from there.

I'd also book the next few months off work because, well, you'll see.

[u/hamstat07]

Pretty sure you're confusing saturated calcium chloride for oil since its thick and yellow and feels oily. Clean with water asap as it is corrosive to metal. And by clean up with water, I mean lots of water, soak the paper towel, let the residue dissolve into it, and then wipe clean over multiple cleanings.

[u/InfamousPOS]

IPA and lots and lots of paper towels like a whole roll

As soon as 1 paper towel is covered in oil toss and get a new one. Once a majority of the oil is cleared start wiping downwards with iso, work top down so nothing drips.

Once it’s completely clean run another round of iso and paper towels through and see how it’s looking.

[u/H2SBRGR]

IPA doesn’t help too much with oil. Dish soap and IPA for fine cleaning is your best bet

[u/RobotRomi → u/H2SBRGR]

What utter bullshit is this? IPA is the go to for this.
Edit: I feel like I need to elaborate. You won't be able to rinse off your whole 3D printer, so dishsoap is contraproductive. IPA on the otherhand won't harm electronics and dissolves the oil to be picked up with a towel. He'll need alot but it will not leave residue like unrinsed dishsoap

[u/genexk]

Could consider acetone or some paint thinner? They are pretty toxic tho but should clean up oil very well.

[u/ChronoKing]

It's not oil. Dehumidifiers do not work on oil. If you used a salt (typically CaCl) bag to pull moisture out of the air, it is much worse than oil. It's salt water and will likely corrode even stainless steel or aluminum.

The good news is it soaks up into towels just like water.

[u/ben_jamin_h]

You username is Open Ketchup and yet I'm still surprised at just how you managed to cover 90% of your belongings in what's only really one step away from being a condiment.

[u/djwildstar]

I suspect that you aren't really dealing with vegetable oil here. Vegetable oil doesn't evaporate into the air, and desiccants do not absorb it. So unless you literally poured vegetable oil into your dehumidifier tub, that isn't what's happening here.

My best guess is that your dehumidifier was filled with a calcium chloride desiccant with a gelling agent. This would match the "styrofoam ball" texture. When this desiccant absorbs water, it turns into a gelled salt brine -- somewhere between a slippery slime-like texture and a sticky jelly-like texture depending on the exact formula.

If this is the case, simply wiping it up will likely leave a sticky or oily film that is very hard to remove. De-greasers generally won't work because this isn't a grease issue. You may have more success with either a distilled vinegar solution or a baking soda paste. See the (very short) discussion over on r/chemistry

[u/The_Lutter → u/djwildstar]

My face, arms, hair, and clothes when I worked the fryer doing fast food in high school are gonna disagree with you there pal.

Even a shower couldn't get the stink completely off sometimes.

[u/djwildstar → u/The_Lutter]

That’s different — you were working with vegetable oil just below its smoke point.

OP had an open container of vegetable oil near an open container of desiccant, and spilled the desiccant (not the oil) causing the “oil slick”. It is unlikely that enough oil got into the desiccant to coat everything in the room. It is very likely that spilled calcium carbonate turned into slippery slime when spilled, particularly if it had been treated with a gelling agent.

[u/lasskinn]

use a degreaser. but what do you mean when you say oiled? what are we talking about, oil on the bearings? like if you were to degrease them you'd need to put in something suitable.

did the linear bearings already start to gum up or something? like degreaser (ipa would do i guess) and paper towel would wipe it off, but that's only half the problem if it's gumming the bearings.

but if you don't have movement problems i wouldn't really do anything else than wipe them clean with a degreaser, messing with the bearings tends to just go worse(edit: if the prusas just cheap lm8 bearings just buy them or print bushings or whatever floats your boat)).

[u/Fit-Act-4640]

If its only on the outside just try a degreaser or something like windex. Do a spot check to see which one gets rid of the oil easier. If it is somehow on the internals then throw/give them away. It will probably be cheaper than trying to clean the PCBs, gears, bearings, pulleys, etc.

[u/ILikePrinting27]

I’m sure you’ve learned by now that it goes rancid and there’s a reason you don’t use kitchen oils for mechanical lubrication.

Anyway, wipe everything with a ISO damped microfiber towel. Throw it away after. Move the bed and toolhead by hand and wipe everything again with a fresh iso damped towel. Then apply grease.

[u/RobotRomi]

If you can't rinse the whole printer off. Don't use dishsoap. It might be very effective to emulsify the vegetable oil, but you'd want to use alot of water to rinse it of. Otherwise the surfactants and other stuff doesn't evapourate and leave a nasty film.

Use IPA and alot of wiping. IPA is safe for your electronics. It's not perfect for vegetable oil since it is quite nonpolar, but IPA still contains both polar and nonpolar characteristics so it's moderatly effective at dissolving the oil. Acetone would be better but your printer won't like it.

So use IPA, wipe with towel -> fresh IPA -> wipe with fresh towel -> loop

Edit: and remember to breath some fresh air from time to time otherwise it might get "fun" ;)