Remove grease from old dirty locks

[GWiens2001]

I would never trust a lock that had a blow torch used to free up components. There would be distortion on the components and damage to other parts.

The only exception would be a lock frozen with ice. Even then, I’d try using a de-icer spray or would try heating the key. A hair dryer would be the most heat I’d prefer to use on the lock itself.

That’s my non-professional opinion. Your mileage may vary.

Gordon

[billdeserthills]

Hi All. Not sure whether anyone has had similar scenario, but my driver pins are super stuck (you'd think someone jammed them on purpose) and i have not managed to get out but one of them by using a blowtorch. The amount of grease there was inside is mostly gone, but I am not managing to clean around the pins.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

I've tried, hot soapy water, house-hold cleaning solutions, blow-torching it, ethanol (99.9%), WD-40, Brake Cleaner - all in that order

Thanks and good day

I like to soak mine in rubbing alcohol, it will eat most organic compounds

[flyingron]

Any light petroleum product will work well. I've got gallons of mineral spirits/Naptha that I use for all kinds of things.

This whole thread reminds me of an amusing lock story from college. Pardon the thread creep. We had the campus radio station in the basement of one of the dormitories and came in to find that someone had jammed up one of our Medeco deadbolts with what appeared to be toothpaste. Our chief engineer removed the cylinder from the door and was sitting on the workbench trying to figure out to clean it out. He had removed the two retaining screws holding the cam to the back of the plug and I told him it wasn't coming apart any further unless he put the key in it. My next breath was to warn him that he didn't want to just do that, when he did it and pulled the plug sending pins and springs all over the place (fortunately most landed on the workbench). Well, he got it cleaned and he also got a good lesson on how to repin the lock. We were short one set of pins on that lock for a few days until we could get replacement for the one he never found.