How to clean up old soda machines?

Hi, I've purchased an old Jacobs soda machine and it's filthy. It has what looks like oil/grease on the bottom and years worth of grime on it and in it. I want to get this cleaned up so I can put it into my house. What can I use to clean up and polish an old machine without damaging it? This would be for the outside of the machine and the inside of the machine. And what would be the best to use for general lubing? There is also a place where it looks like there had been a bumper sticker on the outside. What can I use to clean up that old adhesive?? Any help would be most appreciated! Thanks! John     '>

[johnieG]

Well I use good old hot water & TSP for the gunky old greasy-soda spills inside, & automotive polishing (NOT rubbing compond!) for bringing back some shine to faded paint & a nice wax like Mothers Gold carnuba wax (without cleaners).
As for lubing the insides, I prefer a food grade silicone or teflon where needed & white lithium grease ( easy does it! no glooping it on to have it fall onto someones soda!) & I like Goof-off to remove old sticky glue because it wont hurt the paint (but test it first on the back of the machine to make sure it doesn't lift any color) well there's my opinion, hope it helps you out...johnieg

Johnie,
  Thanks! I know this is lame....but what is TSP? And is white lithium grease something I'd get at an automotive store? What about the drum inside (looks like galvanized steel? Looks to be the same metal as the slanted shelves in many other machines?)? Thanks for the reply! Anyone else have cleaning tips?

John '>

[Creighton]

Hi John,

Not lame at all. I had the same question.

Here is the first link from a google search (TSP cleaner).
http://alsnetbiz.com/homeimprovement/tsp.html
Looks like the thing to use for my dirty coin mech as well. Guessing start weak and be carefull around painted items from a quick read of its uses/cautions.

White litho is easy to find. Hardware/Automotive/Bicycle stores should know what you are looking for. Regret can't help with the drum issues.

I've found old toothbrushes, pipe cleaners and a bit of sorting out of what type of grime is on what kind of surface to get the right cleaner is in order. Takes quite a bit of elbow grease and TLC as well.

Johnieg, curious about why not rubbing compound? Understand that on a painted surface with grime RC will just embed the gunk deeper into the paint.

It's too late for me :-( I've already used a watered down slurry of the least abrasive RC to gently take the 40+ years of oxidation off.

Great Board!!!
Creighton

For those just discovering TSP (tri-sodium phospate), you can buy it at most any home suppy, hardware store, or paint store.  It works great for cleaning walls in preparation for painting.  Deep cleans and softens the top layer for better adhesion of the new paint.  It can be too strong for some jobs, so pretest, and/or do not mix it very strong.  I use it frequently myself, again, great stuff for cleaning.

[johnieG]

I've found that rubbing compound is a little to aggressive & can really remove to much paint, which is what you don't want on a very faded/weathered finish, I made the same error & rubbed right thru the finish & left dark areas that were showing primer & bare metal   , polishing compound is much easier on the finish & won't take to much of a "bite" out of a paint job. wgurk is right TSP will soften paint (open up the profile ie:"pores" of the finish) so I've recommended it here for cleaning the inside/liner area only. unless you going to be repainting over the old finish. some 000 fine steel wool & some vinigar + elbow grease can help restore some shine to the galvanizing, anything stronger ( like phospheric & muratic,and hydrochloric acids found many toilet bowl cleaners  will accually remove & etch galvinizing ( which is Zinc metal) however they are very corrosive & hard to control, AND you need rubber gloves, goggles, etc to handle them safely best to look up a "metal plating/platers" in the yellow pages & have them replate the items, or you can go with metalic siver powder coating, some people (including myself) have had nice experince with silver hammer tone paint, but use a self etching primer first with any paint over galvanizing (at automotive paint suppliers PPG. dealers etc.)
or the paint will flake off. well tha ought to give you some thoughts on the subjects!