Any tips on removing..

[norris]

Any tips on removing the remains of a synthetic seal piston seal from inside a cylinder?

 

[Deejayuu]

Are we talking disintegrated springer piston seal please?

 

[norris]

Are we talking disintegrated springer piston seal please?

Yes, just edited it.

 

[Super-20]

Carb or brake disc cleaner spray

Fine scotchbrite wrapped around a dowel ( grey or maroon coloured pad are the fine cut ones )

Elbow grease

Always worked for me

 

[shergar]

Definitely Carb / Brake cleaner.
Some stuff gets baked onto cylinder wall so hard a determined effort is required to shift it.

 

[norris]

It's stuck on the cylinder end and the brake disc cleaner isn't doing anything to it. The wire brush on my home made extension, used with a cordless drill isn't moving it either.

 

[tatmanpablo]

Like others always used brake cleaner and a drill with dowel and abrasive. I take it this has hardened, only thing I can think of is a little heat to maybe soften it up using some sort of extension on a blow torch to direct the heat. Then use the drill/wire brush,

 

[WobblyHeadShot]

I had this, found I was able to shift it by pouring water just off the boil down the cylinder. Left it for 15 mins and found it had softened up enough to shift it with sandpaper on wooden dowel

 

[om606]

Cellulose Paint thinners be careful not to get it on anything around the cylinder like plastic bushes or anything in your location do it outside too. it takes the hard graft out of it dissolves everything and speeds the job up a lot.

 

[chouchin66]

Try "Kroil" brand lubricant/ penetrating oil - it lifts stubborn deposits left in centerfire barrels, so may work for your application also ?

 

[shergar]

15 mm copper pipe.
Tee on end for handle to rotate .
Working end notched to form teeth which should be splayed outwards to accord with direction of rotation.
With ability to solder, tip could be brass and handle end reduced to 10 mm for fitting in drill.
If used inside a 22 mm pipe, wire wool can be rotated against end plug with minimal danger of damage to cylinder wall.

 

[MDriskill]

Take a wood dowel of the biggest size that will fit in the receiver tube, and cut one end to a wedge shape with a sharp edge. Rotating that against the cylinder end does a good job of loosening stuff.

 

[Steve217]

Shotgun 12G bronze brush (or spiral brush for extra oomph) attached to a drill via a section of the cleaning pole after letting whatever solvent-based solution soak into the cylinder deposits. You could give Bore Tech Shotgun blend a go? Not cheap, but specifically designed for barrels and dissolving and shifting plastic deposits. Might do the trick if you want to use something a little friendlier than brake cleaner or harsh solvents.

 

[Tuftybob]

Never tried it but Acetone ( or wife’s nail varnish) might help but don’t get it where you don’t want it.

 

[Potta]

I take it the seal is still in a large piece? if so could you put some hot melt glue on the end of a piece of dowel push it in to the cylinder ( not touching the sides) to glue it to the old seal and when it sets pull the seal out.

 

[norris]

The seal was in bits, just some of it was compacted at the front of the cylinder. Soaked in meths and removed with a brass rod, wire followed by several doses of brake cleaner.
What was the colour of the original piston seal?
Thanks.

 

[Robbo]

Use a metal ruler or something that's long enough to reach the end and use that to do the heavy lifting, assisted by some solvent of your choice. Come to think of it, as previously suggested a length of copper pipe. I will add to squash the end flat and then scrape the crud out.