Re: Best spark plug cleaning tool?

[Dan Luke]

"Peter" wrote:
> What do people use for this?

Dental picks are perfect; you can get them in all sorts of shapes.

http://www.indigo.com/tools/gphtools/dental-picks.html

[Jim Burns]

Various size jewellers screwdrivers and one of these
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4385992299&category=22660
Jim Burns

..

[David Lesher]

I found a small 12vdc power sandblaster at a hamfest once; is sandblasting
a good technique for aviation plugs?



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[George Patterson]

David Lesher wrote:
> I found a small 12vdc power sandblaster at a hamfest once; is sandblasting
> a good technique for aviation plugs?

We used one at the Esso station I working in as a teenager. The shop at Kupper
airport used one that looked an awful lot like it.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

[private]

"Peter" > wrote in message
...
> Hi All,
>
> I am looking for something for digging out the lead deposits from the
> bottom plugs on an IO-540.
>
> A friend has a very old tool which looks like a swiss army knife, but
> instead of the knife blades it has a number of hard steel rods, about
> 3" long and varying in diameter from < 1mm to about 2mm. They are
> serrated along their length. I am not sure if this tool was ever
> intended for cleaning plugs but it works very well.
>
snip

It sure sounds like a welder's oxy-acetylene torch tip cleaner. They are
not expensive and are available at most welding suppliers. The serrations
start about 1/4" from the end, I would suspect they would work even better
for cleaning plugs if these non serrated tips were cut off as it would allow
the cleener portion to reach right to the bottom of the plug.

[nuke]

This works pretty good, I have one:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/topages/gettheleadout.php

Run it off a little inverter you can plug into a cigarette lighter in
your car or truck.



In article >,
Peter > wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I am looking for something for digging out the lead deposits from the
> bottom plugs on an IO-540.
>
> A friend has a very old tool which looks like a swiss army knife, but
> instead of the knife blades it has a number of hard steel rods, about
> 3" long and varying in diameter from < 1mm to about 2mm. They are
> serrated along their length. I am not sure if this tool was ever
> intended for cleaning plugs but it works very well.
>
> Obviously one needs to be careful to not damage the ceramic insulator
> (these are Champion iridium fine wire plugs).
>
> What do people use for this? It has to be portable, so mains powered
> plug cleaners aren't really suitable, and also I don't think they get
> the real deposits out.
>
>
> Peter.
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