Lubricate/clean bronze camcleats?

[Thorne]

I picked up a pair of bronze camcleats on eBay from a new seller. His description said "great working order" but of course the cams are sticking open. The springs still work on all four, just slooooowly with a little assistance on two of the cams.

Should I soak them in any particular oil or solvent? There is evidence of sawdust around the cam bases and mounting holes, so that could be the problem...

http://i12.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/ca/9e/e0aa_1.JPG

[mike hanyi]

if you cant crack them open try soaking them in some penatrating oil first to get them moving again, then when you got them working dry them out with brake clean, if you are about to use them they will stay functional without oil or mess, if you must lube them try putting some wax and then hitting them with a heat gun to get some to the working parts, it wont stain your cordage then.

[Thorne]

Thanks, Mike.

They are riveted to the base plate and I really don't want to start drilling on 'em unless absolutely necessary.

Might try soaking in solvent first, then oil later. Good tip on the wax, not really worried about the lines at this time.

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

Use Boeshield.

[Tylerdurden]

If its organics, try a mild solution of muriatic acid.

You can always heat them up dose them with a good penetrant like break free.
Just set them in the oven at 300 or 350 and after a while take them outside and hose them with it. I wonder if the springs are any good.

[Thorne]

I soaked them in paint thinner for 24 hours, and got the cams on one unit to free up and spring back properly. Quite a bit of what looks like sawdust washed out of the cams. On the other unit one of the cams still doesn't spring back closed.

Will try more soaking and cam-wiggling and see what happens. Hope the springs are OK also.

eBay seller just can't understand why I gave him negative feedback -- ordinarily I avoid new sellers for reasons just like this, but I've been looking for bronze units like these for several years. What about the phrase "great working order" does he not understand???

[rdrishel]

Try polishing the mating surfaces that you can reach. This will reduce the drag of the cam as it passes over the base and make less work for the springs.