Ed Huntress wrote:
On Tue, 03 Feb 2015 18:18:02 +0000, Kevin
wrote:

newbie - hobbyist here,
I was grinding a hardened shaft on my lathe with appropriate rags covering
everything to protect the lathe from the grinding dust.The lead screw
snagged the corner of one of the rags and pulled it out from under the
grinder dumping all the crud it had collected onto the lead screw and
thread dial. I stopped and disengaged the thread dial. Then I used a
squirt bottle (dish detergent type) with #1 fuel oil to deluge the lead
screw and thread dial several times. Turning the dial with my fingers,
it still feels like I'm lapping a valve in an engine. Any suggestions as
to what else I can do to get it cleaned? Thanks in advance.

Take apart whatever you can. Vacuum. Then put on good eye protection
and air-blast from a compressor.

Regarding the lead screw, one way to clean them is to take a piece of
heavy cord, soak it in solvent (anything from kerosene to WD-40), wrap
it once or twice around the thread grooves, and run the leadscrew
slowly under power while holding on to the ends of the cord. I prefer
to do this with a strip cut from an old T-shrt, so there is some extra
material cleaning the tops of the threads.

Then, in the future, use paper or aluminum foil instead of rags to
cover the bedways when you grind. Spray with WD-40 or spray oil so the
grit will stick to the covers. Use masking tape if you need to, to
hold paper in place. You also can do some creative carving on a gallon

I learned this the hard way, got rags wrapped up pretty good in my lathe
which messed up a few parts. I now use the paper sheets they stuff in
boxes as packing material to catch messes.