I recently bought a shag rug for my living room. Not realizing that the motor/actuator for my electric recliner sat directly over the floor, the fibers got caught in the actuator which is now seized and no longer functions. The motor is still fine, however, so if I could find a way to dissolve the polyester fibers and clean up the actuator I could get it working without having to buy a $170 replacement.
For further clarification, the actuator is a large metal screw with a plastic piece that fits over it like a ring on a finger. The plastic piece gets bolted to the recliner’s internal hardware. The only other way to “fix” it that I can think of is to break off the plastic piece but I am unable to find a replacement part.
Some plastics dissolve in acetone. Try it.
Can you reach into it with a sharp tool and physically cut the fibers?
Unfortunately no, the plastic part is very tight around the screw. It’s about three inches long and I’m sure the fibers are stuck across the entire length
Yes but that might not matter. It may only be sticking because the fibers are wrapped tight around the plastic part and the screw creating a lock through that tension. Cut through all the fibers wrapping round the screw and plastic part half way across. So there are fibers running in the gap and out both sides. Then start pulling at them with pliers. Some should come out. They must be able to move within that join or it would have jammed up as soon as the fibers started to enter. Rather than wrapping them round and round and then stopping.
Also unless you know exactly which plastic that ring is made from don’t try chemicals on it. As you’ve no idea of the damage it might do to it.
Can you share a picture of the piece with the fibers in it?
Lithium grease could help if you can get it under the plastic screw.
If the fibers are long enough, you could try pulling them out with needle nose pliers.
If you are going to try to dissolve out the fibers, try a very small amount on the outside of the plastic screw to make sure it won’t dissolve it as well.
Polyester is pretty non-reactive, but I’ve read they use DMSO to dissolve it out of Poly/Cotton blends for recycling.
An alcohol or strong acid will probably have a small effect on the fibers. Try rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol first. Hydrochloric acid might work, marginally. Sulfuric acid in a dry form is often used to make ester bonds, but aqueous solutions will have some effect on breaking them, but that will probably affect the plastic part more than you’d like.
Oh, and usually heat makes everything go faster, so if you can place the motor/actuator in a warm spot, or even inside of an oven below the water/alcohol boiling point, it will probably help.
This is probably your best advice. Any solvent that will completely dissolve the polyester is pretty likely to damage the plastic part as well, but running some isopropyl in there could weaken the fibers to the point that the motor can break them up. Higher concentrations of isopropyl will work better, but even the 70% stuff work if you can heat it up past 150F
30/70 water ipa mix can make the mix dissolve materials that are not normally dissolvable in ipa. It is a cosolvent system which reduces the polarity of the mix and hence, can make things miscible in it that normally are not.
Just fyi, if pure ipa is not working, using the diluted version might!
