Pilot jet cleaning

Just a quick tip, a good tool for cleaning out the oft blocked pilot jets can be bought on ebay - see item no
222564782471.
It's sold as a 3D printer cleaning tool, costs very little, free p&p and works well. It's long enough to be able to probe all the way through the bush. Comes with a sharp point, I clipped this off to leave a blunt end.

It does take a looong time to arrive though, but its useful to those of us who do not have a guitar handy

SteveBorland said:

Just a quick tip, a good tool for cleaning out the oft blocked pilot jets can be bought on ebay - see item no
222564782471.

Click to expand...

Interesting, the 0.4 mm size bit equals the required Amal pilot size of 0.016 inches

For those who are not musicians and don't know where to beg, buy or borrow a guitar string, take pliars and pull a wire out of your wire brush, straighten it, and voila! a jet cleaner within seconds.

Always assuming you have a wire brush!

Snotzo said:

Always assuming you have a wire brush!

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Yeah I have, but there are no bristles left on it.

Then you no longer have a wire brush !

Snotzo said:

For those who are not musicians and don't know where to beg, buy or borrow a guitar string, take pliars and pull a wire out of your wire brush, straighten it, and voila! a jet cleaner within seconds.

Always assuming you have a wire brush!

Click to expand...

True, but the wire brushes I have do not have very long wires and the diameter is too small, so you get into making a handle to hold it etc etc. This worked very well for me, and was far easier than finding a number drill here in Europe. To each their own.

In a guitar shop you can ask if they have a broken low e-string. It is about 0,25mm.

Towner said:

In a guitar shop you can ask if they have a broken low e-string. It is about 0,25mm.

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But the pilot jet os 0.106" or damn near 0.4mm, so your e-string will be too small.

SteveBorland said:

But the pilot jet os 0.106" or damn near 0.4mm, so your e-string will be too small.

Click to expand...

Then buy a B or G string, doesn't matter which, just ask for one that is 0.016" in diameter, will cost about £1.

Posting these mostly to play with the new forum. I dunno, I might be making Jerry crazy by copying these files. But the top one is a single B string, 0.016 diameter. About four feet long, when new, so you can clean a lot of pilot jets. I can take one of my old ones, cut it into 2" lengths and will mail them for 10 dollars each, shipping included. Just PM me if interested. (smirking face goes here)

The lower photo will be recognizable to anybody who has ever cleaned a welding torch. The smallest diameter "file" is 0.015. Yes they are basically a file but the first quarter inch or so is not grooved so can be used to poke through small holes without enlarging them. Mostly the "file" aspect is to clean crud, not so much to remove metal. They come in different assortments in a wide range of sizes, and come in handy for lots of stuff. But cleaning jets of all sizes, paint guns, and master cylinder ports come to mind.

Yes the lower files will be good for increasing the size of your jets as well, if you so wish. The wire brush is what I use. made a handle out of a piece of bundy tubing [ 3/16 brake pipe ] and crimpped it around the wire. Have never really had cause to use it as my jets have never blocked up. must use my bike too much.

Dereck

Also, a tool called a "pin vice" congress with an assortment of very small drill bits, down in this size range.

Thanks for the guitar string advice. Purchased a D'Addario PL016 single guitar string for my tool kit on Friday. Cost me all of $2

Much, much better solution is to buy a bottle of wine with the brass wire mesh decorative sheathing.
Just get the job done before opening the wine....

The brass wire is less likely to damage the jet than steel wire/drill bits