I gunked up my endmill with some combination of melted/smeared plastic and sticky tape. I actually don’t think it’s plastic since it was making a bunch of really nice chips everywhere else, but I don’t really know. All the big chunks came off already, but the endmill still has some gummy, sticky gunk that isn’t coming off, all around the shaft, and the outside of the cutting edges as well as inside the flutes as well.
How do you go about cleaning that off? Brass brush? Soak in alcohol/wd40/acetone?
edit - I just got some random adhesive cleaner (goo gone, etc.) and it melted everything right off. As a bonus: I thought my actual milled plastic piece had a bunch of bits of plastic welded to it somehow via melting or something, but it turned out that was all stuck with the carpet-tape adhesive as well, so after a quick rub with more of that goo gone, I ended up with a super clean, pristine, perfect milled piece of plastic. Nice!
You should be able to use Acetone and a Rag to clean off your tools.
I usually will spray some on the tool directly and let it soak in for a few seconds, then spray the rag and wipe it off.
Do be careful when you are wiping in the direction on the cutting edges, it is very easy to just slide your fingers along a blade and slice your hands open.
trust me, Ive done it a dozen times
You probably want to stay away from anything oil or petroleum based as it can potentially damage any wood stock you use by staining the wood and new wood shavings will get even more gummed up on it.
Oils will prevent finish from properly adhering to wood
Eh,
I just read your edit
On that note, dont use Acetone on any plastic you want to look pristine, acetone has a tendency to kind of melt the surface of certain plastics.
Thanks - yeah I’m using this stuff called King Starboard plastic which I checked is resistant to acetone… and most everything else. It machines super nice, too - all nice chips, no melting or smearing or anything like that. Sticks well with the carpet tape and the tape comes off clean too.