Mothball smell in machining oil?

[kevindurette]

We bought some cheap Asian parts machined out of steel, and since I was jointly responsible for the engineering, I drew the short straw to work on the first article inspections. The parts are made of chrome-plated steel. The machinists left quite a few shavings along with a lot of oil inside of the PPR tubing in which they are packaged. I would imagine the mothball smell is some kind of rust inhibitor. The parts did manage to survive the trans-Pacific voyage, but now I wonder if I'm going to get cancer from this stuff.

Does anyone have any ideas what this oil or oil additive could be?

 

[MintJulep]

If it quacks like a duck...

If it smells of mothballs it's probably naphtha of some form.

 

[ornerynorsk]

You're not planning on eating it or smoking it are you? Just wash it off with soapy water or solvent. You never know what kind of crap is going to come slathered all over Chinese (or other asian country) parts. Chances are the producing company won't share anything with you about it, either.

 

[Bobber1]

Save some of that oil and slather it on the checks that are issued to pay for the parts.