I used it use WD 40 (anyone want to buy a gallon?) and kerosene(varsol). But to be honest I am impatient and I have found that on average the vast amount of build up on the exterior is on the chrome pieces(needle area, etc) and so I just go straight to my Maas metal polish. It seems to clean off all of the dried on oil and polish in a much quicker fashion. For the machine bed and other painted areas I wipe down with machine oil to clean up the obvious then I switch to a cleaner/Polish like Turtle Wax. It works well for me and to date I have not damaged any decals. I will say that if the lacquer is deteriorating most any process will continue to remove it so you will just have to decide what you can live with.
This is just my experience. I am sure there are many other opinions out there.