Parts cleaner

[Nick]

I want a parts cleaner. I was thinking about building a hot tank, but my local tool store said they use a caustic chemical that is getting hard to find. ? Goodson sell a chemical that sounds like what I am after but I'm not sure. Anyways what are others using for parts cleaning. When I worked for the Chevy dealer we had spray type parts cleaners that used some sort of powdered soap. I am not to impressed with those, i would like it to come clean like it was new. Any suggestions? Mostly I want to clean heads, and small parts.

Do hot tanks move the water around any? Or do you just heat the water, and use a chemical.

Thanks


Nick

[larrycavan]

[Nick]

Is Larry the only one interested in cleaning parts?

I have my eye on this dishwasher at the home recycling store.
Hummmmm.


Nick

[bruce]

In my previous career as an aircraft mechanic we had a parts washer that used heated water and citrus cleaner, it used a water pump and sprayed the cleaner out of various nozzles under pressure. It worked extremely well and I have been collecting parts to build something similar. I have the pump and motor, the heating elements were the type used in hot water heaters and are not at all expensive at Lowes, Home Depot etc just have to build a tank to hold it all.

In my humble shop I use a Harbor Freight tank with mineral spirits, works for what I do but sure would love something less flammable that I could just put the parts in and they come out clean.

The dishwaser sounds like an interesting setup? Wouldn't see why it would not work? The washer I had used was all self contained and recycled the cleaning solution and had an oil trap tank which I can't recall how that worked off the top of my head. Somewhere here in my office I have a copy of the patent for the machine which shows how it all worked. I had always meant to measure it up and make a drawing but never got time to do that. Its in my head how to do it so its just a matter of "execution" it is not close to the top of my list of things to build right now . . .

[86rocco]

Along the same lines as a dishwasher, several years ago, I set up a makeshift parts cleaner, using an old picnic cooler, an immersion heater, water and a non-foaming dishwasher detergent along with shop air for agitation. Considering the thing took me all of 5 minutes to set-up, it worked fairly well. Heat seems to be key, the detergent with just hot tap water performed poorly but at higher temps it did a fairly good job. I just used the only non-foaming detergent I had on hand, the result probably would have been better if I had put in the time and effort to find a more appropriate cleaning product.

For me this was a one off thing, I don't really have any need for a proper parts washer but if I did these results were promising enough that I'd consider building something more permanent.

[JRM]

[Tony]

Has anyone used sand blasting for cleaning parts ?

[larrycavan]

[Dom G]

I have two hot tanks I built that work well. As mentioned previously, I used a 55 gal drum. I welded a flat 1/8" thick plate (4" x 6") in the side of the drum about 6"-7" above the bottom and mounted the heating element and thermostat to it. I use a 4500 watt 240v element so the tank heats up fast. The thermostat has an adjustment range of 120 - 180 degrees. I also added a piece of pipe with a couple of jets thats hooked up to air pressure with a control valve to circulate the heated water. Either circulating the water or moving the part in the tank improves cleaning effectiveness by 30-50%. Circulating the water is much easier to do. I also built a grate to both protect the heating element as well as support the parts to be cleaned. By the way, a 55 gal drum will not only allow you to clean 2 or 3 heads at once but will also accommodate most engine blocks.

I use the Goodson cleaning solutions which work pretty well. One tank is for aluminum and the other is for cast iron. The solution for cast iron is very aggressive and when heated to 170 or 180 with the water circulating will remove oil, grease, carbon, paint and anything else that gets in its way.

After I clean in the hot tank, I usually put heads and parts in my glass bead cabinet.

[Nick]

I have a steel box about 18" x 18" x 6'. 1/8 walls. It would be enough to get a couple of heads in. Heating elements are no big deal, and I have lots of power in the shop. I can rig something to agitate it, so I guess it comes down to the cleaner.

Anymore more Ideas where I might get a good cleaner? The stuff form Goodson would cost me $100 buy the time I pay there hazardous materials freight.

I like the Idea of a hot tank, better than the spray type cleaner. I just seems simpler.

Dom you must have been typing when I was!!!!

Thanks for the replys.


Nick