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Re: Parts Cleaners

To: gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu
Subject: Re: Parts Cleaners
From: Brian Kelley <bkelley@ford.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 17:22:28 EST
> Warning:  NaOH may react with aluminum parts-- any chemists on the list? 

I'm not a chemist, but you're right.  Aluminum doesn't go into the
caustic hot-tank.  The popular solvent to dissolve carbon and other
deposits from aluminum is called "Carbosol" (sic).  I detest the
smell.

Laundry detergents and hot water also work well with aluminum (but
won't dissolve carbon).  I use Tide and hot water in a garbage can to
clean aluminum heads.  It works very well.  The residual heat in the
heat from the water aids in drying.  Note that Tide won't remove that
stinkin' Carbosol smell.  You've got to use a more powerful solvent
for that (acetone, etc).

I use mineral spirits in my parts washer.  I believe I paid around
$2.50/gal at my corner hardware.

I have a barrel style parts cleaner.  It is a 30 gallon barrel that
is filled with approximately 20 gallons of water and 6 gallons of
mineral spirits.  The mineral spirits float on top of the water.

A cleaning tank sits on top of the barrel.  The drain exits into a
tube that extends below the spirits and into the water.  The idea is
to have particulates and other nasties drop down into the bottom of
the tank and stay in the water.  The pump inlet is just above the
water line.

I've *really* been amazed at how long the mineral spirits have stayed
clean despite quite a few transmission rebuilds and other nasty work.
I love having a parts washer.  It is the greatest when you're
rebuilding anything or even just soaking a jar of nuts and bolts.

One gotcha with this style of parts washer in this part of the country
is the propensity to freeze in an unheated garage.  Salting the water
seems to be the best solution to the problem.


I remember a good story about caustic cleaning solutions a chem prof
once told a class.

The college he was teaching at had a small team of painters that repainted
classrooms during the Summer break.  They kept their brushes and equipment
in a small shed with a padlock and no window.  For many years they
did all of their paint work with brushes and rollers.  At the end of
each day they'd drop the brushes into a large vat of hot NaOH.  In
the morning, the brushes would be clean.

The school decided they could paint much more quickly with spray
guns.  So they spent a bunch of money on the latest spray gear.  They
worked great.  And at the end of the day the guys walked back to the
shed and tossed the guns into the caustic.

When they came in the next morning the guns were gone!  Mysteriously
stolen.  The police couldn't figure it out.  It wasn't such a mystery
to the chemist, especially after he confirmed that the guns were
aluminum.  He obtained a sample of the caustic and, using some method
I've forgotten, verified that they guns weren't stolen by
precipitating out the rather high concentration of dissolved
aluminum..

  Brian


--
bkelley@ford.com

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