Products Finishing Online


Zones Suppliers Products Articles Clinics Subscribe Contact Us

Zone Home | Previous Page

Mechanical Cleaning

Parts Cleaning articles from Products Finishing are selected and categorized by application for quick reference:

Wanting to Shine   12/01/08
How can I remove the factory coating from a 1972 ford truck aluminum grill shell so I can re-polish it? When I start sanding the old finish, it seems to have been coated from the factory.

ALUMINUM PARTS   08/01/08
Our firm machines products primarily for the aerospace and medical industry. We mostly machine products from 6061-T6511 or 6061-T651 aluminum. Part size ranges from small (~1-inch square) to large (~18 inches square). Additionally, we have to manually clean a lot of parts using soap and water, degreaser or Alconox.I searched on your Web site for cleaning products that might meet our need, but I thought I would check to see if you have any product recommendations or company recommendations.

BLACK SUBSTANCE ON RAG   08/01/08
We are yellow chromating aluminum alloy 360 die castings. After processing, a grey/black material appears on rags used to wipe the parts. What is this material, and can it be prevented?

Removal Of Cured Powder   12/01/07
I work at a company that is currently exploring ways to remove cured powder coat from steel. We generally use anything from 22-gage to 11-gage cold-rolled and stainless steel. We are looking at blast cabinets but want to be sure that we use an abrasive that won't harm the surface of the steel. We need the steel to remain smooth after removing the powder so we can rework the part. Most of them will have silk screening applied after coating. Can you recommend a blast cabinet and the best abrasive to use?

Graphite Grease Removal   08/01/07
We clean stainless steel parts prior to plating, and these parts are soiled with a slight graphite grease residue. Visually, parts look clean, but when wiped with white cloth, there is a dark spot on the cloth. We've tried commercial and in-house cleaners (acidic and alkaline) without any success. For now, we let parts soak in alkaline cleaner (160°F for 60 min), rinse and wipe off the residue. But it's a long and bothersome job for 1,500–2,000 parts by lots. We have to find a more economical way to do it while avoiding solvent usage for health and safety considerations. Do you have any suggestions?

Rust on 17-4ph   08/01/07
I have parts that are made of 17-4PH stainless steel per AMS 5643, approximately ½ inch diameter by 1 inch long. They're rusting when our customer uses them, but products we have in our inventory from the same lot show no signs of rust. We machine the parts in-house using carbide tooling and then send them to a heat treater and thermal treater-H1025 per AMS 6875. Then they're sent out for bead blasting and are passivated per ASTM A 967. Could the customer's rust be the thermal treating or just poor passivation, and to what extent can these parts be expected to rust if they are processed correctly but subjected to extreme conditions?

Smut On Titanium Parts   02/01/07
I use a Nitric/HF bath to etch titanium. Afterwards I desmut in 45% by volume nitric acid solution. Recently I have been noticing smut on parts.

Cleaning Pre-Shot Peen   12/01/06
I am wondering what is commonly done to clean newly machined aluminum parts prior to shot peening?

Evaluating Acid Concentration by Titration   12/01/06
We have installed a vibratory clean/deburr system that uses stainless media and sulfuric acid to clean copper and brass brazed parts. When performing a titration to evaluate the acid concentration we get a coalescing of black material in the solution as the end point is approached. This makes it difficult to observe a pink color shift. It also seems to slow the reaction. Does anyone have an idea what this substance may be? Any suggestions?.

June Issue   08/01/06
I am a loyal reader of PRODUCTS FINISHING and just finished reading the June issue. You are always very thorough and descriptive. I observed your response to E.P. regarding the phosphate cleaning systems and have some other suggestions...

Pretreatment   08/01/06
I am setting up a new Batch operation and wanted to know which pretreatment to go with. A 3 stage dipping system, or is a 3 stage hot pressure cleaning solution wash, Clear Rinse and sealant? Will the Iron railings benefit from a 3 minute dipping more than a power wash manually?

Passivate Using Different Materials   04/01/06
Can I passivate assembled parts with two different materials? One is 304 stainless steel tube and the other is 303 stainless steel solid. I am using epoxy glue made by 3M #2214 regular. I want to know if the acid will create problems to the glue or harm the parts.

Mill Scale   06/07/05
I am just wondering what mill scale is. I have heard different things on what it is, so I figure you are the person to ask...

Painting Stainless Steel Fabrications   06/07/05
I just read the article about active enzymes (passivated microscopic layer?) in stainless steel, don't coat it and so on. You mentioned scratching your head at why someone would paint stainless steel. Well, how would I get a nice polish or clear coat, and will that last on boating applications? I'm constructing a radar arch, stick welding it together. I have a lot of grinding and sanding to do if I polish and if I paint. I can coat it after the sanding with medium grit. Polishing will take a lot of additional hand work. Plus, in the future, I will add more components to the arch, so, what are your thoughts?

Pitting After Anodizing   11/09/04
We have a customer who is continuously sending us parts made from 7075-T6 that are pitted when we receive them. The customer asked us to anodize them anyway. We anodized them but, as expected, the pits left bare spots on the anodize surface...

Alumina   09/25/04
What chemical can be used to remove dried alumina powder from stainless steel?

Cleaning Question   08/01/03
Our company is researching the ways to chemically clean the graphite part from the deposited aluminum oxide. Any suggestions?

Painting Stainless Steel Alloy 304   06/01/03
I would like to know if it is possible to paint stainless 304 with a high solids epoxy type paint (per Mil-C-22750). If not, can you recommend a paint type that would be more suitable for this alloy. What type of primer is recommended for this surface? Also, is it possible to achieve good adhesion without any mechanical abrasion to the surface, and if not, would abrading the surface compromise the corrosion resistance properties of the stainless steel. We would prefer to prepare the surface for painting by cleaning with degreasing solvents, but will this ensure good primer adhesion?

Cleaning Before Passivating   04/01/02
I need some advice. We have a new customer with 17-2 stainless parts requiring passivation. The parts have a heavy brown oxide on them as received. We need to remove this before the passivation treatment. What do you suggest to do this with?

Polishing Stainless Steel Screws Revisited   02/01/02
As a subscriber to PF I always make it a point to read your article. In the June 2001 issue, a question came up regarding how to polish stainless steel screws. I would like to add electropolishing as a suitable process for screws and fasteners...

Cleaning Rust from Cold-Rolled Steel   02/01/01
How can we clean the rust off of unpainted cold-rolled steel parts slated for electrocoating that underwent an atmospheric corrosion attack from an accidental release of muriatic acid vapors in our plant? This is a real-time nightmarish problem that I think other manufactures have faced. What are other chemicals besides muratic acid that need to be banned from our sheet metal fabricaion plant?

Removing Flash and Parting Line   02/01/01
I am looking for an efficient way to remove flash or create a "uniform" parting line on numerous cosmetic parts that are zinc die cast. The parts will be powder coated or plated. Would vibratory finishing work? Do you have any suggestions?

Plating Zinc over Heat Treating   11/01/00
I am not able to plate zinc over an area that has been heat treated. Any suggestions?