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

Aluminum Contamination   12/01/08
If some of the aluminum made it down into the tank, would it react with the cleaner and make it unable to clean? I ask because it was obvious that the cleaner was dissolving the aluminum parts that fell into the spray area and I’m sure that a serious effort to remove all of the aluminum from the tank itself was not made.

Painting of Stainless Steel Pipe   04/01/08
Mr. Peterson, we need a procedure for painting of Type 304 stainless steel pipe. The pipe was installed on-site without painting. In operation, pitting has been observed, so we have to paint the pipes. Unfortunately, blasting is impossible so we must use a chemical method for preparing the surface. Can you recommend a procedure for preparing and painting the surface.?

Phosphating Process   02/01/08
We are in the process of setting up a pretreatment plant, and would like to know which phosphating process will be best, considering quality, investment, and maintenance for: 1) room temperature dicationic process, 2) tricationic process, and 3)high-temperature dicatonic process.

Clean Steel Using COR Rinse 404   06/01/07
We have been using cor rinse 404. Could you tell me if there are any issues with adhesion with different paints systems? How do you check if the metal is clean?

Removing Teflon Rings   06/01/07
We are chemical strippers and have a client who has a number of alloy units who wishes to remove a Teflon ring from one end. Is this possible?

Stainless Steel Wash Primers-Which and Where to Get It?   06/01/07
I have a couple of hundred 3/16-inch 304-stainless steel dowels that I need paint to bond too. I am not concerned about corrosion, only concerned about proper bond of paint to the SS. Besides the obvious degreasing and sanding, I keep reading of "Wash Primers." So what brands are there and where I can I get them?

Clingier Can Be Better   04/01/07
Gel cleaners extend dwell time, provide better cleaning

Removing Rust, Mill Scale And Oils In One Step   02/01/07
We have a small job shop that powder coats. We do parts of varying sizes all the way up to 20 ft in length, made of steel or aluminum, occasional magnesium. The parts we receive, as stated before, are constantly different sizes and shape and some of it is made of HRS steel and has rust and corrosion on it, as well as oil. I always see the typical pretreatment stages to be a cleaner, rinse, phosphate, rinse, sealer, rinse or not. Nowhere do I see anything to deal with the rust and mill scale from the HRS steel. Is there a product that removes the rust, mill scale and oils in one step? Or are there more steps required, I can honestly say most everything I ever read about seems like a perfect world where the only thing the steel has on it is oils. This is not the case in my business. We have a manual spray washing system that we use due to our varied parts, but I can absolutely see the need for a dip tank being a useful tool as well for the smaller parts.

Plaforization Performance   12/01/06
We are looking to install a Plaforization system for ornamental iron and aluminum fence. Do you know how many hours of salt spray we can get out of that system?

Pretreatment of Multiple Substrates   10/01/06
We are currently coating various substrates for aerospace products with various coatings. We are using a Mil-T-81772 thinner via a wipe method to achieve pretreatment for coating. Our coatings are Chromate primers, TT-E-489 enamel, Epoxy primer and Mil-C-22750 Epoxy topcoat. Substrates are SS 300 series steel, alodined aluminum, anodized aluminum, titanium and magnesium. We are experiencing problems passing dry and wet tape tests. And I have been tasked to get us up to a NADCAP audit ready status. Is there any one method and chemical/solvent that could be used to clean all these situations?

Alodine   08/01/06
We use alodine on 5053 aluminum and use a water based coating. We want to change to powder but we are also having to meet the RoHS requirement that does not allow hexavalent chrome in the alodine. Have you found or know of an alternative to the Alodine that would give good adhesion and good Florida exposure.

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?

Silicone   06/01/06
What would be the appropriate solvent to preclean aluminum surfaces to assure they are free of silicone prior to painting?

Which Solvents to Use   06/01/06
I'm new to formulating a sprayable solvent-based epoxy paint and my question mainly involves the choice of solvents. Although I know each solvent has its own evaporation rate and solvent power, why do most formulators use more than two types. For example, why would toluene, MEK, MIBK, xylene be used in one paint formulation? Couldn't I get a specific evaporation rate, viscosity, sprayability, VOC's, etc. by just using MIBK and MEK? Or are xylene, toluene or other solvents having more of a major play in a formulation than a carrier?

Iron Phosphate-Rinsing Required?   04/01/06
Must iron phosphate be rinsed before painting? What problems might I have if not rinsed? R.K.

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.

USA Made Alternative to Ecophor   04/01/06
I am searching for a U.S.-produced product to take the place of Ecophor A447 product. Do you know of one or can you direct me to someone who may know of one?

Paint Adhesion on Aluminum   02/01/06
We have an issue with paint adhesion on aluminum. Here is what is going on: Three stage washer: Cleaner Phosphate, rinse, rinse. Phosphate stage specs: pH running at 4.1 – 4.2
Fluoride level at 285 ppm; Temp = 140°F; Time = Uncertain but I estimate 30 seconds. Rinses are overflowing with second rinse cascading into the first.

In Search of a Polymeric Coating   12/01/05
I have an application that needs a 0.005-0.006-inch thick insulative coating on an aluminum sheet metal part. The coating has to withstand a 1,500 volt surge between the circuit card and the metal guides that the card slides in. I have tried powder coat but am not very happy because of a lack of adequate coverage in certain delicate areas due to the part geometry. Are there any polymeric coatings or other materials that are suited for my application that will guarantee a close tolerance on the coating thickness?

Oxidation Under Paint   12/01/05
We clean our steel parts and use a phosphating process for pretreatment. After this we use chemical to neutralize this. Some weeks later we can find that there is oxidation below the paint and peels off the paint.

Changing from Zinc Phosphate to Iron Phosphate   10/01/05
We have been coating for the last 12 years (supply to a major automotive manufacturer). Since then we have been zinc phosphating the steel products. Would a shift to iron phosphate warrant the same qualities in withstanding salt spray tests?

Coating Long Tubes   01/31/05
What type of system would you recommend for washing such long parts of varying substrates?

Painting Stainless Steel   11/19/04
I built a SS rudder for a 40-ft sailboat after the second fiberglass one broke apart. Then, after I had sanded and faired it out, I warmed it up and painted it with hydrofluoric acid to etch it, rinsed it and painted it with a wash primer. That was coated with a gel coat epoxy primer. Could I have eliminated the acid etch and just used the wash primer, or vice versa?

Cleaning Brass for Painting   09/25/04
I am in the midst of working on repainting some stamped brass decorative products from one of my customers. They were stored for a long time and were coated before storage with paint in some areas and clear coating in others. They are very tarnished. I am talking about black in some areas. I was looking for ways to remove the tarnish and not the details before repainting...

E-Coat Prep   09/25/04
Please advise if you know of a best practice for cleaning or other surface preparation for e-coating that needs to be "secondary crimped."

Paint Blush   09/25/04
I work for a door manufacturer as a process engineer for steel doors. When we paint our doors, we sometimes have a phenomenon that is called "paint blush." Our doors are made using phosphated EG (electrogalvanized) steel with a chromate rinse sealer. The flash oxidation has had us stumped for quite some time...

White Powdery Residue on Phosphated Steel   09/25/04
I run a sheet metal shop. We make steel enclosures for equipment manufacturers. After the enclosures are built, we apply an iron phosphate. After this phosphating process, prior to painting, some white residue forms after drying. I had it analyzed and it turns out to be phosphorus, iron and oxygen. What process would you suggest to prevent such white residue formation?

Testing for Effectiveness of Aluminum Sheet Cleaning   08/01/03
We are currently using a dyne solution as well as water break test to determine the effectiveness of our aluminum sheet cleaning. Can you tell me if there is any guideline for the surface tension (in dynes) that equates to a certain standard of cleanliness that is used as an industry standard for aluminum that is top coated with a primer?

Improving Metal Pretreatment   07/01/03
Presently our cleaner baths are dumped periodically and fresh baths are prepared once the bath's oil content reaches 3,000 ppm. This procedure involves cost and environmental concerns and requires too much down time for the preparation of the new cleaner bath...

Pretreatment Over Pretreatment   02/01/03
We are considering forming an assembly and then painting it rather than painting the individual parts before assembling. My problem is that the assembly is made up of a mild steel box section and aluminum castings...

Cast Iron Surface Preparation   06/01/02
We are a small manufacturer of air compressor pumps. We paint our products after assembly using HVLP spray guns. Our units have deep fins on the cylinders and some units have oil pumps extended off the end, which often have oil residue. What would be the least expensive method to clean these units so that rust will not appear after painting?

Stripping Paint Fixtures and Racks   04/01/02
Can someone hook me up with a company that can strip paint from paint fixtures or racks from my paint shop? The racks are 20 feet long...

Zinc Phosphate Application   11/01/01
We have been asked to apply a zinc phosphate to steel surfaces in one of our products. For a number of reasons, we do not want to use a dipping process. Does zinc phosphate have an alternate application method other than dipping?

Prepaint Treatments   12/01/00
We are currently plating zinc and yellow chromate for a customer. Our customer, because of shop soils and fingerprints, precleans all the zinc/yellow chromated parts we have plated prior to painting.

Technical Terms   12/01/00
We are in the process of upgrading our paint line. I was speaking with a chemical supplier about a three-stage washer. He used the terms "windage" and "drafting." I have never heard these expressions used in industry. Can you please tell me what he meant?

Fisheyes   11/01/00
We're having a problem with fisheyes and need some advice. We have a seven stage pretreatment, epoxy electrocoat and TGIC polyester powder topcoat. The fisheyes are obvious after electrocoat. We can see where the fisheyes will occur after pretreatment-there are bright silver spots, sometimes with a "comet" tail. EDS of the center of the fisheye shows aluminum and silicon, sometimes calcium. The defect does not happen on hot-rolled steel. The defect does not occur on vacuum degassed interstitial free hydrogen annealed cold-rolled steel. The defect does occur on commercial quality cold-rolled, draw quality aluminum killed cold-rolled, and INTEK nickel flash cold-rolled steel.

Painting Brass   06/01/00
I have a design that requires the use of brass (No. 360 copper alloy). This design requires that some portions be painted (epoxy primed and polyurethane topcoated). I have no experience painting brass and/or know if this alloy is even "paintable." Could you provide some insight into this matter and recommend how to best prepare the surface for painting?