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Cleaning Parts?

2000 Views 26 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  milioncaar, 
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These days I am disassembling on average 5-6 engines/week and selling off the parts I do not need and keeping the ones I do.
I am getting to the point where the sink + simple green is not working for me so I am looking into a professional parts cleaner like a Cuda parts washer & a media blaster rather than using a friends own (after hours on fridays and saturdays is starting to suck).

What I was wondering is how many of you media blast your parts?I Have a rebuilt 16V head that I bead blasted with glass beads and I am trying to sell it to a guy on vortex.He does not want the head now because he showed me an article

http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Article ... ctive.aspx

which states you should not media blast the cylinder head.Now I have always been super careful and I have sold lots of parts in the past that were all media blasted.

This is the technique I use:
* Soak part in Hot water
* Spray simple green over parts
* scrub in simple green
* Wash off part
* let it dry
* mask of machined areas like cam journals and upper valvetrain area
* toss in bead blaster and go @ it with glass beads
* blow off any extra media
* toss back into hot water
* using citric based cleaner just scrubbing off what may be left of the media.

Anyone else doing this?

Selling old ass aluminum has never been an option for me.
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Yes for sure that article did scare him off and it made me question whether even though I do scrub the aluminum after it comes out it could very well be not good enough.

How does plastic media clean the aluminum?Anyone got comparison pics because I cant seem to find any :? .
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Looking to take a corroded block and bring it back to that *new* aluminum finish.Plastic will do this?
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JShadzi said:
If you want to take off a corroded layer, then glass is the way to go. Eastwood has a pretty good blasting explanation section.
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And a forum!
http://forum.eastwoodco.com/
Going to give that a try before I go out and buy some media.

scottmandu said:
After that I only bead blast or plastic blast is the alum has bad ozidation on it.
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This has it bad on one side the intake manifold side.
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JShadzi said:
investment.
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Speaking of investments,thinking of getting 1 of these with all the space I got.


http://www.karcherpartswashers.com/Front_Load.aspx
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Looks like the recommend media is Aluminum Oxide Abrasive:

http://www.tptools.com/p/351,183_Alumin ... asive.html

And here is why:

"I have glass bead and have heard that it should not be used on somethings or at least make sure it does not get into the inside of something like an intake? And also heard it does not wash out like sand will on a part?
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I would have to say that Aluminum Oxide is one of the best abrasives to use. DON`T use glass bead. They do NOT produce an etch and they will embed themselves into the substrate. Some like Coal slag, but I think there are very few grits. As long as you have appropriate breathing gear sand is also a good media for blasting.

When Talking about gear I am not talking about an old pair of glasses and a T shirt rapped around you nose and mouth. You need to get an air supplied hood from Bullard or Apollo. The air creates positive pressure inside the hood so no dust from the sand can get in. VERY IMPORTANT!!!
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http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?item ... ubCat=1531
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Wizard-of-OD said:
JShadzi said:
investment.
Click to expand...
Speaking of investments,thinking of getting 1 of these with all the space I got.


http://www.karcherpartswashers.com/Front_Load.aspx
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Revisiting this...

Ok it is winter time and that means I am trapped in doors with all the parts that I accumulated over the summer.

http://www.karchercuda.com/mainpage.aspx

I am serioulsy considering making the plunge and getting one of these.Anyone have experience with part washers (front loading or similar) that they care to share.
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Josh I am not worried about the media blasting part...I have that pretty much under control.What I did was I bought 2 blasting cabinets (cost me 300US for the 2...buy 1 get 1 half off).In 1 I have glass media and the other I have commerical baking soda.The result is what you see attached.

I am getting to the point where I am blasting parts for 3-4 hours/day and then degreasing the parts before and after use.The issue lies with before blasting....most of these parts have cooked on grease and I spent too much time with a scrubbing brush to remove the grease.Whatever does not come off gets stuck in the media and sometimes causes it to change colour.So I want to invest in an automatic part washer that I can just leave the parts in while I am on the media blaster.
PxTx said:
I've got one of these Cuda units http://www.cutechhpi.com/cuda_washers.html

Funny how both have a cuda name. I am very happy with it for cleaning. I asked the guy if he had any units someone wanted to trade towards an upgrade, so I bought what he had. As long as it is large enough to put an engine block in, I think you will be happy.
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How are the results?Got any before and after pics?How is it with aluminum and such?

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SeStone said:
We just got an enormous automatic parts washer at work. I don't remember the brand off hand, but you throw stuff in, hit a button, and wait 5 or 10 minutes. I think it uses the scalding hot water at high pressure method, but it gets stuff clean--I've got an AEB oil pan and intake manifold we threw in there that came out actually almost shiny.

Sam
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Sam before I make the plunge can you do me a favour and take an old part,throw in there and take a picture after?
Would really appreciate it.

Wednesday I am going to try the 3 day trial offer from Cuda.
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