Parts Cleaning

What are the parts made of?

What are the parts dirtied with?

What temperature is the cleaning taking place?

Is the bath open-topped or covered?

Metal parts i.e Steel, Al and Ti

oil for corrosion protection or, the parts are to undergo NDT and chemical processing i.e Cd plating, and the likes

Temperature should be below heat treatment temperatures

and the bath is covered

Thanks

Why not start here:

Cleaning Agents and Surface Treatments Information on GlobalSpec

Come on back with questions.

I used a conventional Washing Up Machine for a lot of parts years ago, it worked great for me.....I only had a few parts each day to clean though and I had time to turn them over and redo......not quite an industrial process!!!

The big question is how many parts are you cleaning in one day. I use an aqueous based cleaner with no solvents or de-greasers for cleaning vacuum pump parts. It heats the water to 90 degrees Celsius and I leave the parts in for 40 min, but in some cases I still have to do some manual cleaning with acetone. There are some very large ones on the market but I don't think your going to find anything that's not solvent based that will require no manual cleaning. I do work for a few heat treating companies here in Canada and I believe many of them still use a Perch or Trich bath.

pretty nasty stuff.....

http://dhs.wisconsin.gov/eh/ChemFS/fs/TCE.htm

WILL EXPOSURE TO TRICHLOROETHYLENE RESULT IN HARMFUL HEALTH EFFECTS?

The following health effects may occur immediately or shortly after inhaling air that contains more than 50 ppm TCE:

• Heart problems including cardiac arrhythmias;
• Nausea and vomiting;
• Serious liver injury;
• Dizziness, headache, neurological problems; and
• Eye, nose and throat irritation.

The following health effects can occur after several years of exposure to TCE:

Cancer: There is no consistent evidence TCE exposure causes cancer in humans. However, animals exposed to high levels of the compound have developed liver, kidney, lung, testicular tumors, and leukemia.

Reproductive Effects: Animal studies indicate there may be an association between maternal exposure to TCE and specific heart defects in the offspring. Preliminary evidence in humans exposed to the chemical in their drinking water indicates similar effects. Pregnant women should avoid exposure to TCE.

Other Effects: Inhaling or drinking TCE-contaminated water causes kidney, liver, and lung damage in animal studies.

In general, chemicals affect the same organ systems in all people who are exposed. However, the seriousness of the effects may vary from person to person. A person's reaction depends on several things, including individual health, heredity, previous exposure to chemicals including medicines, and personal habits such as smoking or drinking.

It's also important to consider the length of exposure to the chemical; the amount of chemical exposure; and whether the chemical was inhaled, touched, or eaten.

http://www.epa.gov/chemfact/f_perchl.txt

HOW DOES PERCHLOROETHYLENE AFFECT HUMAN HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT?

Effects of perchloroethylene on human health and the environment
depend on the amount of PERC present and the length and frequency of
exposure. Effects also depend on the health of a person or the condition
of the environment when exposure occurs.

Breathing PERC for short periods of time can adversely affect the
human nervous system. Effects range from dizziness, fatigue, headaches and
sweating to incoordination and unconsciousness. Contact with PERC liquid
or vapor irritates the skin, the eyes, the nose, and the throat. These
effects are not likely to occur at levels of PERC that are normally found
in the environment.

Breathing perchloroethylene over longer periods of time can cause
liver and kidney damage in humans. Workers exposed repeatedly to large
amounts of PERC in air can also experience memory loss and confusion.
Laboratory studies show that PERC causes kidney and liver damage and cancer
in animals exposed repeatedly by inhalation and by mouth. Repeat exposure
to large amounts of PERC in air may likewise cause cancer in humans.

Have you contacted Safety-Kleen or some company such as that? They should be able to provide a parts washer system that uses non-hazardous solvents. It may be worth the phone call. Safety-Kleen likely will be the most expensive of such companies and, depending on the salesperson, they have been known to be rather pushy. However, they do the job. Depending on the area of the country in which you live, a local or regional environmental company may be a better alternative.

I worked for a company that had long been using Trichlorethylene ... until its hazards became well known.

Along with NOT having notified employees of the hazards, they had been (literally) dumping the waste into a trench out behind the building ... which 'bled' down into a very popular river nearby.

Once the "personnel" dangers were exposed, the company switched to using Trichloroethane VG solvent ... which was (supposedly) "altogether safer". The machinists would even wash their hands with it, having been told how much safer it was.

To this day, I can't help but wonder ... did the company's "paving a big parking-lot over that old trench" actually keep them from ever getting caught...?

Try looking for the absolute SAFEST way to accomplish your cleaning, even if it involves paying for ultrasonic baths using deionized water. Everyone involved will be much happier ... as will their "non-deformed" kids and grandkids!

Try contacting a CO2 cleaning company for a parts washer or a dry cleaner that uses CO2 washing machines to get a referral on who to contact for one. The CO2 clothes washer may work for your parts.

Casper

Over the years, we have gone from Trichloroethane to Perchloroethylene to Vertrel (Decafluoropentane/dichloroethylene) to Electro-Wash NXO (HFE/dichloroethylene/tetrafluoroethylene) for precision contact cleaning in an enclosed, heated spray system adjusting for the changes in vapor temperature. Still not as green as the aqueous systems, but they did not work well enough for our application.

If anyone has found a better process for gold, light force, ohmic contact cleaning, I would be grateful for information on the chemical/process.

Hi Casper

I have used with great success a product from Brownell's called Dicro-clean. I used it just before a bluing or plating process for guns and gun parts. It is an excellent non-caustic degreaser and cleaner. Just add to water and heat to 180deg. F.

Check out the site and contact a rep. for detailed information.

Hello friend,

You are right manual cleaning of parts using TCE or PCE will errect cancer if used is prolonged for a sufficient period of time.

However, there are options available to elliminate TCE OR PCE, use ISOPAR H ( Hydrocarbon -mfg by Exxon Mobil) it is safe, if you still want to use TCE OR PCE use automatic cleaning machines of Amsonics -Switzerland or Durr Ecoclean GmbH-Stuttgart, they are the best and safest, for more economical use - Finnsonic machines.

Hope the above is useful to you