Cleaning Work Marks from Welded Aluminum Structures

So, your answer was no?

If isopropyl alcohol doesn't work, I'd try one of those Mr. Clean Magic Erasers.

Spray on, spray off....

http://www.amazon.com/ALU100-G-Aluminum-Pontoon-Cleaner-Gallon/dp/B00FPTUK56/ref=pd_sbs_sg_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0FY758WC6Q074XNZZVR9

Finger fat; IPA, hot water/soap.

Grease smudges; MEK or toluene. Spray brake cleaner in a pinch. (TCE)

Mechanical abrasions; Scotch Brite® steel wool.

Also, facial oil. Rub the side of your nose, then rub the mark. Try it before you laugh!

I don't have any idea of the scale and flatness of what you are doing so this might not apply. At a previous job we would use soft scrub, scotch brite, elbow grease and hot water between fab and finish. Once you figured out how to have a consistent pattern in your scrub marks it worked very well.

Clean gloves while working and wipe down with WD-40 prevents corrosion in the future...

A hand print will "etch" the shiny surface quite quickly otherwise...I cannot say in what time frame exactly, probably a few days (guessing!) at least. I would guess its the salt content in sweat, but that is not a fact, you understand....Shiny/clean Aluminium is sensitive to corrosion...

The only good point that surface corrosion has on it is that it protects aluminium from further corrosion I am told...

We kept RN Fleet Air Arm choppers clean and free from corrosion in the 50s-60s-and-70s with WD-40 (maybe even today for all I know!), as they had aluminium and magnesium parts....salt water could seriously damage them if not treated correctly with WD-40....or whatever they use today....

We will try the WD-40, we want to avoid taking the time to actually scrubbing these things clean so SoftScrub is a last resort.

Surface is kinda shiny so it does etch with fingerprints and with the heat and humidity here salty sweat is a constant.

Will have to look into pontoon boat cleaner to see if we can get it here, like the spray on / spray off feature.

Not sure about picking the nose part...oh, wait...side of nose...aha...outside side, not inside side...will have to try that at least once ; )

Drew K