I've got some ali castings which are an absolute bugger to clean - all nooks
and crannies, even a toothbrush won't do the job. Have heard rumours of an
electrolytic process which sounds ideal, but can't find out anything
further.

Anything known? Does it work? Where can I get it done?

TIA,

Geoff MacK

Geoff Mackenzie wrote:
I've got some ali castings which are an absolute bugger to clean - all
nooks and crannies, even a toothbrush won't do the job. Have heard
rumours of an electrolytic process which sounds ideal, but can't find
out anything further.

Anything known? Does it work? Where can I get it done?

TIA,

Geoff MacK

I will call it other options.

Sure that's not ultrasonic cleaning?

Thought that electrolytic cleaning would be removal of material and
that's not what you want. You can't plate over dirt to clean. That's
positive and negative for ya!

Castings, would you then also consider glass bead blasting?

What sort of castings and what surface finish do they require??

r

Geoff Mackenzie wrote:
I've got some ali castings which are an absolute bugger to clean - all
nooks and crannies, even a toothbrush won't do the job. Have heard
rumours of an electrolytic process which sounds ideal, but can't find
out anything further.

Anything known? Does it work? Where can I get it done?

TIA,

Geoff MacK
I've only ever run across electrolytic de-rusting of iron and steel
parts although electrolytic polishing processes do exist for other metals.

Some electrolytic de-rusting links

http://www.davidbradley.net/ERR.html
http://antique-engines.com/electrol.asp

Not likely to be applicable to aluminium though as the slightly alkali
solution may attack the aluminium. I've often used alloy wheel cleaner
or jenolite for cleaning aluminium, basically phosphoric acid IIRC with
some additions to aid cleaning.

Geoff Mackenzie wrote:


"Rob." . wrote in message
...

Geoff Mackenzie wrote:

I've got some ali castings which are an absolute bugger to clean -
all nooks and crannies, even a toothbrush won't do the job. Have
heard rumours of an electrolytic process which sounds ideal, but
can't find out anything further.

Anything known? Does it work? Where can I get it done?

TIA,

Geoff MacK


I will call it other options.

Sure that's not ultrasonic cleaning?

Thought that electrolytic cleaning would be removal of material and
that's not what you want. You can't plate over dirt to clean. That's
positive and negative for ya!

Castings, would you then also consider glass bead blasting?

What sort of castings and what surface finish do they require??

r


Well, I was told electrolytic, but would consider ultrasonic - anything
further known? I don't want to plate over, just clean and polish.

Hadn't thought of blasting. There's a firm locally I've used before who
blast with everything from lead shot to acorn shells - I'll have a word
with them. Thanks for jogging my memory.

Geoff MacK

OK what sort of objects?? and how big?

"Rob." . wrote in message
...
Geoff Mackenzie wrote:
I've got some ali castings which are an absolute bugger to clean - all
nooks and crannies, even a toothbrush won't do the job. Have heard
rumours of an electrolytic process which sounds ideal, but can't find out
anything further.

Anything known? Does it work? Where can I get it done?

TIA,

Geoff MacK

I will call it other options.

Sure that's not ultrasonic cleaning?

Thought that electrolytic cleaning would be removal of material and that's
not what you want. You can't plate over dirt to clean. That's positive and
negative for ya!

Castings, would you then also consider glass bead blasting?

What sort of castings and what surface finish do they require??

r

Well, I was told electrolytic, but would consider ultrasonic - anything
further known? I don't want to plate over, just clean and polish.

Hadn't thought of blasting. There's a firm locally I've used before who
blast with everything from lead shot to acorn shells - I'll have a word with
them. Thanks for jogging my memory.

Geoff MacK

Geoff Mackenzie wrote:

"Rob." . wrote in message
...

Geoff Mackenzie wrote:


"Rob." . wrote in message
...

Geoff Mackenzie wrote:

I've got some ali castings which are an absolute bugger to clean -
all nooks and crannies, even a toothbrush won't do the job. Have
heard rumours of an electrolytic process which sounds ideal, but
can't find out anything further.

Anything known? Does it work? Where can I get it done?

TIA,

Geoff MacK



I will call it other options.

Sure that's not ultrasonic cleaning?

Thought that electrolytic cleaning would be removal of material and
that's not what you want. You can't plate over dirt to clean. That's
positive and negative for ya!

Castings, would you then also consider glass bead blasting?

What sort of castings and what surface finish do they require??

r



Well, I was told electrolytic, but would consider ultrasonic -
anything further known? I don't want to plate over, just clean and
polish.

Hadn't thought of blasting. There's a firm locally I've used before
who blast with everything from lead shot to acorn shells - I'll have
a word with them. Thanks for jogging my memory.

Geoff MacK


OK what sort of objects?? and how big?


Two long cam covers, should be mirror finish. One inlet manifold, part
mirror, part rough casting. Three 2" SU carbs. Probably various odds
and sods.

Geoff MacK

Ah off the Jag then blasting isn't suitable what I have done is
the old fashion cotton mop on the bench grinder using a stick of
suitable grit you can get fine medium and course. And thats how a mate
has been doing it for years as well, on Jags, he restores. By now he
would have found some other method if suitable. It actually doesn't take
all that long to get the polish on the items. Don't use any wet & dry as
it scratches the surface and it takes longer to get the marks out.


I think each of the other methods will etch the surface. Like even after
chrome plating it takes a fair bit of polishing to get a mirror surface.

r

"Rob." . wrote in message
...
Geoff Mackenzie wrote:


"Rob." . wrote in message
...

Geoff Mackenzie wrote:

I've got some ali castings which are an absolute bugger to clean - all
nooks and crannies, even a toothbrush won't do the job. Have heard
rumours of an electrolytic process which sounds ideal, but can't find
out anything further.

Anything known? Does it work? Where can I get it done?

TIA,

Geoff MacK


I will call it other options.

Sure that's not ultrasonic cleaning?

Thought that electrolytic cleaning would be removal of material and
that's not what you want. You can't plate over dirt to clean. That's
positive and negative for ya!

Castings, would you then also consider glass bead blasting?

What sort of castings and what surface finish do they require??

r


Well, I was told electrolytic, but would consider ultrasonic - anything
further known? I don't want to plate over, just clean and polish.

Hadn't thought of blasting. There's a firm locally I've used before who
blast with everything from lead shot to acorn shells - I'll have a word
with them. Thanks for jogging my memory.

Geoff MacK

OK what sort of objects?? and how big?

Two long cam covers, should be mirror finish. One inlet manifold, part
mirror, part rough casting. Three 2" SU carbs. Probably various odds and
sods.

Geoff MacK

On Tue, 8 Apr 2008 09:16:05 +0100, "Geoff Mackenzie"
wrote:

There's a firm locally I've used before who blast with everything from lead shot to acorn shells

Oh. *With*.
I was struggling to think why you'd want to clean up an acorn shell...

--

Ian D

"Ian Dalziel" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 8 Apr 2008 09:16:05 +0100, "Geoff Mackenzie"
wrote:

There's a firm locally I've used before who blast with everything from
lead shot to acorn shells

Oh. *With*.
I was struggling to think why you'd want to clean up an acorn shell...

--

Ian D

Well, if you were an oak tree presumably you'd want your offspring to look
nice and shiny in front of the other parents on the school run....

Geoff MacK (time for medication, I think)

In article ,
Ian Dalziel wrote:
There's a firm locally I've used before who blast with everything from lead shot to acorn shells

Oh. *With*.
I was struggling to think why you'd want to clean up an acorn shell...

Well the cooling fan passes air through it on this one so it needs a good
clean every now and again...

--
*If PROGRESS is for advancement, what does that make CONGRESS mean?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.