Cleaning sheet metal, there has got to be a better way... Options

[yeahmag]

I have spent litterally days at this point cleaning my sheet metal. I've been using 'Oil Eater' and different cleaning brushes from HF. At this point I'd gladly even pay someone to do it. I have a ton of stuff left to clean, so does anyone have a better way to do this?

-Aaron

[Pistachio]

QUOTE (yeahmag @ Mar 7 2006, 01:35 PM)

Cool idea. I'm gonna repaint anyway. How long do you leave it on? -Aaron

'bout a 1/2 hr +/- . Really depends on how thick/grimey it is. If it's really thick you'll have to do it a few times and lightly scrub it with a stiff parts brush or something, but it will eat it off. Works best if the parts warm ( like letting it sit in the sun )

How I do it - spray it on, scrub with a brush, let it sit, scrub again & rinse with a garden hose. The water neutralizes the lye and wah-la - clean part.

Like Twisted said - it will etch aluminum & magnesium, as well as soften some plastics & remove paint. However, I've never had a paint adhesion problem after using it, in fact, I've found it handy to etch surfaces for adhesion. Simply rinse it well. I usually wash anything I'm going to paint again anyways, dry it (throughly), & spray it.

DON'T spray it in the wind though - it will burn ya! (go ahead, ask me how I know (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/headbang.gif) )