As I begin welding up my hell hole I will have to stop to put paint on a few times (welding primer, etching primer, etc) and I was curious what the best cleaning agent to use is to promote adhesion and give me the cleanest weld. My guess is paint thinner or denatured alcohol (obviously it will have to throughly evaporate before any welding takes place) What leaves the least residue?

Thanks,

I use the POR-15 cleaning/prep system, following the directions closely. Basically, you clean everything first with Marine Clean, followed by a good rinse with clean/hot water. Then you use Metal Ready, again followed by a good rinse with clean/hot water. I usually use an air gun to blow away any remaining water, followed by a heat gun to "steam" the water out of crevices. It leaves a nice "galvanized" finish that gives good bite for primer. I immediately paint with epoxy primer.