Sorry no pics, maybe this weekend I'll shoot some.........

anyways.............


I needed to strip some tar, undercoating and paint off of some of my suspension parts as well as engine parts and decided to make my own hot tank.

I used a large plastic tub, filled it with a 50/50 mix Castrol SuperClean and hot water (boiled the water on my oven and dumped it into the tub with the parts in it)

Within a few hours, the parts had been completly stripped of all paint and undercoating. Much easier than sandblasting to remove the paint and all the other crud.

I think my next step will be to add an electric heating element to the tub....it looks like an heating element for a electric water heater would work out perfect...the element is about 12 dollars and the thermostat is about 25 dollars or so.

I have yet to clean anything aluminum with this setup since I know the Castrol SuperClean really attacks the aluminum if left in the solution too long, but I'm sure it'll work out nice as long as I keep an eye out on the time the parts are left in the solution.

What other solvents would be ideal in a "hot tank"???

heating element in a plastic tub ?? How would you keep it from melting the area that supports or passes thru the tub wall ?? Or would you just dip it in ??


B

Mueller,

Just curious. What happens to the "solvent" when you're done. Is it stored to use again (probably not), or if displosed of - where, how?

TIA ,

I'd figure out a way to safely "dip" the element into the tank, maybe in a metal housing so that the wires are protected. I could also add a few sheets of metal to either side of the plastic walls to protect them. The tub I have showed no signs of weakening after pouring in the boiling water. The tub used is an idustrial shipping container as spec'd by AMAT, it's very stout !!!!

I also have a metal parts washing tank, so that might be a better tank to use. The plastic tub is nice since I can use the hot-@ss sun in my area to keep the solution hot.

Before I added the boiling water, my solution got up to 125° f just by sitting in the direct sunlight for a few hours.

Luckly for me, we have a recycling center near by that takes this sort of stuff from households (old paint, oil, etc....)

I tried the petrolium based solvents but switched to Castrol's Super detergent. Works great and dont have to deal hazardous materials disposal when it gets to dirty.

At work we used to heat up floor wax remover in a Sonicator/Hot Tank. Worked real good.

Pat

simple green works well. gags me at room temp.

could you get the thermo disc on a water heater stat flush to your 'tank'?

We bought a new washer and dryer a few months ago. The old washer still worked and I had thought about using it to wash parts in, but changed my mind. I think it would have worked. Just stop it before it hits the spin cycle.

Anyone else try this?
One guy on Pelican used his dish washer,

Paul

We do too, it's called "neighbor's pool".




M

Use a Steam cleaner and run the steam hose into the tank for heating....

James