23 replies to this topic

[Guess-Works.com]

No appreciated, but there is an inferred recommendation....

Plus there's just been a spate of similar posts recently in which other kitchen cleaning products have been suggested as being used for cleaning aluminium, eg oven cleaner, which is even worse.

Apologies that you were the straw.....

The recommendation should be "Read the label first" and ALWAYS test on a small area first, and leave for a while. just to see if there is any reaction... Unless you are 100% confident that the chemical you are using is not harmful to the surface you are putting it on...

Cleaning ali casings is an important part of my business, and the research I've done over time has taught me that most of the products which are available to the domestic market for use in the kitchen are not Ali friendly, this is probably due to a previous possible connection between ali and Alzhimer's, and hence pretty much disappeared from the kitchen.

[mike.]

I do like bare ali parts. But can you imagine the effort you'd have to put in to wire brush all the little nooks and cranies on a transfer case?! This is why i went for paint.

A gearbox casing isn't as bad, because there some quite large unobstructed areas on them.

I used some of this cleaner on my gearbox: Link

Nice and cheap for plenty of it. Worked well when left to soak in the grime and was good and removing the sludge from the bottom of the casing.

I just scrubbed this in with a toothbrush a few times and left it to soak, then wiped it off and used a wirebrush drill attachedment for the rest. My gearbox didn't look bad afterwards considering i didn't have to do much scrubbing to remove the grime:





Make sure you use gloves and goggles with this stuff though, its pretty strong stuff.

[GraemeC]

What do you use these days GuessWorks?
Do you solely have the dip or do you have something for a quick spray on and scrub type job too?

[Guess-Works.com]

Dip, Rinse, Pressure wash, and then a hot wash in a commercial dishwasher... ( believe it or not this is the final cherry on the cake, and cheaper than a parts washer )

looks a lot like this...

 Dip_area.JPG   91.83K   67 downloads

Edited by GuessWorks.co.uk, 24 November 2009 - 08:59 AM.

[Guess-Works.com]

The only thing which does not come off is the oxidisation, however the blasting room will soon be online and uning walnut should give the ali that polished finish.

[Pauly]

Cheers guys some good tips there. Might try the wire wool technique, ive used ali paint and it looks fake to me when used.

Edit: Can you buy wire wool drill bits?

Paul.

Edited by Pauly, 24 November 2009 - 09:09 AM.

[mike.]

I doubt you can because they'd just rip apart.

All wirewool ever does for me is leave the surface all scratched and manky, a wire brush doesn't seem to do that.

[mwalsh]

how do you go about that then, just rubbing across the surface? it looks good, iv shot blasted my old housings before and after time just dulls as aluminium tends to do so, would a layer of laqure solve this?

Yes, you just rub. I have used a bit of paint thinners on the wool before, as a sort of a lubricant, but I've had equally good results with plain water.

I've also shot blasted parts to get very ingrained dirt off, with the same result you mentioned. However, I then follow up with the steel wool to bring back the luster. Works a treat.

[Sherlock]

My aluminium engine parts are painted black. I had no choice, it was done at the factory!