good aluminum cleaning solution

[wjones43]

.anyone have any reconmendations for cleaning and welding aluminum-have just finished attempting to TIG weld an aluminum transfer case and welds were contaminated with gas or oil solvents-very bad results- I think that it was not properly cleaned .Is there something that I should have prepped the aluminum work before-hand with-Any advice/comments welcome for this novice

[Franz]

On a casting like that, witch has been full of oil, the best final cleaning process seems to be burying it in new KittyLitter and baking it for about 12 hours. The Kitty Litter draws the oil out better than any solvent will.
Make sure you use new KittyLitter, you will get in enough trouble for using the wife's oven.

[banzaitoyota]

I just bought neww appliances for the wife, so I could have a fridge, oven and dishwasher in my shop

[banzaitoyota]

Originally posted by aweaver


Great idea on the fridge and oven, but what in the world do you need a dishwasher for?

Dishwasher is for final cleaning of car parts. Works great

[wjones43]

..with all due respect to the quips,. and commentary,..any suggestions other than the Kitty-litter/oven process on maybe some type of commercially available de-greaser?-
TIA

[Ed in Ga]

wjones,
Never tried it, but have heard of boiling the casing in a large mess hall type pot. Changing the water until no oily film emerges on top of the water. Might use a propane fish cooker or such. Cheaper than a divorce.
Ed

[chip hayden]

try wheel cleaners or degreasers with sodium hydroxide. then neutralize with water and blow dry.
also, use a bur with a wax lube so it doesn't clog the gullets of the bur to prep the weld area. don't use a grinding wheel or disc.

[Roger]

I was going to say what chip said. Burr in die grinder, clean. Run TIG arc over joint to draw more gunk out, clean again, light wire brush with new brush, acetone to degease work and filler, then weld. Might have to grind out weld a 2nd time to get good weld. Castings are full of tiny voids like sponge making deagreasing big problem.

[Paychk]

Another possiblity is find a tranny shop that uses something like this to clean tranny cases:

http://www.betterengineering.com/parts_washers/singlestage.html

Have them run the transfer case trough a couple of times and it will be clean and ready to weld. When the case comes out it is right at 200F degrees and all the oil will be gone from the metal pores.

[bjdenommee]

I use PVC cleaner and then burn off the oils with a propane torch.

Bernie

[bill grooms]

aluminum welding

I've found the best way to clean oil from dirty aluminum is to heat it. You have to be careful not to get it too hot. What I usually do is heat the aluminum with oxy-acet until it starts smoking. I then wire wheel with air tool. I've found that the aluminum they make trannys out of is not that good of quality.
good luck

[redlineracer]

Has anybody tried using brake cleaner or starting fluid?

[harold]

At the local college tig welding class they used super clean, followed by brisk brushing with a stiff clean stainless steel brush. On real oily dirty parts I was told to clean as above then heat the part throughout and then repeat as above. (Superclean is available at PEP BOY'S and probably a lot of other auto parts stores) It seems to work good for me. I'm sure there are other cleaners that will work equally well just be aware of the dangers, fumes, flash point and fire. Forgot to mention this was on Aluminum. Harold