Ultra Sound

[mack]

So I got a big machine and used simple green. I must say it did clean very well, however when the parts dry, they are left with a white, gritty powder all over them, I've put the parts in carb cleaner for 8 hrs and taken them out only to find the white powder again after they dried. I've tried gas, varsol just about everything I can find, only to have this powder return after things dry. What am I doing wrong. Do you take them out of the ultra sound and immediately rinse in real hot water, blow out with compressed air then into the carb cleaner.

[79XS11F]

A white powdery coating on aluminum alloy is usually corrosion. That how aluminum alloys corrode. Perhaps the process speeds up corrosion or did in this case? Try to buff a small test area with an aluminum cleaning / buffing product and see what you get.
Rob

[SFSPECBIKER79]

clean..

go to wallmart or to the wifes jewerly cleaner and soak the parts in the solution for say overnite. then take them out and brush them real good. then rinse with water. your done, this is the best ive seen so far, also when i reload rifle and pistol amo i have used ammonia to clean the brass up that works real well. but you sometimes have to do it twice if you use hard water to rinse with. the jewely cleaner has about 10 percent ammonia that is the key to cleaning brass or gold. good luck

[b.walker5]

....when i reload rifle and pistol amo i have used ammonia to clean the brass up that works real well. but you sometimes have to do it twice if you use hard water to rinse with.....

Sorry guys, dont want to to hijack the thread but, Do you soak your brass ?? and how do you dry them before loading ??. I use a case tumbler but I borrow it each time and frankly it's a pita. Been thinking about buying my own but if there's another way.... please tell me more...

[red bandit]

I use a tumbler w/ corn cob and put in a couple tablespoons of "Wright's brass polish" in the jewelry cleaning section. 2 hours and they are bright and shiny.

[mack]

powder

Christ it was a carb I put into the ultra sound. This is not good. I doubt I can get all that sh...t out of the galleries and passages.

[crazy steve]

So I got a big machine and used simple green. I must say it did clean very well, however when the parts dry, they are left with a white, gritty powder all over them, I've put the parts in carb cleaner for 8 hrs and taken them out only to find the white powder again after they dried. I've tried gas, varsol just about everything I can find, only to have this powder return after things dry. What am I doing wrong. Do you take them out of the ultra sound and immediately rinse in real hot water, blow out with compressed air then into the carb cleaner.

Simple Green EATS aluminum. Soaking any aluminum part in it (particularly an intricately machined one like a carb) is not good. So yeah, the white stuff all over your parts is corrosion.

I do use this stuff on aluminum parts, but it's a wipe on, scrub, then immediately rinse with LOTS of water process. But don't leave it on long, and DO NOT let it dry on aluminum.

There may be a way to chemically neutralize the reaction, but I don't know what it is..... sorry. If you did your carb bodies, you may have trashed them.

'78E original owner

[jmnjrpa]

Gritty?

A light dusting of white powder would be corrosion but it should not be gritty for several months. This would be aluminum oxide crystals. A light spray of WD40 should clean it off. As Steve said, you should not leave any cleaner on aluminum. The first thing to be eaten up would be the threaded areas and any thin sections. Metal polish will keep it from corroding. If you are going to paint them you should clean the WD40 or polish off just before painting.

[mack]

Thanx guys. I got the idea of ultra sound and simple green from a previous thread where others had used it with amazing results. Just goes to show you that there is no magical short cuts. Luckily it was only one carb I did so, it could have been much worse. Going to be a bitch to polish but I'll break out a box of Q tips and get to work with the autosol tommorrow. I should buy shares in that company so I can get some of my money back. That jewllery cleaner, it should work on the jets and emulsion tube pretty good though, wouldn't it?????

[Ivan]

I think Zinc is lower on the galvanic scale, so maybe putting the carb body in a soak with some vinegar or lemon juice or other mild acid with some zinc (galvanized steel?) might actually pull the corrosion off the carb onto the zinc. They put zinc plugs in aluminum engines as a sacrificial cathode (or anode, I don't remember) to keep the aluminum from corroding. I think they do this in water heaters too.

Might be worth a shot?

[cywelchjr]

I believe the term is anode. The anode is a reciever, the cathode is a transmitter.

[Geezer]

go to wallmart or to the wifes jewerly cleaner and soak the parts in the solution for say overnite. then take them out and brush them real good. then rinse with water. your done, this is the best ive seen so far, also when i reload rifle and pistol amo i have used ammonia to clean the brass up that works real well. but you sometimes have to do it twice if you use hard water to rinse with. the jewely cleaner has about 10 percent ammonia that is the key to cleaning brass or gold. good luck

Ammonia will leach copper out of brass and cause it to become brittle. Never use cleaning products with ammonia on cartridge cases.

Geezer